Parsons is a vastly superior player to Jones right now. There are very, very few players that have his skill set. Jones is very promising and has had a great season so far, and has made the PF position his... but he is not as good as Parsons.
Parsons TJones Howard Harden are all untouchables unless you can get another superstar to borderline superstar. Howard and Harden would not be traded for anything less than Durant or Lebron and since we all know that is not going to happen there is no reason to even talk about it. With the way TJones and Parsons are playing they are absolutely impossible to replace with someone as effective with out destroying the Rockets cap and any chance at a 2015 free agency. I don't think you can get a significant upgrade for either of those guys period short of landing a superstar. Kevin Love possibly? I don' know. Who else might be available. Rondo? Probably but would the upgrade at the PG position be enough to offset the downgrade at the SF or PF positions? I doubt it.
The Heat have great players that decided to play defense. Wade and LBJ were not shut down defenders from day 1. Also, not sure why you keep bringing up defense... Jones has issues defensively and benefits greatly from playing next to Howard. I certainly want to see Parsons improve defensively, but he isn't this huge black hole on defense.... the issues go well beyond Parsons.
Vastly? I am a huge Parsons fan and think he is irreplaceable with anything short of all-star caliber player or superstar. But with the way TJones is playing I'm not sure who is better at this point. Parsons is far more proven to be sure. He has been proving himself for a season and a half so we know at worst he is a borderline all star player and probably the 2nd best SF in the West. With TJones we just need to see if what he is doing is real over the remainder of this season and into next to really know if he is just having a great stretch or if he is for real. Over the last 20 games or so TJones is averaging about 16PPG, 9RPG and 1.5BPG while showing that he can put the ball on the court, lead the break, go coast to coast, finish over the rim, start and break with a block and finish that same break with a dunk. TJones is looking special.
That is an interesting question.... Saunders calls Morey 10 minutes before the trade deadline and offers: Love (will sign an extension) & Brewer & Muhammad for Parsons & Jones & Lin & Asik Does Morey do it? He gets his third star but at a big cost. C - Howard PF- Love SF- Brewer SG- Harden PG- Beverley
I keep bringing up defense because it's close to impossible to win a championship without it. And I think Jones would be doing just as good if Howard wasn't on the floor and we just had Asik. He probably would be doing better because he would get the ball more. And I don't know if you've been paying attention but he has outplayed some big time power forwards in head to head matchups. Like Love for example.
Fair enough. I watched a lot of his games at OSU and the Big Ten in general and he was a projected lottery pick. But then he had back issues and GM's were reluctant to pick him and he fell all the way down.
I really like his toughness and leadership... if these two could get along <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Erqg1ZLt_VA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Sixers are reportedly holding out for a first round pick for Hawes, so that explains why an Assik for Hawes swap never happened. http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/1396/larry-sanders-latest-and-more-chatter
Hawes is a very offensive-oriented center. Don't think we can insert him at Asik's slots and just run with it. Maybe pair him up with Howard and Jones as much as possible? Howard didn't seem to have too much trouble guarding 4's earlier this year.
And Morey was supposedly holding out for a first round pick for Asik. So perhaps at the deadline they "meet in the middle" and do a straight up swap?
Hawes is likely better than anybody we'll get with a draft pick in the mid-20's and fills an immediate need. It's tempting. All the same, I'd decline and hold out for a better deal.
