Ty Jerome and LeBron James have something in common – and it’s not good
The shots are falling
Ty Jerome has proven himself to be one of the best bench players in the NBA this season.
That is quite the development for the journeyman point guard, who barely clung to the league with a two-way contract on the Golden State Warriors, then played well enough to sign a modest two-year contract at essentially the minimum.
Jerome then missed all but two games of last season with a nasty ankle injury, putting his future with the team in doubt. He was not a given to be the backup point guard coming into Training Camp after Craig Porter Jr. was impressive in Jerome’s stead last year.
Yet Jerome has erupted this season, averaging a career-high in scoring and shooting a blistering 44 percent from 3-point range. The only players in the NBA shooting a higher percentage on that level of volume are shooting specialist Luke Kennard and Taurean Prince. Neither has anywhere near the usage rate of Jerome when in the game.
What’s more, Jerome is one of the league leaders in steals and while he lacks the athleticism to be an elite defender, he is active, heady and clearly a positive when you factor in his turnover-inducing tendencies and his solid size at the position, standing 6’5″.
For all of his apparent impact coming off the bench for the Cavaliers, however, it’s not translating to team success. Since joining the team, De’Andre Hunter leads the team in “plus-minus” per game; that is, the Cavaliers outscore their opponents by an average of 10 points per game. Of the full-season Cavaliers, Evan Mobley leads the way at +9.4. Then you have Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and so forth.
In fact, you have to go down to 12th on the list before you reach Ty Jerome, at a solid but unspectacular +5.3. Yet no one would wait 12 names before mentioning Jerome when ranking the players on the roster, or even specifically the impact they have had this season. Why is he so far down the list?
