Could Motiejunas and Jones both move out of the rotation?

If Casspi becomes a starting PF than a PF trade is the most important item on Morey's Agenda.

Last night he proved he is not ready for prime time and I am not talking about his shooting. He will get better but he is a below average PF at best. Off the bench he can focus on Shooting and rebounding and get away with poor defense against the second unit. As a starter he better shoot lights out because he is a major drop off on defense. DMo and TJones or both better defensively

 

Hard to judge off last night when pretty much everyone but Beverley was still jet-lagged.
We probably have room for some bench time for one of those two to develop. At least during the regular season.

 

They will have to play well in order to have some trade value. Both of them need to work hard to get into the rotation. They are limited minute bench players at best.

 

Mchale needs to stop playing around, this season will be starting soon.

 

It comes down to:

(a) How effective can Casspi be when his shot isn't falling. Can he defend and rebound against opposing front-lines?

(b) How does the Howard+Asik experiment pan out? If it turns out to be too much of a liability to occupy two front-court positions with players who can't hit jump shot, then that will also yield more opportunity for D-Mo or Jones.

It really is clear that PF is our "weak link". I'm not encouraged by the play of either of those players during the preseason.

 

All 3 guys have proven they are not ready for prime time and are best suited for coming off the bench. A trade is coming. No way Morey leaves a giant hole at PF with this team so close.

 

If either of them will get minutes, it'd be TJones. He is versatile enough to be a young Horry-esque type player.

 

There is a lot I disagree with here. I am not going to make a statistical argument here. It is just my opinion.

Howard and Asik are not going to get more than a few minutes a game on the court together. Contrary to what most people believe that lineup is a train wreck on both sides of the floor.

On offense it is obvious. Has there ever been a successful starting lineup featuring two players who were only an offensive threat within 6 feet of the basket? Asik has hands of stone so you just have to have him covered within 8 or so feet from the basket.​

On the defensive side when Howard and Asik are on the floor together every team is going small, fast and mobile. SAS will play Leonard at the PF. IND will play George. And so on. Those players will drive Asik/Howard stupid chasing them around the floor.​

Casspi against many if not most starting power forwards in the league is road kill. Blake, Bosh, Randolf, West, Duncan ... Bad things will happen in those match ups.

This response is long enough. But if you wish I could go on.

 

This. The reality is that all three are pretty bad right now. On a contender none of the three is even good as a third stringer.

What the Rockets do for the PF spot to address this issue should tell us about what they think their aspirations are.

 

At this point in Jones career he and Horry have nothing in common. Absolutely nothing. Now or probably ever.

 

I assure you management and coaching staff have given up on both and are just hoping one of them can produce a little trade value. These guys are more inconsistent than Marcus Morris, who was traded for a 2nd round pick.

 

LOL. And what do you base your heartfelt position on? Your extensive knowledge of basketball? Your stellar ability to wring the meaning out of stats? Your baseless uninformed opinion? I vote for the latter.

 

Dmo + jones for Morris and Morris.
Let's take the twins for the hell of it

 

McHale will continue to play around the rotation even during regular season. That's his job. Casspi is best coming off the bench. He is shooting happy. He can't start when he's the 5th option. He needs to come off the bench where he is the 2nd or 3rd option.

backcourt rotation is set
Harden/Lin/Beverley/Garcia

so is SF and C
Parsons/Garcia and Howard/Asik

big question is PF
if Asik can play with Howard then everything is perfect
just start Asik and Casspi as backup

if can't, then Jones will start, if don't workout then will switch to Motiejunas

 

Haha. Nope. Just know how much people like you love to overrate some of our players. And how seeing neither of these guys have been consistent in a string of games, and still finding themselves competing with nobodies.

Really if you can't separate yourself from Greg smith dmo and casspi at PF, then you're just not gonna happen on this squad.

Secondly, you're the same guy that chirped my thread predicting the western conference standings, then a page later posted your own predictions.
Keep it up!

 

Howard and Asik will never work. Their paint clogging presence will short circuit any possible dribble drive from Harden or Lin. And how many points is that a game? Doesn't Harden get almost all of his nine free throw points a game off of dribble drive penetration? Do you really believe that ... Well I could go on but you can see the direction of my argument.