Jaden Jones ---- In the Practice Facility

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

Came in 6'8, 195. His tweet says he is up to 213. Who are those guys he is playing against in the pictures ? Looks like pickup game dudes.

I think 6'8, 220 would be good size for the start of the season in 6 months. Matches the size of NBA player Paul George.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

There is zero doubt that this kid reclassifiying and coming into RU 6 months ahead of schedule will pay dividends at some point in 2021-22. I know it's one thing to be at home competing against HS competition and lighting up the scoreboard vs getting into the routine, travel, meal plans, weight lifting and the practice facility at RU....all while getting acclimated to college campus and classes and your teammates.

Pencil me in for 8 to 9
10 PPG for Jones this coming season, as long as he plays 24+ minutes per game (which I think is a lock).

And before someone says "Hawk has his RU blinders on again", every frosh in the Pike era who has played 22+ minutes has averaged around 8PPG or more.

2017-18 Baker 10.3 PPG (31 minutes per game)

2018-19 Mathis 8.5 PPG ( 23 minutes per game)

2018-19 Harper 7.8 PPG (22 minutes per game)

2018-19 Caleb 5.5 PPG (15.5 minutes per game)

2018-19 Peter Kiss (not a frosh but 3rd year sophomore, 6.0 PPG in 18 minutes per game)

2018-19 Myles Johnson (4.8 PPG in 17.5 minutes per game as a redshirt freshman).

2019-20 Jacob Young (8.5 PPG in 21 minutes a game as a 3rd year junior)

2019-20 Paul Mulcahy (3.7 PPG in 18 minutes per game as a true freshman).

2019-20 Akwasi Yeboah (9.8 PPG in 23.8 minutes per game as a 5th year senior).

2019-20 Caleb (6.7 PPG in 21 minutes per game as a true sophomore).

2019-20 Mathis (7.4 PPG in 22 minutes per game as a true sophomore).

2019-20 Harper ( 12.1 PPG in 28 minutes per game as a true sophomore).

2019-20 Myles Johnson (7.8 PPG in 23 minutes per game as a 3rd year sophomore).

2020-21 Paul Mulcahy (5.9 PPG in 27.3 minutes per game as a true sophomore)....Paul is the truest "outlier", in that he passes up more scoring opportunities to pass to others.

I think it's a safe bet to add both Jaden Jones and Aundre Hyatt to the 9 to 10PPG categories similar to where Jacob Young and Akwasi Yeboah landed in the 2019-20 season. There are available minutes vacated by the 30 minutes per game with Jacob Young and the 21 minutes left by Mathis departing.

With Hyatt and Jones being available 3 point shooters and I believe both are 70+% FT shooters, 9 to 10PPG is more than fair production to slot into the lineup as replacements.

It remains to be seen how the minutes per game on the defensive end add up, when you raise Cliff from 14 to 15 minutes to 23 to 24 per game.....I think Cliff will get to 8PPG as a sophomore with the extra 8 minutes per game (jumping from 3.8 PPG to 8 PPG is not that big a jump IMO).

If you reduce the turnovers and better passing than last year with Jacob and Mathis and you also increase the FT shooting with Jaden Jones vs Mathis (along with a better 3 point shooter in general), Jones projects very well within the Pike system as a 4th option behind RHJ and Geo and then either Cliff/Hyatt/Caleb.

There could be in theory at least 10+ games where RU has 5 players in double figures, which is very difficult for opponents to hyper-focus on stopping 1 or 2 players. Jones adding the strength to his skill-set, should be a good sign for RU on offense next year.

 

[Knights 1212]

Very good analysis as usual Hawk. i totally agree with you.

 

[Lawboy12007]

If Jones grows another inch or two and weights up to 225 or more he can play 1-4 and be a real pain to contain especially if you clear out the inside and post him him up against smaller players. This would be a second coming of David Robinson. I believe Mr Robinson was 6’7” or so when he agreed to go to Annapolis and bigger than 6’ 11” by the time he started on Varsity. Pikiell may have stepped in dog poop again! Mr Jones is a mismatch waiting to happen whenever he sets foot on the court. We need our 5 to be able to take his man away from the key for this to be effective. The last Rutgers player to have this size and skill set was Herve.

