if it's between the high ast/to with decent shooting guys, i'd rather have antonio daniels personally for the extra athleticism (and thus better chance at causing problems on D) but maybe the difference isn't worth a 1st round pick. as for jones, i guess he's an ok solution at this point. nothing great but not too bad. 7.0 points and 5.8 assists in 24 minutes is certainly solid. doing it with only 1.3 TO's is definitely good. and shooting 36% on 3's is at least average, thought nothing that will make defense quiver at the thought of doubling off of him. minuses are his overall 40.1% shooting (i mean francis shot 40.7% i believe and it seemed like he missed everything) and he gets about as many steals (.37) and blocks (0.0) as a dead man. better be one hell of a man defender (which he most likely is not) to make up for that. we can certainly do better, but at this point if he's what we get then i'm not terribly worried about the pg position. if we can get him relatively cheap, all the better. i'd love a jj type contract personally (though obviously he may not take it). we need to get as many role players on 1/2 MLE contracts as we can the next two years, sign tmac and yao to max extensions, then trade howard and mo t for expiring contracts and have some cap room to add a solid piece after 05/06. but that discussion is for another time.
i agree, everything i remember about daniels is that he seemed like a poor-mans steve francis, more of a tweener. he also likes that one-handed statue of libery dunk that boki always attempts, he's very athletic though. the thing i remember most about damon jones as a pre-season rocket is as gater mentioned a pretty poor ability of breaking traps in the backcourt and a tendency to shoot alot of 3's. both seem more like 2's in a 1's body but with mcgrady and yao running the halfcourt offense they only essentially need average point guard skills. i haven't really seen much of them in the last year but i'd take either of them cheap before i pay derek fisher a fat contract that's for sure.
With no chance at getting a marquee PG this off-season, I'd much rather sign Damon Jones to a reasonable contract than overpay for Fisher or the like. I think his contract should be more like Arroyo's 4yr-$16mil deal than the full MLE deals that others have been getting because he's largely been a back-up up until this point and this is his 1st major contract. I like the size and defense of Daniels, but I see Jones as a better true PG, especially in the half-court set. As long as we don't give him a Moochie deal, then I'm fine with having him be our starting PG this year. He's young, hard-working, and on the upswing, which bodes well for possibly solidifying our core. At worst, he doesn't take the next step, and we can try to re-address the position next year.
Most seem to agree w/you. As do I. Daniels was the best option left. But Jones is good. He was one of my top picks; Barry, Arroyo, Daniels, Snow, Fisher, Jones, Terry (in order of preference)... Still a good PG, even though it wasn't my top pick.
I'll be fine with either Jones or Daniels. We are not counting on the pg to be the third option on scoring, nor are we counting on him to be the conductor on offense. We biggest need out of a pg should be defense, so we don't get killed on perimeter any more. Plus the ability to hit open shots and protect the ball. Daniels is the best fit right now with Jones being a close second. Fisher is looking for big money so no Fisher.
im def. excited by this news if we come out with either daniels or jones i'll be extremly happy pleeeease dont overpay for fisher
Jones is the better point, Daniels is just more athletic (and may very well be the better player, just not the better point)
Hey... I'm starting to get less excited as time goes by. We're down to singing the praises of Damon Jones and looking for holes in Daniels' game now. That's OK, because we've done the same thing with a whole string of point guard possibilities as time has marched on and one after another has seemingly been eliminated for some reason, real or imagined on our part. I guess what I'm saying is, Jones will excite me if we sign him and he produces on the court. But I can't work up any excitement now. There was some effort involved in getting excited about Daniels.
I would love to sign Jones, and then trade Lue for Daniels. Lue makes slightly less, and Daniels may not be as willing as Lue to play backup to Ridnour. But a PG rotation of Daniels and Jones, the two best asst/to players in the league, would be absolutely amazing. Maybe we can send them Lue and GAINES for Daniels? Maybe Gaines alone? Maybe we can swap Lue for Daniels and then take Jerome James off their hands for a secon round pick and the TE? That would be sweet, it would complete our team. All we'd have to do then is sign Jones to a decent contract starting around 3M, for a maximum of 4 years. 4 years 15M is terriffic. Yao/James MoT/Howard JJ/Boki/AG T-Mac/Pike/Gaines Daniels/Jones/Gaines That's a contender. Easily. Offensively, that team is extremely well-structured, unlike last year's Rockets. Defensively, our only weakness is at the 4.
Sounds great..I hope that happens..I don't mind giving up Lue for Daniels...I don't know if they would Lue...it would be nice if this happened..and then we could get a good power forward.
From his bio at nba.com... PERSONAL * Lists his favorite movie as The Hurricane * Likes R&B and says his favorite artist is Brian McKnight * Parents are Renee and Willie Lee * Has two brothers and a sister * Has a three year old daughter, Taylor * Favorite NBA player growing up was Gary Payton * Majored in Buisness Management * Lists his favorite food as fried chicken * Calls Galveston, Texas home during the offseason * Enjoys bowling and playing softball when he's not playing basketball Maybe his defense will get to that level here...
Is he really 6'3? I haven't erally seen him much in games, is he reeeeeally 6'3? Francis was listed at 6'3 as well, but clearly he wasn't. But when Jones plays, can you describe him as a PG with very good size? Obviously not Jamaal Crawford/Magic Johnson size, but does he have good size? Is he taller than the average PG?
Jeff, Clutch and others, I remember this well. As a favor they let him go to allow Detroit to sign him. Not only did rockets go with Moochie they also went with T. Brown. I followed Jones in Detroit, Sacramento and Milwaukee. I would consider us particularly fortunate for him to be available to us at this point, to play the point.
I actually don't think this is a bad move. Look at Jones' stats on nba.com compared to Fisher/Barry/Daniels; they are not only comparable but in some cases better minute for minute. I would rather the rockets pay less money for a somewhat productive player at that position, otherwise we will be stuck with endless "overpaid player" threads for the next four years!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2001980017_soni15.html • About 17 players changed teams yesterday and none of them chose the Sonics, who were quiet on the first day free agents could sign offer sheets. GM Rick Sund said the Sonics had targeted two free agents, Derek Fisher and Barry. Fisher is considering Seattle, Houston and Miami, while Barry was expected to sign with San Antonio yesterday.
If Jones doesn't demand too much money, he could be a good fill in until we sort everything out. Next year, Lue will probabbly leave so even if we find a long-term solution at point, we'll still need Jones as insurance. The key will be the length of the contract.
Damon Jones is a good stop gap solution for our starting pg problem, but I wish people would stop comparing him to Billups. He is not Chauncey, poor or no. He is not Bobby Jackson. He is more on par with Antonio Daniels, and probably a rung below that. I'd pass on him if he's looking for more than 3 mill a year or a Moochie-esque deal.
Half the MLE starting at 2.5M. Since Jones has never made close to 1M in a season and this was his semi-brake out year I think he could be had for less. Something similiar to Lue's contract. Maybe 3 years 6M or 4 years 10M. Arroyo is a better player so his contract is something to shoot under for (4 years 16M). But nothing will happen until Fisher makes his decision. If he goes to Seattle then I think Seattle will deal Daniels to us. Waiting on Fisher....
