NBA: 30 players who should be coaches someday

USA basket head coach Mike Krzyzewski (R) chats with his player Rajon Rondo (L) during a training session at La Caja Magica pavillion in Madrid, on August 19, 2010. The US team arrived in Madrid to hold a four-day training camp that started on August 17, ahead of exhibition games against Lithuania, Spain and Greece before they open the world tournament in Turkey against Croatia on August 28. AFP PHOTO / JAVIER SORIANO (Photo credit should read JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images) /

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Tyus Jones, Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images /

NBA: 30 players who should be coaches someday 26. Tyus Jones

Tyus Jones has always been a leader no matter what team he was playing on. The 6’0″ point guard is a no-frills two-way fighter happy to play whatever on-court role given to him. Everything asked of him he will do. Alongside that humility and grit comes quiet leadership that has elevated multiple teams he has been on.

At Duke University, Jones came in as a freshman point guard behind a four-year player in Quinn Cook. Rather than take a backseat Jones developed into the team’s starting point guard, running the team on both ends of the court and becoming a leader when the other four starters included a pair of seniors and a pair of top-10 picks. Jones won the Final Four Most Outstanding Player as he led the Blue Devils to the NCAA title.

That same leadership has come with Jones for both of his NBA stops, first with the Minnesota Timberwolves and then with the Memphis Grizzlies. The combination of his point guard pedigree and willingness to step into leadership would serve him well as a future head coach.

Before that time, Jones has plenty of career left to play, in just his sixth season in the league. His intelligence and work ethic are too valuable for teams not to keep him around for years to come. Eventually, however, he could choose to stick around the sport he loves by stepping into the ranks of the coaches.