Why the Phoenix Suns made the right decision in Ty Jerome

Phoenix Suns rookie point guard Ty Jerome has a huge following of fans at his alma mater Virginia. Let us evaluate what they see and how it will translate in his rookie season.

If you are ever having trouble sleeping, turn on a Virginia Cavaliers basketball game from past few years and you’ll be snoozing by the first TV timeout.

Call it Virginiambien.

Tony Bennett, head coach of these sleep-inducers, may run the most boring brand of basketball in the country, but it has been uncannily successful. After Virginia earned the overall one seed in the 2018 NCAA tournament, anti-Bennett-style basketball critics, including me, were quick to point and laugh when they became the first one seed ever to lose to a 16 seed.

Shout out to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The proceeding Tournament, however, Bennett developed his own recipe for crow and served it up to on a golden platter to all these haters, as UVA won the National Championship this year in dramatic fashion – albeit playing the same style of pack-line defense and pass-it-around-50-times-before-shooting offense.

Following their championship win, the Phoenix Suns picked up Ty Jerome, the point guard of the national champs with the 24th overall pick in this year’s draft.

The major question is: was Jerome the fierce leader of a relentless and talented team full of warriors who refused to lose? Or was his success the byproduct of a system designed to reduce possessions for the opposing team and maximize the efficiency of their own?

Like most great philosophical inquires, the answer is a little of both.

There is no question that Bennett’s painstakingly slow-paced, team-approach system reduced opportunity for both errors and individual glory, but Virginia is a just boring team with without the  successfulness part if not for Ty Jerome.

Google any quote about Ty Jerome from either Bennett or a teammate and it’ll definitely include the word, “leader.” He is a floor general with a high basketball IQ.

All the clichés for the type of point guard you want on your team have, at some point, been used to describe Ty Jerome.

He is quick to jump on guys, but quick to give them love. He is unafraid and takes adversity as a challenge.

Basically, he’s from New York and you can tell.

This willingness to speak up penetrates outside of his team as well, and it often materializes into something awesome.

After winning the championship, Jerome told Sports Illustrated:

"“I just feel so bad for Stephen A. Smith. He said he hated watching us. And he had to watch us every single round of the tournament. I feel so bad for him. It must have been so hard for him.”"

The only thing I like more than a trash talker is a witty trash talker.

He followed that on-point quote with the best troll drip of the summer league by dawning a UMBC t-shirt overlaid with a Virginia patch.

A guy with that kind of combination of self-deprecating humor and clever arrogance can play for my team anytime.

Those are just his intangibles, although his tangibles aren’t too shabby either.

His 13.6 points and 5.5 assists season average for a championship team is solid, but Jerome steps it up when it counts, and finished the championship game 16 points, eight assists, and six rebounds.

How does all that translate to the Suns this season?

Well, he’s going to have to play first, which may be a challenge.

As many great intellectuals commented on my completely serious and not-at-all-meant-to-just-be-a-fun-read article on Tyler Ulis, the Suns are nearing all 15 roster spots being point guards.

He has Ricky Rubio and probably Jevon Carter ahead of him in the rotation as of now.

Throw in Elie Okobo with combo guard Tyler Johnson and possibly Jalen Lecque, and you’ve got an I-10 at rush hour traffic jam for minutes.

He’ll start off the year as third string and plays sparingly.

With some flashes of excellence, he likely slides past Carter for the backup spot behind Rubio by the All-Star break.

By March, he is probably playing a lot more minutes for the sake of experience, especially if the Suns are out of playoff contention by then.

All of that balances out to around seven points, four assists and a couple of rebounds per game by season’s end, which is a lot more respectable than the first pitch he threw at a UVA baseball game.

The Phoenix Suns may want to keep him away from the Diamondbacks’ mound for a while. Stick to basketball and swaggy t-shirts, Ty.

Virginia basketball will make you doze, but don’t sleep on Ty Jerome this season. He’ll let you know about it if you do.