Of course, coming off the bench, he can go against scrubs like Morris every game. If he can play as well against bench guys as he did against Morris then Jones will really help solidify the bench for us this year. That's how you turn his predictable failure against the Warriors into a positive.
If only he could play with the starting 5 we trotted out last night against the Warriors starters.... The truth is somewhere in the middle there.
He's clearly going to be in the position to lose the starting spot with DMo coming back from an injury. Personally, DMo is more suited to be the 6th man on our team.
Im usually the patient one here. But Jones sucks. He is athletic and talented. But his indecisiveness & passiveness at this point in his career is unacceptable. He should at least have a reliable jump hook but can't even do that smh. He just lacks the consistent motor that he shouldve learned last year
I disagree. Most nights Jones is a liability if he's against legitimate competition, you'd be setting him up to fail putting him as a starter. Now, play him off the bench, against bench competition and you are setting him up to look good and not be a liability to the team. Jones has basically no chance to hold on to the starting job once DMo is back simply from a talent standpoint. He simply doesn't have enough of it.
Then the problem is that we can not get a good return from a trade if he is really not good. Hope that other GMs did not see him lots, then take him as a good starter in a trade.
Good or not, Jones and DMo are in the last year contract, the rockets can not keep both, so likely Morey need think trade Jones sooner rather than later.
Sure, but only if he thinks that someone else on the team or a collection of players can fill the backup PF role. Jones isn't a starting caliber player, but he's still better than Dekker or Harrell and the gap between them is still too great to flip Jones IMO. Now if those guys show rapid improvement to where the team feels confident enough in them to handle the backup spot, sure trade Jones for whatever you can get for him, but until then, you've gotta keep him.
Agreed. Passiveness is key. The skill is there, but the mentality isnt. This guy had 2 rebounds last night. TWO. Preseason or not, having 2 rebounds, as an athletic power forward is pathetic.
If this DMo guy is half as good as y'all say he is, then the Rockets should start printing NBA Finals t-shirts right now.
Let's just say the PF spot is still an issue for this team. TJ has a lot of NBA seasons ahead of him. And does have some great skills. But he hasn't seemed to be able to harness whatever it is he needs to harness to put it together in a way that makes him a better player than his skills individually. Meaning, solid ballhandler, great athletic ability, can hit open jumpers, can play with his back to the basket. But the defense is suspect. The mediocre rebounding is a concern. Etc. I think TJ would benefit from focusing almost exclusively on improving the above two areas. The offensive game will come... but he seems to want to focus on it. I wonder if we'll see some/a lot of Dwight and Capela combos? Unfortunately I don't really think it will work great... they're both just too center'ish.
You most be thinking of some other player or you are simply referring to the playoffs. Oh you're going to be surprised.
So just because it's a preseason game its OK for Jones to turn over the ball by dribbling off his foot, miss open layups, and make awful ****ing decisions?
We all know what we have at the PF position. Doesn't do any good to keep rehashing what we already know. TJones and DMo each have their flaws. But most NBA players have some flaw. If Morey can upgrade that position, I'm sure he will. He already drafted Harrell and Dekker, who I think they hope will solidify the PF position. I have a feeling that Harrell will be a solid player. I'm ready for the season to start and will be cheering for whoever is playing.
Amazing what people can analyze and disect within a few preseason games... I'd rather wait till the real starting 5 goes out there and we put everything we have on the floor to make my assessment, rather than a handful of preseason matches. You guys are priceless.
Without Jones, we don't win Game 6 vs LAC. And had a great Game 5, as well. I think that affords him a bye on a meaningless preseason game. LOLs at people saying this game proves he folds under pressure.
I think we all need to adjust our expectations for TJones. I'm looking at him more like a Brewer type player right now.....ie a solid backup that every once in a while has a big game. To me that means we need another solid vet for those days when TJones isn't on his game. That type of player should be available at little or no cost at some point during the season, and he might be there right now....Carlos Boozer.
Without benching Jones after game 4, we don't make it past the Clippers, that was the change that was made that turned the series around. He was just too awful to play with the starters but he did better in a bench role.
I can't fathom how people are coming to some of the conclusions in this thread based off a PRESEASON game. Jones is shooting 40% from 3 in the preseason which is a good sign. Can't draw any other conclusions though.