 

[soundcrib]

Jaden’s going to be The Truth!

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Love that huge R we put in front of the RWJ Saint Barnabas Center—

 

[willisneverrana43]

Ah, the off season.

 

[HeavenUniv.]

Without being able to go to games, it feels like month 14 of the offseason.

 

[jerzeyguy]

If Jones grows another inch or two and weights up to 225 or more he can play 1-4 and be a real pain to contain especially if you clear out the inside and post him him up against smaller players. This would be a second coming of David Robinson. I believe Mr Robinson was 6’7” or so when he agreed to go to Annapolis and bigger than 6’ 11” by the time he started on Varsity. Pikiell may have stepped in dog poop again! Mr Jones is a mismatch waiting to happen whenever he sets foot on the court. We need our 5 to be able to take his man away from the key for this to be effective. The last Rutgers player to have this size and skill set was Herve.

Stepped in dog poop? What's that mean? Sounds like something Jerry Jones would say lol

 

[Scarlet Shack]

I’ve been saying for two years ...from the moment we got the verbal after the Maryland win two years ...”we got this guy...holy sh#%”

JJ is going to be very Very good for ru hoops. And maybe, even this coming season

 

[RU848789]

I’ve been saying for two years ...from the moment we got the verbal after the Maryland win two years ...”we got this guy...holy sh#%”

JJ is going to be very Very good for ru hoops. And maybe, even this coming season

Agreed, felt he was going to be very good for us as soon as I saw his tape. Big potential...

 

[brad1218]

Jones is the most talented player we have ever recruited IMO. We will see how that translates next season, but my bet is that he will be great for us.

 

[RU82]

Jones is the most talented player we have ever recruited IMO. We will see how that translates next season, but my bet is that he will be great for us.

That’s quite a statement. I’ll have to see much, much more from him before I can get anywhere near agreeing with that.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Jones is the most talented player we have ever recruited IMO. We will see how that translates next season, but my bet is that he will be great for us.

I am still hoping Cliff is that guy

 

[RUChoppin]

I think we're finally starting to get to a point where departures are backfilled by new arrivals and incremental improvement among returning players, where we don't need any one player to be a "savior" by coming in as a star or having a huge developmental leap from the prior year.

We've had tournament-qualifying-level seasons two years in a row, and we're going to start having expectations of at least bubble-level performance - players leave, new players arrive, returning players improve, and expectations don't suddenly spike or drop off a cliff over the loss/gain of any one person.

I think the offseason hype machine will calm down because of that.... where it won't be "okay, THIS guy will be the guy to get us over the hump" but will instead be more "which players will see more minutes and a resultant increase in production"

Usually players don't suddenly get massively better year-over-year.... it's that departures have allowed them to see more minutes or have an increased usage, which then sees their overall stats improve. Or a player limited by injury is now healthy, or a player limited by foul trouble has improved their body control or decision making (or has earned additional respect/leeway from the refs).

It's incredibly rare for 45% FT shooters to suddenly become 65% FT shooters, or .290 3P shooters to suddenly become .390 3P shooters. Increases in points scored usually comes from a 3P shooter just getting 2-3 more attempts per game with increased minutes, which brings his ppg up by about 2-3 pts.

Jones is coming in with some higher expectations based on his HS production and attention from many program during recruiting, coupled with a half season of S&C and practice. He'll play rotational minutes as a guard given the # of minutes left by open by Young's departure, which will almost certainly put him in the 6+ pt range... because that's generally what our rotational guards have contributed when they're not a pass-first guy like Mulcahy.

 

[RUsojo]

This kid was always going to come in over 200lbs and always going to make an impact year 1. Looking forward to seeing him become our best scorer in due time. Great recruiting does that.

 

[Eagleton95.99]

This kid was always going to come in over 200lbs and always going to make an impact year 1. Looking forward to seeing him become our best scorer in due time. Great recruiting does that.

