Butler’s trip to Australia turned into a costly one, as the program lost one of its key perimeter options for the 2013-14 season.
According to the Butler athletic department, junior wing Roosevelt Jones will miss the entire 2013-14 campaign after tearing ligaments in his left wrist. Jones, who suffered the injury during the Bulldogs’ first game of the trip, is expected to make a full recovery for the 2014-15 season.
“First and foremost, our thoughts are with Roosevelt,” stated Butler head coach Brandon Miller in the release. “He has worked very hard to position himself to have a terrific junior hear. Having said that, Roosevelt is a tough-minded, determined young man, and I am confident he will return from this adversity an even better player and person.
“Despite not playing, Roosevelt will continue to have an impact in leading this team as we move forward.”
Not only did Jones average 10.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest last season, but he also led the Bulldogs with an average of 3.5 assists per game. With Rotnei Clarke having graduated, Butler’s a very young team on the perimeter with Jones being their most experienced option.
His injury means that junior Jackson Aldridge is Butler’s leading returnee in assist percentage (20.0%) according to Ken Pomeroy’s numbers. But Aldridge did so with a possession percentage of 17.7%, with Jones factoring into 23.6% of the Bulldogs’ possessions in 2012-13.
Aldridge, sophomore Kellen Dunham and newcomers Elijah Brown and Rene Castro will need to account for Jones’ departure from a playmaking standpoint, and the Bulldogs do have senior Khyle Marshall at the small forward position as well. And even with all of this talk about Jones’ ability as a playmaker, his impact as a versatile defender shouldn’t be ignored either.
But there’s no glossing over the fact that this is a critical loss for Butler as it begins its first season as a member of the Big East.