Also, to be fair, the way LMA was playing in the playoffs, I think anyone defending him would have been murdered. Even when Asik was defending him, LMA hit some ridiculous shots, he was just in the zone those first few games (contested shots, 3-pointers?!), and he was bound to cool off as the series progressed, so it wasn't necessarily that Jones was that bad, but that LMA was that good.
I would not say it was clear over the entire year. Jones was better at the beginning of the season and DMo never played well enough to unseat him. During the middle part of the season (January through most of March), it was DMo was playing better and McHale actually said in an interview that he told Jones he was on the verge of losing his starter spot. DMo was in a funk for his last 10-15 games (a few of those games he played center which he has shown he isn't very good at). Jones wasn't playing great either, but was less bad at end.
This. If we don't advance far into the playoffs / win in the Finals, Dwight might opt out, leading to no super duper FA wanting to come here to play with Harden. Dominos might fall if success isn't seen.
Yes, LMA probably played some of his best basketball those first couple of games. Jones just added gas to the fire by giving him some easy looks, too.
Anyone in the N.B.A can go on a hot streak. Jones was not the only one guarding LMA. He was still scoring with Jones on the bench. It would've been nice to see a double team every once in a while which falls more under coaching in my book. I know he definitely needs to work on his D but to say a 22 year old with his athleticism will never be good defensively is silly.
He might have never gotten as hot as he did if it weren't for all the easy looks he was getting. One of Howard, Asik, or DMo should have been on him at all times to at least put someone out there with the length to challenge his shot. The Rockets really set up Jones to fail by putting him in a bad situation.
He didn't just get murdered by Aldridge, he had a large negative impact on defense overall when in the game (partially because he was often replaced by Asik, but still) that seemed to squander Dwight's presence honestly I know Harden has the Bad D youtube videos but if anybody cared, they could made a far more damning one about Jones poor rotations, not boxing out leading to second chance points, etc. Hopefully it's just inexperience rather than ineptitude
Improvement Opportunties for TJones: 1. Get stronger to play better post defense, he appears to be afraid to bump and rebound in traffic on the defensive end 2. Improve your jump shot, the form is too slow and cumbersome 3. Go hard like pbev every minute you're on the court
I don't remember McHale ever saying to the media that Jones was on the verge of losing his starting spot.
LMA is a tough guard for DMo as LMA has the veteran rip through move that the refs were calling as a shooting foul that series. I can't remember if the rip through was suppose to be a no call or a non-shooting foul...but definitely not a shooting foul.
I don't think he is afraid of contact in most situations. He just does not seem to know where the opposing players are while he is trying to figure out where the rebound will go. He tries to defensive rebound like he rebounds on offense. Going for the ball instead of preventing the opponents from having a chance to get to the ball.
No doubt, LMA is a tough guard for anyone, but DMo did well against Dirk and LMA has the same mentality of being willing to settle for outside shots if it's difficult to get inside which is why I think he could be useful. In a perfect world, you'd have had DMo on Lopez and one of Asik or Howard on LMA. One of the reasons I like DMo's game over Jones' is his ability to play spot minutes at the 5 in cases where you have a really good big 4 and a weak 5 like Portland. Both Jones and DMo are really tweeners, it's just that DMo is a PF-C tweener while Jones is a PF-SF tweener. Either way, if you had to have one of Jones or DMo on LMA, DMo would be better because he's the better post defender and he has the length to challenge LMA's mid-range jumper.....not that he'd ever be able to block him, but he'd make it less comfortable for him and that's all you can hope for.
I don't think people are high on Jones because he's short, offensively minded, plays poor D, and doesn't rebound well. He just doesn't appear to be a high-upside player.
I remember Aldridge would murder Scola in the 09 playoffs too... Scola was average at best on defense. Don't sleep on tjones. I remember last year everyone wanted to sign josh smith to a max contract. I kept saying jones will give you similar type of production at a fraction of the cost. Jones is going to get better. Why does everyone think you need an all star at every position to win a title?
Jones's defense is bad. We can all agree on that. But, I think it will get better as he matures. Do we have time to wait for that to happen? Not really -- which is why some people are down on Jones being the starting 4. However, I am less down on him than some, because I think he has the potential to be a big contributor on offense this season. If you look at the roster, now that Chandler and Lin are gone, there is going to be a lack of ball handling offense generating ball handlers. I think Jones can take a good part of this burden on, and become the third scorer on this team -- maybe even up to nearly 20 points per game. With that sort of productivity he will earn enough time on the court to get 10 rebounds a game as well and perhaps around 2 blocks. Now, I know these are just stats -- but I think Jones, this season, can become our third offensive weapon. His defense will be better than last season, but still not good, but having Howard next to him will help with that a lot. I think Jones is actually a potential most improved player award candidate this season.
It's not jones D he will get better, but the system the rockets run with harden getting the goal & Howard "A POST UP CENTER" you need a stretch 4.... He's perfect coming off the bench for 20mins a game This is when Howard can play at his full abilities, every year morey has a jones or dmo playing next to Howard is a waste of time. Rockers need a STRETCH 4 more than any team, but we're the only playoff team in the west without one mavs - dirk Warriors -lee Spurs -Duncan/diaw clippers -Blake/hawes thunder -ibaka Blazers - lma Grizzlies -zbo
It doesn't matter about his PER, we have Dwight Howard the most ball dominate post up center in the NBA & harden who likes to drive... We need a PF that clears out the lane, I see pages and pages about LMA that's not the issue...
I have said the this before, Jones has the skills the question is the motor and energy. He seems to be a low energy guy at times. Yes, he has 20 PER which theoretically makes him a top PF. The problem is he tends to get down on grind it out games. I do think he is capable of being a stretch 4 and improving greatly on 3s. Let's see if he takes this of season to show that he can. For a first year at 22 he did well. LMA had questionable motor coming out of college so we shall see.
I'm very high on Jones, actually, I think it's funny how much we expect out of our late lottery picks.
