Perry Jones III (Photo : Alex Goodlett | Getty Images Sport)
The Boston Celtics have a logjam at power forward and despite being talented and athletic Perry Jones may be the one to go.
The current roster for the men in green has listed Amir Johnson, David Lee, Jared Sullinger, Jordan Mickey and Jonas Jerebko along with Jones for the for the power forward position. It is unlikely for the Celtics to keep them all especially with the limited playing time to spread around.
For those unfamiliar with Jones, he was a high school phenomenon and was a highly recruited prospect. Real GM gave a description of his unique skill set.
"He had an absolutely freakish combination of skills," Real GM declared. "At 6'11, 235 with a 7'2 wingspan, he had the size of a C and the speed of a PG. He was the rare 6'11+ player with the ability to play on the perimeter on both offense and defense - he could shoot and handle the ball like a much smaller player and he could switch out and guard guys like that 25+ feet from the basket."
Being drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder did not help his cause, playing behind Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka. He had his shining moment early last season when both Durant and Russell Westbrook were injured. He immediately took the seat of being the first scoring option once he had playing time. Watch the video of his career high.
However, just when he was about to take off, he joined Durant and Russ on the injured list-just as an untimely injury brought him down in the NBA draft and brought him to a loaded team.
CSN New England caught up with the Celtics and PJ3 seemed resigned to his fate.
"Show everything I can do, everything I know I can do, that I'm comfortable doing," he said. "And just be myself. That's all I can do."
Coach Brad Stevens has the unenviable task to make the selection and he confided that he would only use four big men a night (among all the six players mentioned plus centers Kelly Olynyk and Tyler Zeller).
"Whoever those four may be, may depend on the night, may depend on how they're playing," Stevens said. "May depend on who's healthy. That's a challenge with our team right now."
There are teams with a vacancy at power forward, The Indiana Pacers are placing Paul George off position at the spot and the Toronto Raptors lost their starting "four" to the Celtics.
