Tuomas Iisalo: Ty Jerome’s got an insane basketball library in his head

Memphis Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo has been extremely impressed with how Ty Jerome processes the game of basketball (averaging 19.5 PPG/3.5 RPG/7.0 APG/1.0 SPG/54.5% FG/33.3% 3-PT/84.6% FT/20.0 MPG in two starts since returning from a high-grade right calf strain).

(via Memphis Grizzlies):

“Don’t want to get too technical about this, but he’s just amazing at perception-action coupling. Which means he’s able to take in information, and pair up a corresponding action to it really well. And that’s why he doesn’t look like the most explosive guy, but he gets to his spots on the floor because he reads so well the body language of not only his own defender, but also the helping defenders. And he’s actually so good that he can manipulate those other defenders to get out of the space that he wants to create or get into the space that he wants to create for somebody else. Just an incredibly skilled and crafty player in that regard. And then, his basketball IQ is just off the charts. 

“He really loves basketball. It’s all he cares about, and just an insane library that he has in his head and makes the communication also with the game similar like with Ja [Morant], just a high level of understanding. I think we’ve talked about guys learning a new position as we go, but that does not happen: ‘So we have practice on Tuesday, and let’s go through that.’ That’s something that evolves over years and years of work and being in that situation and you develop this type of library and it takes years to develop it. He has it and he just plays at his own pace and gets to the spots and able to do a lot there.”