Seeing is believing. I was excited about JJ as a skinny 6' 6'' ft guard that had shooting touch. I'm way more excited by a fleshed-out 6' 8'' guard/wing that has shooting touch.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

We need to get to the point where we have 4 players on the floor who will make defenses pay by not defending the line.

sounds like Jones is that guy.

 

[rufeelinit]

Jones is the most talented player we have ever recruited IMO. We will see how that translates next season, but my bet is that he will be great for us.

I think you need to temper this a bit. One, overhyping our recruits has rarely worked well for us and two, Phil Sellers was the most talented player we have ever recruited.

 

[LawDegreeandFishbowls]

The title being cut-off on the forum to read "Jaden Jones ---- In the..." almost gave me a heart attack.

I'm looking forward to seeing if he is able to step in right away and be an impact scorer off the dribble. I also wonder whether Pike gives him time in the backcourt or whether we mostly see him on the wings.

 

[RU82]

The title being cut-off on the forum to read "Jaden Jones ---- In the..." almost gave me a heart attack.

I'm looking forward to seeing if he is able to step in right away and be an impact scorer off the dribble. I also wonder whether Pike gives him time in the backcourt or whether we mostly see him on the wings.

That is an interesting question as Jaden did bring the ball up court some during his limited time last season.

 

[soundcrib]

The title being cut-off on the forum to read "Jaden Jones ---- In the..." almost gave me a heart attack.

I'm looking forward to seeing if he is able to step in right away and be an impact scorer off the dribble. I also wonder whether Pike gives him time in the backcourt or whether we mostly see him on the wings.

Before his growth spurt, Jones was a PG. He can certainly put the ball on the floor.

 

[RUChoppin]

Looking more specifically at Jones, my expectation is that he'll conservatively see at least 20 minutes of the ~49 minute/game hole left by Young and Mathis in our guard rotation.

Following on Hawk's post, but looking only freshman guards under Pike:
Baker 10.3 PPG (31 minutes per game)
Mathis 8.5 PPG ( 23 minutes per game)
Harper 7.8 PPG (22 minutes per game)
McConnell 5.5 PPG (15.5 minutes per game)
Mulcahy 3.7 PPG (18 minutes per game as a pass-first PG).

Given that, I'd think Jones will score at least 7 ppg if he's sees the 20+ minutes I'm expecting. He's also coming in with an extra semester of practice reps and S&C that none of the above guys had, which should boost him up a bit beyond that.

Hoping at 6-8 that he can also bring more rebounding than Young/Mathis did, which can help account for the loss of Johnson.

 

[MadRU]

Depends on his defense

 

[RUJMM78]

That’s quite a statement. I’ll have to see much, much more from him before I can get anywhere near agreeing with that.

The starters on the 1976 final four team would dispute that notion and so would many fans.

 

[ScarletKid2008]

Love that huge R we put in front of the RWJ Saint Barnabas Center—

when did that huge R go up ? I don’t remember it being there when the building finished or any of the games we were attending

 

[NightKnight]

I'm not sure he is the most talented Jones we ever recruited, but he looks pretty damn good. The offense without Young and the defense without Johnson, will give the opportunity/need for a lot players to step up.

 

[brad1218]

i will change my statement to not include the guys from the 70’s. I never saw them play as recruits. I have been following recruiting since 1990 and he is the most talented player I have seen us recruit. I don’t know what that means for next season or his career here, but he is an absolute stud.

 

[RU848789]

I heard from a very good source who knows Coach Pikiell well that Coach P. thinks we're likely to have our best team ever this coming year (over his tenure as coach). If the pieces fall into place, it looks almost like he's trying to build a Baylor-style team filled with long athletes who can all run the floor and defend and often play multiple positions - would be nice if more of them could shoot well, though.

 

[Perricone7]

Death, taxes, and message boards overhyping Freshman in the offseason. If he is as good as some here are saying, then why was he not ranked higher (believe he was in the 110 range for class of 21) and/or getting playing time last season when Mathis was 1 for a million from 3?

My guess is he is going to go through the up's and down's that 95% of freshman his ranking go through. On a polished team like this, 7 ppg would be amazing.

