Ty Jerome might be the “veteran” PG the Phoenix Suns need

The Phoenix Suns need depth at point guard, in particular someone who can run the offense efficiently should Ricky Rubio ever go down. Ty Jerome just might be the perfect player.

Recently, I wrote that the Phoenix Suns needed a veteran point guard to backup Ricky Rubio.

Rubio tends to miss a few games each season (if he misses an extended period of time could kill the team’s chances of improving upon their recent regular season records), and having a solid veteran to back him up would allow the offense to remain in flow without putting either Devin Booker or Tyler Johnson back on the ball where it appears they really do not belong.

I said this though with full knowledge of who James Jones drafted with the 24th pick this past draft: Ty Jerome.

Not that the Suns are on the verge of making a deep playoff run and thus every spot on the roster must be handled with care and each player chosen for that spot be a capable contributor in a playoff race, but the franchise absolutely needs to take a step forward this season over last and having the best players possible at all positions will help the team itself take a step forward.

Jerome too, is a rookie.

Expectations are and should be low based on that fact alone, not to mention too the recent poor selections that the franchise has made – albeit Jerome being only the second pick James Jones has made in his tenure, neither of whom have played a minute of NBA action.

And yet, there has been a lot of chatter about Jerome entering his rookie year seemingly wise beyond his years (although with three years of college under his belt and now 22-years-old, he is older than the average rookie), and potentially the kind of backup point guard the roster so desperately needs.

*Not that every team doesn’t blather on positively in public about their rookies every year regardless of how poorly they may look behind the scenes.

Which got me thinking: what if Jones did nail his draft pick of Jerome and the rookie does step right in as a capable backup who can safely replace Rubio during in-game rotations, as well as in spot starts should Rubio face any injuries that would require him to sit?

Who in Phoenix Suns lure might Jerome most compare to?

Admittedly having discovered the Suns as a child less than 30 years ago, and thus not having watched the franchise prior to 1992, I do not have a visual reference in regards to the likes of Ed Biedenbach, Gary Melchionni, or Jay Humphries or even Greg Grant.

However, I do have two slightly more recent point guards with whom I could potentially compare: Negele Knight and Steve Nash.

Allow me to get the Steve Nash comparison out of the way immediately.

I am by no means comparing Jerome to the Hall of Famer in any way relative to his potential career outlook. This is strictly looking at what could potentially occur for Jerome as a rookie based on similar roles and talents.

While Nash played all four years of college, the two players entered their NBA careers as 22-year-old’s, albeit Nash being approx. seven months older at his start.

In their two college careers, Nash ended up a far more prolific scorer than Jerome did, however the two did average similar assists and 3-point shoot percentages.

Unlike Jerome who will only have to backup Rubio, Nash was forced to sit behind both Jason Kidd and Kevin Johnson, which kept the rookie to low minutes in 1996-97, only 10.5 per game.

However, by his second season, with KJ taking a significant cut in minutes, Nash saw his playing time spike to 21.9 per game, where he averaged 9.1 points and 3.4 assists, up from 3.3 and 2.1 his rookie year.

If Jerome is capable, one might be able to easily foresee him playing around 10 minutes a game on the low end, and 20 on the high end, with a relative assists average, although lesser scoring.

Nash, however, averaged 41.6% from beyond the arc in those two seasons, which would be somewhat higher than one would expect from Jerome.

The second comparison for Jerome is that of Negele Knight.

The 31st overall pick of the 1990 draft, Knight in some ways statistically actually far-less exemplifies what Ty Jerome could ultimately end up looking as a rookie than Nash.

Like Nash, Knight played four years in college at Dayton and was a far more prolific scorer then Jerome is (although he was an even better 3-point shooter his senior year than even Nash, finishing 71-144 for a ridiculous 49.3% – he finished 25-95 for 26.3% in six NBA seasons).

Playing behind only KJ, Knight averaged 12.4 minutes per game, and 5.3 points and 3.0 assists (playing in the exceptionally fast-paced system of Cotton Fitzimmons, that is an astounding 15.4 points and 8.7 assists per 36 minutes – incredibly, in five games of 40 minutes per game or more, all starts, Knight averaged 23.6 points and 11.0 assists per game).

I would not expect Jerome in any way to be the decently explosive scorer that Knight was his rookie year, however, in terms of minutes per game and assist averages, those could be projected expectations in a similarly fast-paced offense by Monty Williams.

If this is so, then it would be possible for Jerome to produce what the team needs as a backup.

Obviously all expectations on what Ty Jerome can be as an NBA player should be tempered due to his rookie status, however if James Jones did hit the jackpot on the point guard, then the necessity to find another veteran backup might not be there at all.

That said, the Phoenix Suns will still need Jerome to play at a level that would allow any time missed by Ricky Rubio to be as smooth as possible, and if he in any way compares to Steve Nash or Negele Knight’s rookie and second seasons, then he will do just fine.