The only time a player who has outplayed expectations should be criticized for not being a star is when they self promote like Chandler Parsons. Jones has never called himself a star and has not been expected to be one so to criticize him for not being one is silly.
If this is so then why did he have multiple 30 point games? And how did he consistently avg double figure points with no defining offensive skill. Apparently his offense is no better than Asik so why did the offense take off when he was inserted and not decline the whole year? You are upset because Jones was effective and you can't put your finger on why. Well a PF who moves and handles the ball as well as Jones can beat opposing PFs off the dribble whether they back off him or not. Bigs don't want to play perimeter defense which is what you have to play when you guard Jones. How does Rondo or any other guard get to the basket when they can't shoot? How did Lin get there? How did Derrick Rose and Westbrook get there? If your skill is a mismatch for who is guarding you, then you will get there regardless.
Playoffs are about match ups. Jones was not a good matchup for the Blazers. We understand that. But in a series against SA, GS, OKC, Dallas he would have performed at his normal level due to more favorable match ups for his skill set
Tyler Hansbrough is a terrible finisher. His shooting percentage at the rim last year was lower than Patrick Beverley's. Jones was higher than Anthony Davis. A 22 year old 3rd year player is more likely to regress than improve? That's a bad bet.
The defense you claim the NBA will adjust to and play on Jones is precisely the defense they played on Asik when we started with the a Twin Towers? Why were teams able to adjust to Twin Towers in 5 games but unable to adjust to Jones in 75 when according to you, he provides no more floor spacing and offensive skill than Asik does? You still have not accounted for this with your rambling.
Fixed The defense you claim the NBA will adjust to and play on Jones is precisely the defense they played on Asik when we started with the a Twin Towers? Why were teams able to adjust to Twin Towers in 5 games but unable to adjust to Jones in 75 when according to you, he provides no more floor spacing and offensive skill than Asik does? You still have not accounted for this with your rambling.
If only we could put Chuck Hayes' mind into Jones' body. With those physical tools we'd have a top five defense.
Jones has a lot of room for improvement defensively .... But he's a pretty solid offensive player , doesn't need plays run for him to get his and can handle the ball very well for a big. To me , watching him its more about confidence than ability with Jones. Sometimes it seems like he holds back not wanting to do too much or something he cant ..... when he just needs to do it. He willingly takes a back seat to Davis & MKG @ Kentucky and has fallen into that same role here with Howard & Harden. I'm of the opinion that last years starters could win it all ..... they just needed better bench play and a couple situational veterans. I cant blame Morey for taking the risks in attempting to sign Melo & Bosh .... But I'd have gone a different route and filled out a strong bench behind that starting five.
Please name me off a list of the power forwards that shut the elite power forwards down... I'll wait It's hard stopping those guys from scoring. TJ does just as good as guarding the elite power forwards as the elite power forwards do guarding each other. Blake Griffin averaged 35 ppg on Bosh and LMA but he doesn't do TJ like that. Z-Bo doesn't do TJ the way he does Bosh. Davis hasn't hit 40 on TJ like he did LMA. And Bosh averaged 11 ppg against Houston last year. The picture looks clearer when you don't have tunnel vision. LMA has our #. We would have to pull a "Tonya Harding" on him... But anyone who thinks the Rockets lost to Portland because of TJ is foolish. And Portland isn't the top dog in the west anyway _ San Antonio, OKC, Clippers, and maybe Memphis is and TJ is just fine when it comes to playing those teams ----> Chris Bosh is practically useless when facing those teams. I can't wait for the season to start.
is jones a finished product? no. what realistic options are out there at the 4? ...oh yeah not many. especially when you consider the limited assets the rockets have to get an all star PF. something is odd about expecting a 22 year old to be a prepackaged superstar. trades aren't the only way to get things done in the NBA. why does every armchair GM throwout the player development option (most successful organizations develop players!)? inb4 "wasting howards years" which gets a "what other realistic replacement options are there". at least see how he performs up to the all star break. a defensive assist coach is needed as well. it's not like jones was the only problem on defense. it was also team defensive schemes.
What you fail to understand about Tyler Hansbrough is he had a 94% FTr. What that means is for every field goal he shot he shot almost as many free throws. What that means is Hansbrough not only finished but he also drew a TON of fouls and got to the foul line. Tyler Hansbrough is a big-time finisher. You have to look beyond simple shooting percentages to see it. A 22 year-old 3rd year player who has not broken out and who cannot shoot a basketball after spending 2 years in college followed by 2 season in the NBA is more likely to regress than to emerge. Gather the data and analyze it for yourself. The odds are overwhelmingly against _ones emerging and becoming more than what he is now.
Yeah because 22 year olds never improve right? :roll eyes: The only thing Terrence is missing on offense is an good outside shot. Plenty of players improve their outside shot as their NBA career progresses. - 23 years old Chandler Parsons 3pt% .337 - 23 year old Kyle Lowry 3pt% .272 - 23 year old Trevor Ariza 3pt% .319 - 21 year old Terrence Jones 3pt% .307 - 25 year old Chandler Parsons 3pt% .370 - 27 year old Kyle Lowry 3pt% .380 - 28 year old Trevor Ariza 3pt% .407 - 22, 23, 24 year old Terrence Jones 3pt% ? Those are just Rockets, and I could have included others Rockets. Jeremy Lin improved his 3pt% every year. Don't tell me that Terrence Jones should not be expected to improve. Hakeem didn't even hit his prime until he had been in the league several years. By the way, what exactly is your definition of breaking out? In TJones 1st year getting any legitimate minutes and his 1st year starting he played pretty damn well putting up several marque performances against all-star power forwards. He had good offensive averages and if you watched the game you saw how much the Rockets offense improved once Asik was replaced by TJones.
Jones has been analyzed silly in this thread, so my comments are mainly intuitive. He flashed some serious skills during last season. He wasn't terribly consistent, but he wasn't completely inconsistent either. I was really impressed with his handles, and he was dynamic around the basket. Shooting outside of ten feet was an adventure. Defensively he did rather well except against the elite power forwards and every player struggles to defend them. I believe that he will improve. I don't see a budding star, but I do see a solid role player with an upside.
no No one is disputing that LMA or other elite PF's will get their points. That is a given but to have to be so bad that to get put on the bench and have Asik come into the game as a starter to just slow up a LMA is horrid. Sure Asik had success but that destroyed our offensive spread and thus our scoring. So Asik is the answer to your question. Too bad Asik sucks offensively. Howard has to get help or we are one and done in the playoffs. TJ is a liability to this team in the playoffs.
This is such a terrible post I won't bother addressing it. Just know that giving up on a 22 year old prospect who should have been a college senior and is literally playing his 1st true season with NBA minutes is silly. Especially when that player has proven to be top 5-7 in his draft class and changed the dynamic of his team when he was inserted into the lineup.
TJones has a lot of potential and in fact often showed it on the court last year. Really young guy with lots of upside.
