I remember everyone here hyped up on D-Mo and Royce White during summer league while T-Jones quietly did his thing. Morey and the front office seem to have been infatuated with Thomas Robinson. T-Jones doesn't have Robinson's overall athleticism. He doesn't have D-Mo's 7'0 length and post skills. He doesn't have Royce White's play-making abilities. What he is though, is a much more complete PF and player than all our other prospects. He's got better length than Robinson and he actually knows how to play. He's got a better motor, better base strength and better defensive awareness than D-Mo. He's got a better head and work ethic than White. Greg Smith and Jones should be our rotational PFs. Jones has better upside than Greg Smith who is almost a tweener PF/C but is still a very good rotational big.
What bothers me about this is that SO MANY posters here and Rockets fans in general felt that Jones was out best power forward following Summer League and expected him to take the starting spot soon. And if you watched his DLeague games, it was just obvious he had the be combination of skills, potential and athleticism out of our fours even after the Robinson trade. So why is he just now getting significant PT? either our coaching staff really dropped that ball here, or the kid has a serious drawback that we don't know about. Either way, it just bothers me that one of those is true.
I agree. Until Dmo can bulk up and man up, you gotta give minutes to TJ. I would try to trade Trob for a high draft pick. We could use some youth and talent at SG.
Yes he can. TJones can shoot 3's. He has done it multiple times in the DLeague. Btw he was dominating there.
The new reserved DD isn't as fun as he was... But yeah 1 good game doesn't credit him being the future... He has been on the d league and bench all year for a reason...
We had MM and PP, whom we were showcasing for trades. Then we got TRob and TJ got injured. But there were stretches of times where everybody was wondering why his not on the floor. we had 4pages dedicated to him stepping on the court in the game thread. Go figure
Donte Greene had a superb summer league. Terrence Williams averaged a triple double in the D-league. Just because you did well in those lower leagues doesn't mean you are going to contribute towards winning plays at the professional level.
We all knew TJ can score, his 12rebs tonight was particularly impressive.. now he needs NBA level training for D.
I followed Jones while he was in D-League. He suffered a foot injury and a thumb injury which would have been setbacks. Based on his play and interactions with the media, he didn't seem to indicate any problems with the organisation, D-Mo on the other hand did comment about lack of NBA playing time. It just seems that Jones was always last on the pecking order, and Robinson immediately jumped him. I don't think management or coaching staff saw much in Jones. Maybe his play in practice wasn't particularly outstanding either. When you look at D-Mo in a vacuum, I could see him impressing in practice and standing out cf. another 6'8-6'10 PF. Hell when I reviewed preseason practice footage the only players that impressed me were Kevin Martin, Parsons and Asik. I thought Lin might have been a bust, so practice isn't always reflective of NBA play, but coaching staff when they drew up their depth boards would only be able to assess Jones et. al on the premise of their practice sessions.
This is only one game but I really like Tjones, been following his play in D-League too and I just like how he plays. Athletic, has size, tenacious rebounder, capable shooter but inconsistent, and overall just skilled. If it all clicks with him he can be a force to be reckon with on the Rockets.
I tend to believe the coaching staff dropped the ball. No real excuse for Jones just now getting a chance. Better late than never though.
I'd like to know what our Reb%, overall, and offense/defense were when Asik and TJones were playing in tandem.
Tjones is a winner, he forfeited his first opportunity for draft to get a NCAA title, and he got it. Off the NBA court, I know nothing about him, whether he farted in McHale's face or not, I can only guess.
He looked great. Scored, Rebounded, and moved the ball. Absolutely did everything You'd ask from the PF position.