“Right now he’s been incredible. He’s making everything.”
Ty Jerome’s resurgence continues to be one of the biggest surprises in the NBA. That was on display again in the Cleveland Cavaliers' win over the Toronto Raptors as he poured in 26 points on 9-14 shooing with six assist. Jerome was the best guard on the court in a game featuring Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. That sentence would’ve seemed absurd just a month ago. Now, not so much.
The question is, just how good is he?
“He’s just a great basketball player,” Evan Mobley said.
“Right now, he’s been incredible,” Sam Merrill said.
Their head coach had a more difficult time answering that question.
“I mean, geez,” Kenny Atkinson said while gathering his thoughts. “I’ll put it this way, it’s hard to take him out of the game, even at the end there. You know, we were expecting Ty to be a role player and he’s just pushing us [to play him more].”
Jerome is still getting the minutes of a role player, but his production has been anything but that. His per 36-minute stats are ridiculous. He’s third on the team in adjusted points behind just Mitchell and Garland. The same can be said for his unadjusted numbers from the last three weeks as he’s averaging 15.6 points and 4.4 assists in 22.8 minutes per game.
This all is due to his incredible season-long shooting. Jerome has converted 59.7% of his attempts from the floor and 54.4% of his looks from beyond the arc.
“He’s making everything,” Merrill said. “It’s pretty simple. He doesn’t have the quickest release, but he can shoot with range so he’s able to get a shot off.”
That range has been on display recently, most notably in the second quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans where he reigned in three deep triples in quick succession.
“His confidence,” Craig Porter Jr. said when asked what has made him so good. “You can’t ever get this guy down. And even if he does miss a shot or two, he’s still taking the next three shots that are open.”
The shooting will come back to earth. He’s currently second in three-point percentage among players who’ve played more than half of their team’s games and are attempting over three per game behind only Nikola Jokić. That said, this is who he’s been since the Cavs started practicing together in New York before camp opened.
“Last day of playing pickup I remember he was just shooting that thing,” Jaylon Tyson said. “Like Curry. He was just letting it fly. He took a crazy shot, he missed it, but like, just the confidence to shoot that shot. So he was killing it the whole time. I expected this.”
As good as the shooting has been, it isn’t the only thing that has led to this great start.
“The way he’s managing the game [has been impressive],” Atkinson said. “They started pressuring him, and he’s just so smart. He protects it, he gets to his spots, and then he’ll drive it. Maybe the most surprising thing is how he’s getting in the lane, getting to the rim. I wouldn’t think he’s the speediest guy, but he finds a way to get there. He uses his size and his IQ.”
“He’s got such good touch,” Merrill said. “I swear, every single time he goes in and does one of his slow steps and all that, I get so mad because I wish I could do that too.”
It’s easy to be skeptical of this hot start. Even Atkinson has admitted that he’s waiting for him to slow down. While that will inevitably happen, it might not be to the level expected a couple of weeks ago.
We’re a few games shy of being a quarter of the way through the season and the dip still hasn’t started. At some point, we’ll have to start buying that this is who he is or at least close to his true version. Even if you don’t believe it, some of his teammates do.
“I didn’t know how good [he] would be, but I definitely knew that he would have ... this kind of impact,” Mobley said.
“He’s just done so much for us on a nightly basis,” Mitchell said. “I have no doubt he’ll continue.”
