Washington Wizards ‘Using This Opportunity to Grow’; Guard Tyus Jones

The Washington Wizards haven’t been meeting already low expectations and guard Tyus Jones says the team is focused on growing through the struggles.

The Washington Wizards (2-10) fell 120-99 on Friday night to the New York Knicks (7-5) in their third NBA In-Season Tournament game of the year. 

That makes five losses in a row for the Wizards and increased the grumbling from fans as the home crowd continues to dwindle in favor of away team support that echoes throughout Capital One Arena.

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For guard Tyus Jones, 12 games into his time with Washington, it’s an unfortunate but necessary part of the process.

“Winning in the NBA is very very hard,” Jones said. “You see some teams that have been together two, three, four, five seasons and they’re still not where they want to be at. It’s a process and there’s a lot of work that goes into it, and before you can succeed you have to fail a lot of times. For us, we’re using it as an opportunity to grow, try not to be too defeated about it and just see where we can improve and get better, and trust that things will turn around and things will flip. And I know they will, I’ve been in this league a while now and I’ve seen good stretches - I’ve seen bad stretches - and they come and go. All you can try to do is stay level, stay right in the middle, and continue to improve, continue to not make the same mistakes that you were yesterday. And keep moving in the right direction.”

Washington Wizards guard Tyus Jones (5) drives to the basket against Miami Heat forward Haywood Highsmith (24) during the first quarter at Kaseya Center / Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Jones says he feels the team is doing those things and working toward getting better, just needing to stay the course.

But those aren’t words that will soothe fans who wanted to see the team compete even while in the midst of a rebuild.

Through 12 games with the Wizards Jones is averaging a career-high 26.7 minutes per game and shooting a career-high .467 from the field. 

His 4.8 assists to .8 turnovers per game is on brand with his ball-protective style of play with his .9 steals per game showing Jones is taking possessions more than he’s giving.

Beginning his NBA career with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jones experienced just one winning season in his first four before joining the Memphis Grizzlies in 2019.

From there he enjoyed three winning seasons in four years with two second-place finishes in the Western Conference. 

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But that Grizzlies team didn’t start there, and had to climb from ninth place in Jones’ first two seasons with the team.

So Jones has seen this process before, even if it hasn’t started from as low as this one is. 

And what he knows is that not getting too high or too low is the key to sustained improvement.

The question is whether or not the fans can be sold on that process and become willing to support that growth, and stay patient with the team.

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