UVA Basketball alum Ty Jerome is enjoying a renaissance in Cleveland, averaging 10.0 points and 3.3 assists per game for the surprising 11-0 Cavs.
Jerome, a sixth-year NBA veteran, is getting 16.1 minutes per game off the bench as the point guard for the Cavs’ second unit, which currently ranks third in the league in net rating and offense rating, with Jerome as the unit’s “cerebral quarterback,” in the words of coach Kenny Atkinson.
“He’s making plays that are completely surprising to me,” Atkinson said of Jerome, whose PIE – player impact estimate – rating is a team-best 15.9 through 11 games.
Jerome had 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor, 3-of-3 from three, in a 136-117 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, then followed that up with four points and five assists in a 105-100 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night.
In the win over the Nets, Jerome took just four shots from the field, but impacted the game with his floor leadership, distributing the ball and defense – he had two steals.
“[We have] guys who aren’t necessarily known as defenders but are going out there and just finding ways to impact the game, and Ty’s doing it through steals, but it’s like energy that comes with that,” said the Cavs’ leading scorer, Donovan Mitchell, after the Brooklyn win.
“I’ve known Ty my whole life and yeah, it’s safe to say he’s not known as a defender, but he has some tricks. How he can find ways to get into guys, steals and stuff like that. And then showing the emotion he did in the fourth, that’s what we needed,” Mitchell said.
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Chris Graham
