Houston Rockets assign Scott Machado and Terrence Jones to RGV Vipers

With Delfino out, Morris plays the 3. Leaving the backup 4 spot empty.

 

actually, i thought that was what would happen, but i've noticed that they kept the same rotation and have Morris coming off the bench to spell Pat at the 4 while Cook plays a lot of minutes at the 3. Of course Morris gets a little time at the 3, but from what i saw in the OKC game, most of his playing time was at the 4.

 

Good. Jones looked completely lost against OKC.

 

Jones looked bad, yeah. I hope this means they think D-Mo is NBA ready and Jones is not.

 

My guess is they just want to maximize Jones' minutes and touches in RGV. Also, they need enough bodies to practice so keeping one of them in HOU makes sense.

 

I like what they are doing this first half of season giving all the rookies the time in both leagues at different times. I think it sends a clear message that everyone needs to get better right now, and yet, we still see a future with you and want you with the varsity team as much as possible.

 

I'm guessing Delfino returns next game. Hence, Jones being send to D-League.

 

Neither of them are truly NBA ready. I don't know why GARM was so hyped up on Jones in the first place, probably from hightlighs of dunks and blockshots, but if people had followed the Rockets closely from preseason, Jones was never a good defender at 4. This move to RGV is long overdue.

Until DMo learns how to play decent defense and box out during rebounding, he will only see limited time. Best way to develop DMo is from a 4.

 

Was part of the reason for pulling Machado from Vipers so that he could travel to Minnesota? Hadn't occurred to me before, but now that he's going back... that's the only reason that comes to mind.

 

Congrat's to D-Mo.

I think the Rockets recognized he clearly doesn't belong in the D-League, and would be better off playing against NBA level talent, even if it's most of the time in a practice setting.

 

That was what the thought was before the Tuesday game, although they did say Douglas had flu like symptoms but it seems the Vipers recall was mainly to have everyone be able to ride with the team for Wednesday.

Machado showed improvement in the D-League so I hope he continues to develop. Jones has really been rough whenever I've seen him with minutes, so getting prolonged stints on the court should help him.

Motiejunas might go back sooner or later once Aldrich is back healthy. From his own limited time on the court, I think he could stand to get more experience and likely won't get it on the bench since I don't see Sampson playing him over Morris or Smith.

 

They're going to get his stats up in the d-league so they can use him as an asset for a trade.

 

Not unexpected.

 

Here's a confused coaching staff hard at work.

 

Machado is too small to play in this league he has alligator arms... i never see him running an NBA team either starting or from the Bench...

T.Jones BELONGS in the D-League...he is hesitant and needs confidence, the skills are there...he just needs a lot of in game action to reinforce his belief that his decisions are the right ones...

 

It was probably insulting to even put him there in the first place.

D-Mo played against Euroleague competitions and had success against those competitions. D-League's level is far below Euroleague's

 

Well, also Tney Uglas was back to his minus 10 point swing in 2 minutes routine. With Delfino out, even Machao may have been preferrable in case Tney Uglas is really really sucking it up. With Delfino close to returning, they can just bench Uglas if needed.

 

You know, you guys are all probably partially right.

It's entirely possible that the decision to swap Jones/DMo is because of Jones' poor performance, a desire to constantly give all the rookies fair NBA playing time, Dmo's good performance in the DL, and Delfino returning from injury.

 

FREE D-MO!

 

I'm sure they're just trying to get him some meaningful minutes in a basketball game.