Wisconsin Herd: Dominating the glass no tall task for undersized Jemerrio Jones

There have been no shortage of contributors behind the Wisconsin Herd’s blistering success so far this G League season, but Jemerrio Jones has been at the center of their fundamental play.

Standing at 6’5″ in shoes and coming in at a lanky 175lbs, Jemerrio Jones stands as something of an oddity for the Wisconsin Herd.

The Herd have looked to Jones to act as their full-time, starting center when they don’t have Bucks big man Dragan Bender on assignment up in Oshkosh. With the Herd’s regular starting lineup topping out with two-way player Cameron Reynolds standing as the tallest player at 6’8,” one would only think that their size would be a significant weakness.

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Yet Jones, even at his smallish stature, has thrived in such a role where his workman-like mentality and scrappy tendencies collide, leading to his fingerprints being all over the Herd’s success so far this campaign.

The 24-year-old Jones stands as the second-leading rebounder in the G League as he’s averaging 12.1 rebounds through his 12 appearances, standing behind New Orleans Pelicans two-way player Zylan Cheatham.

Having Jones down low to man the boards has sparked a huge turnaround for the Herd where they’ve been able to dominate the possession battle, as evidenced by them collecting 56.6 rebounds per game, the most for any G League team this season. That even holds up in advanced numbers as the Herd rank second in total rebounding percentage (53.9), standing behind the Delaware Blue Coats.

Of course, this didn’t all come out of left field as Jones has long played bigger than his size and has boasted an incredibly strong rebounding pedigree dating back to his time at New Mexico State where he finished his time with the Aggies leading the country in total rebounds (450) for the 2017-18 season.

Jones’ penchant to do the dirty work and all of the little things translated over his first season in the G League last year as a member of the South Bay Lakers and it eventually led to him earning a late season call up to the Los Angeles Lakers to finish out his rookie season.

After being included in the Anthony Davis trade during the summer that saw Jones offloaded to the Washington Wizards where he was later waived only a few months later, what was both the Lakers and Wizards’ loss was the Herd’s gain when the Bucks picked up Jones off waivers late into the preseason.

Jones has been an infectious presence with how he’s been able to play extensive minutes at the center position while trapped in a wing’s body. Herd scoring guard Jaylen Adams spoke to that sentiment to Jerrell Rushin of the Oshkosh Northwestern about taking pride in doing the little things that Jones has specialized over his playing career.

"“Adams called Jones a “different dynamic” for Wisconsin. Jones has inspired the rest of the team to put more pride in rebounding.“When you see him doing it, it kind of just fuels everybody else to want to get in there and get the rebound so we don’t have to wait on the point guards (to run fast breaks),” Adams said. “Just whoever gets the rebound, and we’re out. We’re definitely crashing the glass to get back on the offensive end, but if that’s the motive that it’s got to be, then we’re going to keep doing it.”"

Herd head coach Chase Buford has been able to leverage Jones’ raw, energetic skill set in his newfound role on the offensive end where he’s unlocked the gifts of his teammates doing all of the things that a traditional center does (i.e. screening, rolling to the basket, acting as a lob threat, etc.).

That has led to Jones being an integral influence within the Herd’s entire system and he holds the second-highest net rating at +13.3 points per 100 possessions to stand behind Adams, per the G League’s stats database.

Some strides have yet to be made, the biggest of which being Jones’ ability to space the floor as he’s hit just two of his 20 attempts from three-point range for the Herd this season. History hasn’t been kind to Jones in that regard as he’s never been a willing shooting threat on either the collegiate, G League and NBA levels and it obviously stands as Jones’ swing skill to get a call up back up to the NBA.

But what Jones is showing this season with the Herd, and how he’s been a galvanizing force behind their success, has been crucial to their year over year turnaround. Just as he constantly shows with his tireless rebounding talents, it’s all about being in the right place at the right time.