Four years ago, in the downstairs portion of the 508 Bar and Restaurant and just an outlet pass away from Target Center, Flip Saunders embraced his new point guard, Tyus Jones.
Saunders used some colorful language as he implored Jones to play his butt off after Saunders traded two second-round picks in that 2015 draft and a future second-round pick to Cleveland to nab Jones with the No. 24 overall pick.
Flip, a former point guard himself, was not shy in his praise for Jones. He said that night: "He'll get you into an offense, and he's a natural leader. Some guys have the ability to know how the game is played and the tempo of the game. And he never seems to get rattled. The bigger the stage, the better he plays."
What seemed like a perfect fit in many ways — the hometown kid from Apple Valley returning home after winning an NCAA title at Duke — gave way instead to four seasons that were far from it.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
