Wizards Notes: Jones, Poole, Kuzma, Gallinari

Tyus Jones is the unquestioned starting point guard for the first time in his career. The former Grizzlies backup is not only embracing that role, he has become the Wizards’ vocal leader, Ava Wallace of the Washington Post writes.

“I’m one of the older guys now, so it’s more on my plate from a teaching perspective. So it’s just trying to understand that, understanding that with the younger team, younger guys, there’s going to be days where certain things that you take for granted, they might not know yet or get or really realize that there’s a different way to do it,” Jones said. “. . . You know, you can’t talk too much in my shoes. The more I talk, the better. The more I’m communicating, the more I’m pulling the young guys aside and telling them what I see or what I want, the better.”

We have more from the Wizards:

• Jordan Poole will have the ball in his hands a lot more than he did in Golden State and Kyle Kuzma is confident Poole will thrive in that role. “His next progression is just making others better, because when he has the ball, people are going to know he wants to shoot and score, and that’s OK,” Kuzma told Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “That’s a good thing because that means your teammates are going to be more open from a defensive perspective. So he’s going to be great. This is his first time in this type of role. Playing off the ball for so many years, it’s going to take some time. But he’s young and he loves the game. He loves his craft.”
• After being unable to play for Boston last season due to an ACL injury, Danilo Gallinari is thrilled to be back on the court, as he told Chase Hughes of MonumentalSportsNetwork.com. “Right now after not playing basketball for 13 months, I just want to play basketball and have fun… When I wake up, I want to play basketball and I want to be in the gym,” he said. “It’s like a drug for me. If something happens that takes you away from having that, you want to get back right to it.”
• In case you missed it, the Wizards tweaked their camp roster by adding Devon Dotson. Get the details here.