He needs to practice visualization to improve his defense. Visualize the opposing PF as some homeless guy then let him go to work.
TJ is as big as both Griffin and Love, height & weight wise. He actually has more length than both as Griffin & Love have a wingspan under 7 ft while TJ has a wingspan over 7-2. He has plenty length and the Josh Smith comparison is interesting one because Smith is actually 20 lbs lighter but is a much better post defender. And if TJ is already having trouble defending PnR or perimeter against PFs, how will he fare against faster/quicker SF/wings?
TJ's way underrated around here. He was scoring 10-12 points in the 1st quarter of nearly every game I watched. Hopefully his defence improves this year. He's definitely not a 3 and never will be a 3.
I think improvement will come with experience and coaching (!). I like TJones. An honest player. Hope he does well, as do DMo. Nice article.
I have to keep reminding myself how young Jones is. He may still be a couple of seasons from really beginning to figure himself out. I used to watch Kurt Thomas during his first few seasons with the New York Knicks, and I remember the dude could not keep himself out of foul trouble. I don't think I ever saw him play more than 10 minutes in a single game. Then flash forward 6~7 years, and Thomas becomes one of the most reliable power forwards in the league. Not outstanding, but a tough consistent veteran that any team could use. Some guys take time to develop.
I call bu775h1t on this...!!! Where is the analytical genius Mr VOA with his calculator so he can compare how well the high powered power forwards (Griffin, Z-Bo, Davis, etc) in the west do against TJ compared to Bosh. You guys may be surprised.
This is the truth, it's amazing how many people don't see it. I know a lot of us seem like we hate T. Jones, but he really was that bad defensively. The amount of PnR fails and missed rotations was astonishing. I'm not sure if he's lazy on d, or just too stupid to understand rotation concepts. It can't be just coaching because D-Mo was extremely good on these, and he isn't nearly as agile as Jones. I just hope it improves this year, because his offensive game came along very well last year. He has the potential to be really good but he killed us last season.
In defensive "RPM", he's rated as the 84th out of 90 PFs. He does not seem to see the other players on the court especially on defense.
He is only 22 you know. You were talking as if he was a 28 year old prime player. He is only getting better.
We have nothing on our roster to help us get a third star! TJones, DMO an cannan won't get us one, seriously. At best we will get decent PF/PG that is starting caliber.
Just because he's not tweeting pictures of himself in the gym everyday, doesn't mean he's not working out. You really don't know what he's been doing.
First of all- Just stop. Second of all- Statistically all the #'s point to this actually being something that is a realistic measurement for THIS TEAM (as currently constructed) in order to be at the same level it was last year, making up for the production lost from Chandler, Lin, and Asik. 13/14 - Jones' ranking- -PPG - #5 (Chandler #2, Lin#4) -Per 100 Pos- #4 (Chandler #1, Lin #5) -W/S - #4 (Chandler #3, Lin #5) -PER- #3- (Chandler #4, Lin #5) So realistically for this team, as currently constructed, to maintain pace as a mid 50's win team, Chandler Parsons' production will certainly have to be made up for and since Jones statistically was right there in the top 5 in production for pretty much every stat the Rockets had last year, he's going to be viewed as the top candidate from an outsider to take that leap into a Chandler Parsons type of production year. Again... that's IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN TEAM PRODUCTION However, I don't think the front office, coaches, etc. want to rely on Terrence to make that kind of jump in production. Ariza will surely play a key role, and should crack the top 5 in production next year, but I think we would be pretty ignorant knowing Morey like we know him to believe that he isn't going to bring in someone else by the start of training camp via trade that can also crack the top 5 in production. We, as knowledgeable Rockets followers, should also see a possibility of having better role players as well this year. So while Jones might make the jump up to a #3 option STATISTICALLY, & the Rockets maintain their team production, that might mean that there is less of a drop off in production from the top 4 players like there was last year due to better #5, #6, #7, and #8 options. As an outsider, viewing the production from the key rotation players last year its quite obvious that Jones would be the one to move up in production with the loss of Parsons & Lin. This is not #laughable. Its factual (if you put aside your bias and look at at the stat sheet). *However.... I am with you that if Jones is relied on to make up for this large amount of production, AND the Rockets don't get a major upgraded #4 - #8 contributors, they might very well end up not making the playoffs. That is a legitimate concern of mine with this team as currently constructed in regards to how tough the West is. They NEED to make another key addition or have a major surprise player emerge in order to maintain their win total from last year.
His offense is getting better, we so far haven't seen a defensive improvement. None of us are saying cut him, we all realize his age and potential. If he were 28 we would all be screaming to get his a$$ out of here. But he shouldn't be playing big minutes on a playoff team. He is the reason we lost to Portland. If we had played Asik, or even D-Mo from the start instead of him we win that series.
is he playing basketball and writing a book with sean connery?** **read in your best sean connery impression. Would like jones to work on the mid range game. i know popular consensus is that maury bans and arrests those who try it, but yao and scola midranged to death. Also on being sticky w/ the basketball. there is only so much room for stickiness,we don't need more of it. It seems like once he gets the ball, it's not going anywhere else.
According to your standards, Garcia, Casspi, inconsistent Dmo have no business playing on a playoff team. You play the veterans because you don't have anybody else and the young guys to develop them. Losing to Portland isn't that bad in retrospect if the team can learn from its mistakes. A third star who can take the load off young players and questionable veterans is what this team needs and would be huge!
