Virginia Basketball: 2019 NBA Draft profile of Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome

NBA Comparisons and Projections

Style – Jrue Holiday

Now, this is definitely not a projection, so don’t panic. Jrue Holiday is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA and an elite combo guard who can pass and shoot. Ty Jerome’s play style in college compares very similarly to Holiday in the NBA, and he should continue to emulate Holiday’s game. Jerome was a great defender on the best defensive team in the country and his shooting is strong enough to play off ball as Holiday often does. His athletic deficiencies will likely never allow him to reach Holiday’s level, however, especially on defense, which makes Holiday the best and most recognizable comparison in terms of style, but not in projected impact.

Impact – Marcus Smart, Shaun Livingston, George Hill

A successful career in the NBA for Ty Jerome would involve making an impact on a playoff team in the ways guards like Shaun Livingston, George Hill, and Marcus Smart have done. None of them can likely be starters on successful, championship caliber playoff teams, but all of them play an important and essential role. They know how to play within that role for the benefit of their teams. There is a reason all three are consistently in the latter rounds of the playoffs.

Every championship team needs role players who can come in, limit mistakes, and play off what the stars are doing. Jerome has the basketball IQ, the all around game, and, at the very least, the desire and intensity to play defense that so many lack that should make him perfect in such a role.