Phoenix Suns: New coach, new point guard reasons for excitement
By Adam Noel
4. The debut of young faces … sort of
Both Cameron Johnson and Ty Jerome are older than Deandre Ayton.
To give an even broader perspective, Johnson is actually seven months older than Devin Booker. While Johnson hasn’t stepped a foot on an NBA court, Booker has played in 272 games with the Suns. Now step back and take that all in.
This is just an example of the approach general manager James Jones and the Suns’ front office took in the NBA draft. Rather than taking a teenage one-and-done prospect that needs years to season and develop, Jones opted for the well-ripened Johnson and Jerome.
Both spent their college careers perfecting traits that make NBA drool over.
Johnson carries an ability to shoot the deep ball and in today’s league that’s a high-priced commodity. In his senior season with North Carolina, the Pennsylvania-native shot a scorching 45.7 percent from 3, while taking a career-high in attempts from deep.
Jerome has experience both winning and losing at the largest stage.
In 2018, the point guard was on the losing side of the greatest upset in the history of college basketball, as No. 16 UMBC defeated No. 1 seed Virginia in the opening round of the 2018 NCAA basketball tournament. But as we all know, Virginia would come back a year later to take home the glory, with a 85-77 victory over Texas Tech in the 2019 championship.
The point guard on both of those teams: Jerome.
While neither Johnson nor Jerome may be the youngest NBA prospect, their addition displays the mantra of both Jones and Suns this season: we want to win now.