The Alabama basketball team concluded its historic 2020-21 campaign with an 88-78 overtime loss to UCLA on Sunday. Despite the Sweet 16 exit, the Crimson Tide (26-7) won more than 25 games for the first time since 2002.
Let’s dive into our first player review on senior forward Herbert Jones.
What did we expect?
Jones withdrew his name from the 2020 NBA Draft and returned to Alabama last summer after gauging interest from teams. He averaged 7.9 points and 6.4 rebounds on 48.4 percent shooting from the field. After scouts questioned his ability to knock down jumpers from beyond the arc, Jones dramatically improved his 3-point shooting, finishing the year at 35.1 percent from deep. That’s quite the improvement from last year where he shot 7.1 percent (1 of 14) from 3 while lacking the confidence to attempt shots from beyond the arc at a high rate.
When assessing his game, Jones was an NBA-caliber defender from the jump. He’s a rangy defender with the ability to get his hands into passing lanes and deny post entries. Jones often takes risks on defense which causes him to enter foul trouble. That’s been an issue to this date.
Jones was named to the preseason All-SEC second-team before this season. He was expected to take on a larger offensive load with the departure of Kira Lewis Jr., who led Alabama in field-goal attempts.
What did we get?
Nate Oats switched up the starting lineup early in the season when Jahvon Quinerly was moved to the bench. This allowed Jones to be utilized as the primary ball-handler in most cases. He increased his usage rate (time impacting the offense) from 16.1 percent to 22.7 percent while growing as a decision-maker. Jones becomes a difficult matchup when he’s a threat to pass, shoot, and attack the basket.
This season, Jones averaged 11.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.3 assists on 44.6 percent from the field. He went from attempting 5.7 field goals to 8.8 field goals in two years, a number that increased every season. Jones also improved his 3-point shooting with an output of 35.1 percent on 1.7 attempts per game. At one point in the season, he was shooting 52.6 percent from long distance before a scoreless stretch (0-for-19) in Alabama’s final 10 games.
Let’s reference this possession from Alabama’s 73-68 victory over Tennessee in the SEC tournament. Jones initiates the offense before passing it to Quinerly at the top of the key. Alex Reese sets a ball screen to help shift Tennessee defenders to the right side of the court. Instead, Keon Johnson (No. 45) is ball-watching as Jones finishes an uncontested backdoor alley-oop. Oats uses Jones in multiple ways to create high-quality looks.
Jones took massive strides as a facilitator in SEC play. He averaged 4.8 assists per game while committing 2.7 turnovers in 10 games before the NCAA tournament. A benchmark for an efficient offense is two assists to one turnover which Jones easily exceeds over that stretch.
In the play above, Jones gets UCLA’s Cody Riley (No. 2) on his hip as Alabama leads a fast break. He makes a difficult pocket pass to Juwan Gary in which he adjusts his center of gravity and passing angle. That’s a great example of why Jones led Alabama with 108 assists.
On defense, Jones is one of the nation’s premier talents. He was one of eight players with a block percentage above 3.9 percent and a steal percentage above 3.3 percent. Those metrics estimate the percentage of offensive possessions that end with a steal or block. It’s difficult to evaluate defense through statistics, but those numbers illustrate his ability to create turnovers. Jones helped Alabama finish with the No. 3 ranked defense according to Kenpom.com.
Jones was also Alabama’s leader in blue-collar points, a metric that includes players receiving points each game for deflections, steals, blocks, rebounds, floor dives and charges. The 6-foot-8 forward had 644.0 blue-collar points this season, 205.0 better than the next closest player. Jones has earned Alabama’s “Hard Hat Award” a team-high 17 times.
Offseason outlook
Jones’ senior season came to a close as he recorded 8 points and nine rebounds while shooting 28.6 percent (2 of 7) from the free-throw line during the loss to UCLA. He shot less than 30 percent from the charity stripe (minimum 5 attempts) for only the second time in his career.
Jones awaits a professional career with scouts projecting him as a second-round prospect in the 2020 NBA draft. ESPN has Jones ranked as the No. 10 small forward and No. 57 overall prospect. While Tankathon ranks him as the No. 7 small forward and No. 43 overall prospect.
Jones needs to take fewer gambles on defense and improve his consistency from 3 to become a rotational piece in the NBA. The Greensboro, Ala. native is a solid second-round bet with the skill set to be a defensive specialist and swingman at the next level.
