Tennessee’s starting point guard, Jordan Bone, has been drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans with the 57th overall pick in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft. He was later traded to the Atlanta Hawks, then Philadelphia, then the Detroit Pistons.
Bone becomes the third Tennessee player taken in the 2019 NBA Draft. Grant Williams was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 22nd overall pick in the first round and Admiral Schofield was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 42nd overall pick in the second round earlier in the night. Schofield was traded to the Washington Wizards and will start his career there.
This year’s draft marks the first time since 1977 that Tennessee has had three players taken in the same NBA Draft. It’s only the third time ever in school history that UT has had three players taken in a single NBA Draft.
Bone is drafted following a breakout junior campaign at Tennessee. This past season, the Nashville native averaged 13.5 points per game, 5.8 assists, and 3.2 rebounds. Bone shot 46 percent from the field and 35 percent from three as he helped guide the Vols to a 31-6 record, tying the school record for the most wins in a single season.
Bone finished with the third-most assists in a single season (215) in school history, and his 2.91 assist-to-turnover ratio this season set the school record for best assist-to-turnover ratio in a single season. As a result of his performance, Bone was voted a Second-Team All-SEC performer.
During the course of his career, the 6-foot-3 point guard started 87 of the 95 games he played in and averaged 9.7 points. Bone averaged 4.3 assists and shot 42 percent from the field while shooting 35 percent from three.
Bone’s exceptional testing at the 2019 NBA Draft Combine really caught the attention of NBA scouts and executives, and it vaulted him into the NBA Draft conversation.
Bone finished with the best time in both the lane agility test and the shuttle run at this year’s combine. He also posted the best standing vertical leap measurement and finished second in the max vertical jump test. He was also the only player to make 100 percent of his shots during the break left portion of the shooting drills.
As a freshman in 2016-17, Bone appeared in 23 games after missing nine non-conference games with a left foot injury. He averaged 7.2 points while shooting 37.2 percent from the field and posted a team-best 2.9 assists. Along with Williams, he was a part of the highest-scoring freshman class in program history (1,140 points).
A year later, Bone was Tennessee’s team leader in assists with 124, helping the Vols lead the SEC with 15.7 assists per game. As a sophomore, Bone averaged 7.3 points per game. He ranked second in the SEC during league play with a 3.7 assist/turnover ratio (66 assists, 18 turnovers).
Last season, the Pistons went 41-41 overall and snuck in as the 8th seed in the NBA Playoffs. They were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, however. Last season was Detroit’s first season that didn’t see them finish below .500 in the regular season since the 2015-16 season, a year where they also got swept in the first round of the playoffs. Detroit hasn’t won a playoff game since 2008.