 

[RUforJERSEY]

I heard from a very good source who knows Coach Pikiell well that Coach P. thinks we're likely to have our best team ever this coming year (over his tenure as coach). If the pieces fall into place, it looks almost like he's trying to build a Baylor-style team filled with long athletes who can all run the floor and defend and often play multiple positions - would be nice if more of them could shoot well, though.

That's the rub. All those Baylor guys could fill it up.

 

[ejgonz]

I heard from a very good source who knows Coach Pikiell well that Coach P. thinks we're likely to have our best team ever this coming year (over his tenure as coach). If the pieces fall into place, it looks almost like he's trying to build a Baylor-style team filled with long athletes who can all run the floor and defend and often play multiple positions - would be nice if more of them could shoot well, though.

If Myles was back I would easily agree with that.

 

[RUChoppin]

Death, taxes, and message boards overhyping Freshman in the offseason. If he is as good as some here are saying, then why was he not ranked higher (believe he was in the 110 range for class of 21) and/or getting playing time last season when Mathis was 1 for a million from 3?

My guess is he is going to go through the up's and down's that 95% of freshman his ranking go through. On a polished team like this, 7 ppg would be amazing.

He'll definitely go through RS Fr ups and downs, but there are a LOT of minutes available at guard right now after the departure of Young/Mathis, and he'll almost certainly get at least 20 per game.

Guard minutes last year:
844 - Young (30.1/g)
780 - Baker (31.2/g)
763 - Mulcahy (27.3/g)
593 - Mathis (21.2/g)
457 - McConnell (22.9/g)
70 - Mag
11 - Jones

That's 3518 total minutes... Young/Mathis used about 40% of them and are no longer on the roster. Baker/Mulcahy aren't going to pick up many more minutes than they already have, and McConnell can maybe bump up closer to 30 min/game. That leaves 40+ minutes to be distributed between Jones, Mag, and Miller.

Jones will get minutes, and with 20+ min/game I'm pretty confident he'll get 7+ pts... question will be how efficient that 7+ will be.

 

[rufeelinit]

I heard from a very good source who knows Coach Pikiell well that Coach P. thinks we're likely to have our best team ever this coming year (over his tenure as coach). If the pieces fall into place, it looks almost like he's trying to build a Baylor-style team filled with long athletes who can all run the floor and defend and often play multiple positions - would be nice if more of them could shoot well, though.

And last year he told us that the incoming freshman class was his best ever. I will be kind and say the jury is still out on that view. I don't see the Baylor comp either based on having watched both play in the tournament.

 

[mikeyoc]

I think you need to temper this a bit. One, overhyping our recruits has rarely worked well for us and two, Phil Sellers was the most talented player we have ever recruited.

Exactly. And you can add Mike Dabney, Eddie Jordan, James Bailey,
Roy Hinson, John Battle, Keith Hughes and Quincy Douby to that list

 

[soundcrib]

Dahntay Jones

 

[RU848789]

And last year he told us that the incoming freshman class was his best ever. I will be kind and say the jury is still out on that view. I don't see the Baylor comp either based on having watched both play in the tournament.

IMO, a big difference between what he might say in public (what else do you expect him to say about his latest recruits?) and what he says in private (the comment about how good he thinks we're going to be next year). I guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

I heard from a very good source who knows Coach Pikiell well that Coach P. thinks we're likely to have our best team ever this coming year (over his tenure as coach). If the pieces fall into place, it looks almost like he's trying to build a Baylor-style team filled with long athletes who can all run the floor and defend and often play multiple positions - would be nice if more of them could shoot well, though.

this

 

[dontestrond]

This probably the most athletic team you’ve had.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

We’re going to be a very good defensive team with a few pocket holes going into the season. I don’t think we’ll make it easy for teams trying to pound the paint but there’s no question Myles absence will be a loss there when teams are successful. JY’s loss will be felt most against teams with one really good guard to shut down on the perimeter (Minnesota). In my opinion this loss can be overcome with improved team defense. I don’t think we’ll feel the loss of Tez much because he wasn’t contributing much late last season anyway.