Photo: NBA/X

Washington Wizards veteran Tyus Jones had high praise for rookie Bilal Coulibaly following Monday’s 142-129 home loss vs. the Milwaukee Bucks (12 points/3 rebounds/1 assist/2 steals/5-7 FG/2-2 3-PT/+4 +/-).

(via Washington Wizards):

Reporter: “You’ve been in the league for a while now and seen a lot of talented young players and talented veterans. What have you seen from Bilal so far, especially defensively? It feels pretty special that a young kid his age is picking up guys like Dame [Lillard] 94 feet from the hoop and things like that.”

Jones: “He has all the tools, he has all the tools. He knows that. It comes easy to him, like he’s just naturally gifted. And then when you mix in the fact that he’s a worker, the fact that he’s in the gym working, trying to improve, he’s asking questions, he wants to learn on both ends of the floor… That’s when you get something special. So you can see he’s not scared, he’s confident. When you see that from a young guy, that’s special because he’s one of, if not the youngest player in the league. And when you’re thrown out there as a rookie and you’re asked to cover some of the best players in the league that could be eye opening for a lot of guys, but he doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t hesitate at all, and that’s huge.”