[Rockets.com] McHale explains why Jones didn't play

Send him back to TNT and hire Flip Saunders.

 

I concur that Douglas sucks, problem is waiving Douglas does NOT recoup any salary cap. Rocket not going to eat his salary for nothing. Plus Morey can thrown TD into trade for salary matching purposes. Seeing that Machado plays virtual no defense, he just not ready to be NBA rotation. I wanted keep Livingston so TD does not see the light of day.

Right now 2nd unit going to painful to watch.

 

You're absolutely right, because of course, we know better than him.

 

He didn't play Parsons in the opener last year, and gave Morris 4 minutes.

 

McHale... What?

 

Here is to hoping Jones plays tonight!

 

I remember Morey said before that he likes to see the rookies "earned" their minutes. They probably won't give TJones a lot of minutes as a rookie. Also they want to play PPat and Morris more to increase their trade value. I think we have seen this the last 2-3 years. Almost all of our rookies didn't get any playing time at the beginning of the season.

 

right on the money. I still think the McHale hiring is one of Morey's yet-to-be-determined/ possible biggest mistakes. In Morey we trust, but i'm still having a hard time feeling confident about our head coach. The rest of the coaching staff is another matter entirely. Not rushing to judgement, but he's got a long way to go to win me over.

 

i'm starting to think maybe i do...sadly.

 

Exactly.

It's a mentality, rookies don't play in the first game of the season - he wants them to go through all the routines of a game, sit, watch, and learn. The assumption is that they'll get overwhelmed by the atmosphere.

Even the number 4 pick overall (Kevin Love) only played 18 minutes in his first game under McHale.

 

play him for at least 20mins

 

flip saunders is terrible too... :/

 

I can't for the life of me wonder why a coach would get so much flak for not playing a rookie in the first regular season game. And a rookie who was considered a backup to begin the season anyway. What's weirder is that when it comes to everything else, fans seem to be fairly objective.

"Harden had a great game, but it was one game and you can't reach too much conclusions from that."

"McHale didn't play Terrence Jones in game 1? FIRE HIM!!"

 

Eh. I think you're reading too much into it.

Morris got injured so early in the preseason (before Jones truly distinguished himself over more than one preseason game), and it's reasonable to assume that the coaching staff felt as good about Morris as they did about Jones.

Also, Morris is a better face-up option (at least right now) than Jones and was able to spread the floor more for Harden and Lin to work. Since there were exactly ZERO Rockets games played with Harden on the team, there was no way for fans to know what the coaching staff would want to do to complement Harden on the floor.

It will be interesting to see what happens tonight. Patterson will get the start, and the Rockets should improve on the defensive end as a result. But I wouldn't be surprised if McHale continues to go with Morris as the first big off the bench as a "floor-spacing 4" to create those lanes for Harden and Lin.

(FYI, Marcus Morris would be the first to tell people he had a crap game last night. But most of that was that he missed GOOD, EASY SHOTS. The fact remains, though, that he was in position to GET those shots, including several cuts to the lane that resulted in layup and dunk attempts (too many of which he simply missed. If you can cut him some slack for opening night jitters in his first career start, I think he can have a pretty good year in that role--although off the bench--for the Rockets this season. They believe in his talent.)

 

After Chandler Parsons teared it up so much in his first practice with the Rockets as a rookie last year, Scola had to pull McHale aside and ask who the hell that was.

Chandler's minutes for the season opener, IN HIS HOME TOWN, Orlando:

0.

Disciplinary? You guys are making something out of nothing.

 

This is why i love clutchfans...opinions vary......can't wait till 2nights game!

 

Morey has always talked about a "stretch 4", and like you say, particularly important with 2 guys in the backcourt who are aggressive drivers.

I'm not with the naysayers, I REALLY hope Morris does well. But at the same time I do prefer Jones and Motie as talents!
I don't think it's all just "Morris makes better space" - I'm convinced there's the "rookie sit and watch" thing for the first game of the season. There's a reason Greg Smith came off the bench instead of Jones/ Motiejunas when they were clearly ahead of him in pre-season play.

I don't neccessarily agree with the principle, but there's something smart about making rookies "earn" the right to get on the court. If he sat them all on principle, then it's a statement that nothing is given to you in this league, and you need to work hard to get anywhere.

I doubt sitting them all for 1 game makes any of them a worse player...

 

Seriously... Guido needs to visit some of the people here and whack their knees to prevent future knee-jerk reactions

 

Mchale is know to be a dumbass. Campy and dalembert wouldn't played e 4th quarters. Remember the meltdown? People here are too nice and tend to forget the past easy.

 

Yeah, the "rookie treatment" may very well be a part of it.

In fact, IF that is true, who better to get the start over them than Marcus Morris?

Morris came in as a lottery pick last year (a higher pick than White, Jones or Moti, mind you) and was surprised not to be given a rotation spot. He made matters worse for himself by complaining about being sent down to RGV (even though that was what was best for his own development). The result? His butt was nailed to the bench for the entire season.

Now, Morris is back with a better attitude, having learned from his own mistakes and paid (some of) his dues as a young NBA player. (Greg Smith is in a similar category, having paid some dues in the D-League last season.)

The rookies can learn plenty by looking at Morris's situation. If they buy in QUICKLY, they might crack the rotation a hell of a lot sooner.