Michigan kick-started a roster overhaul when former North Texas guard/wing Rubin Jones announced his transfer to Michigan on Friday. 

Admittedly, I had never heard of Rubin Jones prior to Friday, let alone watch him play at the college level. As an up-transfer, I decided to scout three full games of UNT this season against the very best competition they faced in St. John's (KP #21), Mississippi State (KP #34) and Florida Atlantic (KP #47) to get a better feel as to the potential impact/projection in the B10.

I think Wolverine fans will end up liking this addition a lot more than the buzz suggests. 

SCOUTING (Defense)

It's rare to start off an evaluation of an up-transfer on the defensive end, but that's exactly what I'm going to do here. Jones' defensive versatility and ability to check multiple positions is likely the most projectable part of his game right now. 

I was keen to watch the film against Dusty May's former team in FAU, as the Owls were one of the better offensive teams in the nation (KP #22 AdjO). Rubin drew the assignment of AAC player of the year, Johnell Davis. I'm going to be candid here, Rubin Jones had Davis in the torture chamber in the minutes he was on the floor. Twenty-five seconds worth of hell for Davis below:

Jones top-locks Davis near half-court to prevent a touch initially. Dusty May then gets into Split action in an attempt to get Johnell the ball on the move - look at Rubin's screen navigation/chasing to once again deny a touch. FAU then gets into ballscreen action and watch Jones tag Goldin on the roll + recover to Davis in the corner. 

That screen navigation/chasing was just the start. The intersection of POA defense + screen navigation came together in this possession and my lord was it impressive. 

May starts the set off with an Iverson cut (Davis running from right to left along the 3pt line) and then gets into Ricky action (screen + re-screen for the same player) in another attempt to get the ball to Davis on the move. Rubin's chasing here was superb, as he fights through an egregious moving screen from Goldin to force the Davis catch 30+ feet from the basket. Jones then shades Johnell right (toward his help). Dusty May then counters with Get action (Davis tosses it to Goldin then the DHO right back to him). Jones initially trails by a half step but re-engages in two strides, then uses his length + hand activity to strip Davis. This is a +2 in a hypothetical UFR. 

[After THE JUMP: jumbo playmaker that also spaces the floor?]

As a defensive oriented guy, I could make the entire article specific to Rubin's defense against Davis/FAU. For now, here's a few more notable clips of Jones making life hell for Davis.

As it relates to lineup configuration versatility, having a guy that can defend multiple spots unlocks a lot of things. One of the better defensive traits for Rubin is the ability to scale up a position. Though listed at 6'5, he's probably closer to 6'4, but he plays much bigger than that. 

When squaring off with tournament-bound Mississippi State, DJ Jeffries was the primary assignment for Jones. The Bulldog wing is listed at 6'7 and 215, but I'm inclined to think Jeffries is likely much closer to 235 pounds. Rubin's ability to step above his weight-class was glaring on this possession:

Despite giving up 3 inches and likely 30 pounds, Jones takes Jeffries for a ride with a textbook boxout that compels young DJ to commit an offensive foul from pure frustration. Definitely shades of former Wolverine Zack Novak.

Rubin's ability to scale up isn't limited to wings/forwards exclusively. That utility manifested repeatedly against high-level competition. Wolverine fans may remember Joel Soriano of St. John's (the lone highlight of the season when Michigan beat-down a KP top-25 team!). He's a rather large human being that is quite good as a traditional post-player. Frankly, I was shocked reviewing this possession in which SJU attempts to get Soriano the ball on what they perceive to be a mismatch on the block.........only for Jones to dislodge Soriano from his spot repeatedly. 

If that possession wasn't enough to convince you of Rubin's ability to match force with bigger players, then perhaps this collection of him doing that to Soriano/Jeffries in addition to Chris Ledlum (former Michigan target that conservatively goes about 250) will suffice: 

Jones isn't a perfect defender by any means, as he can be poor on closeouts (leaves his feet too much for my liking) and can ball-watch at times as an off-ball defender. But he also does connector items on defense that aren't as loud, but nevertheless crucial as it relates to good team defense. He consistently tags roll-men as a weakside defender then closes out to shooters in addition to providing nail-help/stunting at PnR ballhandlers turning the corner before recovering to his primary assingment (guard version of "checking two" often associated with bigs that show a tad below screen level while also taking away the rolling big).

