Just before the draft last June, it was announced that Damian Jones was undergoing surgery for a torn left pectoral muscle (he injured it lifting weights during his pre-draft workout in Orlando). That didn’t stop the Warriors from taking Jones with the 30th pick, the last of the first round.
It doesn’t look like he’ll be ready for the start of training camp, reports Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News.
Warriors rookie center Damian Jones is progressing from June pec injury. Back lifting weights. Not on court yet. Unlikely for start of camp.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) September 7, 2016
Jones was always a project that was more about a couple of seasons from now than this coming campaign, but a setback that limits him at camp is a setback in that development. The big man from Vanderbilt looks like an athletic center — 7-feet tall, long wingspan, 244 pounds, 36-inch vertical — but his game is raw. The hope is he develops into a rim protecting big that can score with his back to the basket. But we’re a couple of years away from that.
The Warriors are expected to start Zaza Pachulia at center, have Anderson Varejao behind him, and play a lot of a newly-modified Death Lineup with Kevin Durant at the four and Draymond Green at the five. Jones gets the scraps of minutes left after all that.
Once he gets healthy.