There are times where Tre Jones actually feels like it’s “choose your weapon.”
If the Bulls reserve guard wants an athletic wing to feed the ball to on the break, look no further than Leonard Miller and his continued rise this preseason.
If he needs a three to keep the defense spaced, enter Buddy Hield.
If he wants to play pick-and-roll with a big body, well, he has seen enough of Zach Collins through the years to know that option is alive and well.
And when it’s time to keep the ball in his own hands there are few on the roster who are better at attacking the rim with a ridiculous angle game than Jones.
Yes, Jones is the conductor of Tiago Splitter’s second unit and it’s starting to feel like a group that could be the difference between being a basement dweller or surprising the league.
Want proof? Take a look at the last two preseason games, as Jones and company kicked the tempo into high gear to help pull away from the Bucks on Wednesday just a few nights after outscoring the Nuggets’ bench 75-56 on Sunday.
“Hundred percent, 100%,” Splitter said when asked if the bench could be a game- changer for the Bulls. “We change the pace. They play so fast it just changes the whole thing. You got a lot of guys that can push the pace and be aggressive.”
But it all starts with Jones’ high IQ.
There’s a reason why Jones was former coach Billy Donovan’s favorite player, evident last season when he led the Bulls in total win share (5.7). He can play fast, he can play slow, he can help rookies mature and he knows how to keep fellow veterans happy.
Jones also has been around the league since 2020, raised out of college by Spurs culture, much like his coach was.
He knows a solid bench when he sees it.
“Our second unit can be really good,” Jones said. “If we want to be really good as a team, our second unit needs to be that good and hold ourselves to that standard. The energy that the second unit brings will be key for us. We’re really unselfish in that group, we share the ball. We really don’t care who scores as long as we score as a unit, that’s all that matters. We try to build off our defense. We’ve got the length and athleticism so try to use that to our advantage and get stops, feed off of that.”
No wonder intrasquad scrimmages have been so cutthroat throughout training camp.
Not only is the second unit competitive, it mirrors the makeup of the first unit. Jones doesn’t have Josh Giddey’s size, but he has his pass-first mentality and ability to push the group with pace. Miller, Isaac Okoro and Noa Essengue might not have the bounce of starters Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson, but they are athletic wings who love to run.
Hield is no Norman Powell, but they are both players who can stretch the floor.
“I feel like we do mirror each other — the first and second units — a little bit,” Jones said. “You got a little bit of similar everywhere, and yeah, scrimmages, practices, we’ve been going at it. We’ve got another week or so to hone in on the things we want to do better before this thing really starts.”
What Jones wants to make sure this group does better is continue holding itself to a standard, starting with himself.
“I take pride in that, trying to run that group,” he added. “We’ve shown the last couple of games we could be really good, and we just have to build off of that. Just a lot weapons.”