SCOUTING (Offense)

The ability to make plays out of ballscreens for others as a bigger guard/small wing is Rubin's best attribute offensively. An assist rate of of 25.9 along with a 67th percentile Synergy grade in 247 PnR possessions (including passes) back that up. 

After diving into the film, I actually think Jones is a better playmaker for others than the numbers suggest. His teammates (the bigs in particular) aren't cashing in a lot of the shots he creates for them. Look at the type of looks Rubin generated against tournament-caliber teams:

It's very easy to see a scenario where many of these dimes are going to a 7' Vlad Goldin (I pray) for highlight level dunks. 

Versatility is also a theme on the offensive end, as Rubin is a good floorspacer as well. He shot 41.6% from distance on 3.9 attempts per game. Per Synergy numbers, 1.13pps on catch + shoot jumpers, good for 74th percentile nationally. Perhaps most encouraging is the C+S shooting prowess appears to be closeout proof. 1.11pps on guarded C+S jumpers is good for 78th percentile. 

Rubin has the ability to occasionally hit pull-ups from midrange and distance. In my extensive film review of the three aforementioned games, I didn't see him attempt more than 5 in the aggregate and that jives with the numbers. Synergy has him at only 40 pull-up attempts for the entire season, checking at 56th percentile on said shots. In other words, it isn't a big part of his game. 

From a quantitative perspective, finishing is the weakest part of Jones' game. Synergy has him at 0.96pps on rim attempts, 17th percentile nationally. I'm not going to pretend he's a great finisher, as the numbers skew too far the other way to justify otherwise. But I will echo Brian, in that those numbers are perhaps void of context. Rubin took 106 shots as a PnR ballhandler per Synergy, and that isn't an efficient shot type for a college guard. Some of that can indeed be attributed to Jones' shot selection, but on the other hand, did you see his bigs in the clips above?

PROJECTION

With Michigan's roster now coming into focus (Tre Donaldson, Danny Wolf and hopefully Vlad Goldin + Roddy Gayle), it's a bit easier to see where Jones fits. Rubin is the most-proven commodity in terms of legit shot-creation experience on the roster as it stands now. And for that reason, he's going to handle some PG responsibility in half-court scenarios with decent volume. I don't necessarily think the usage will eclipse 30 as it did in top-50 games for UNT, but he is going to be a guy that is relied upon to generate offense in a grind-out conference. 

Again though, versatility is the biggest asset for Jones. He's really effective as a floorspacer that can knock down shots against defenses that overhelp when tagging rollers and blitz ballscreens. 

Frankly, the biggest upside for Rubin as an up-transfer may very well be showcasing his secondary playmaking ability. Functionally, that means using his shooting gravity to attack closeouts + exploit corresponding numbers advantages that come with it. 

Jones is going to make Michigan's defense better. The versatility to adequately defend legit perimeter scorers while scaling up against much larger players makes him the sort of chess piece that coaches love because they can mix + match against small-ball lineups or more traditional lineups without losing offensive firepower/perimeter shotmaking. 

Based on Tre Donaldson's size, you can pencil him in to defend opposing PGs. That leaves Rubin, and presumably Nimari Burnett (hopefully Roddy Gayle as well), to defend opposing SGs + SFs. The Wolverine defense should be drastically improved with those two hopefully funneling the opposition toward a 7' Vlad Goldin to hit cleanup. 

In sum, Jones isn't necessarily elite in any one facet. But he is good in a plethora of areas and can excel playing no less than 2 positions on both ends of the court. That said, he's going to be a swiss army knife where his role in any given game largely depends on the opposition. Playmaking, floorspacing, POA defense, switchability............it's all there. Rubin best projects to be a secondary/tertiary option for this team, but with his skillset and versatility, I'm fairly confident he'll be a guy that sees 25+ minutes per game and has a positive impact on Wolverine basketball as a net-impact player.