Minnesota Timberwolves

Report: The Timberwolves might play Tyus Jones in the D-League in 2015-16

Published Sep. 30, 2015 12:26 p.m. ET

foxsports

Tyus Jones may have been one of the Timberwolves' two first-round picks back in June, but that doesn't mean they expect him to contribute right away.

One of the comforting things about heading to a squad that's not ready to win is that the pressure falls off a high draft pick's shoulders. That appears to be true for Jones, who heard his name called in the first round, but who was the Wolves' second pick, since the organization selected Karl-Anthony Towns No. 1 overall.

Now, though, Jones may not even find himself on the roster come the start of the season. And early, that's OK. Wolves general manager Milt Newton spoke a bit on that, via Marcus R. Fuller of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press:

The Wolves are coming off a 16-win season, so it's not like they're in full belief that they're ready to contend. So, why not take the long view? Develop your guys, and hope to improve by 2016 or '17.

"We haven't really used (the development league) in the past, and that's something we're trying to rectify," Newton said. "If here's an opportunity for us to use the D-League, we will do that, with Tyus especially. But it can be a position where you send him to the D-League and he plays only 14, 15, 20 minutes a game, which was the situation last year.

"For us, we wanted to utilize the D-League. But the team we were associated with, they couldn't guarantee that our guys would get the minutes that we felt they needed to develop, and so we felt it was better to keep our players here and let the practice and get developed from our coaching staff. If we can fix that situation, while we're in the situation without a D-League team, that's a decision we'll have to make."