T Jones always plays to win. In College, he sacrificed his game to help the 4 freshmens help him win a championship. He doesn't get all big headed.
It's hard to say - 4 games has been impressive but guys can put together an awesome 4 game stretch and then disappear - it happens a lot. Especially if teams see what he is doing and adjust. Biggest issue I had with Jones was his Basketball IQ - to your point he looks completely lost at times especially on D. I hope he continues the great work but whether or not he is the long-term solution at the 4 is hard to say. Some of that depends on other players. If Howard regains his form and can be a dominant post player, than Jones certainly has a lower bar. Just has to play solid D and hit 3's. But we'll see!
That is true, but the defense is already making adjustment to Howard, Harden, and slashing Parson. Defense has to worry about doubling down on Howard Defense has to worry about doubling down on Harden Defense has to watch Parson in case of his slashing T. Jone is in a very good position right now, defenses will basically ignore him and hope he does bad
D mo would fit too, but he doesn't bring the defense that T. Jones bring and that's why I think T jones got the start over D.Mo
People are talking about defenses adjusting to Jones. That is the beauty of what he is doing. Think about it. What are you going to really adjust to? It's not like they're running plays for him and he is taking guys off the dribble with his left hand over and over. Posting guys up and going to some favorite move. He is pretty much just sliding to the open spots on the floor and being opportunistic. Cutting to the basket, slashing when guys run out on him, beating his man down the court, and getting offensive rebounds and putting them back up. The corner three is pretty much open for any player playing that spot in this offense and probably always will be. He is keeping it simple right now and he can actually do more. I really don't see how you adjust to a player getting garbage buckets. That's like saying your going to shut down Kenneth Faried. Ok, well that means you have to outwork him, beat him down the floor, put a body on him at all times, and keep him off the glass. Good luck with that. Not saying he is unstoppable, just saying you have to be prepared to go hard all the time to neutralize what he brings to the game. If they have a guy committed to chasing Jones around all game then great because he won't be very helpful collapsing on Dwight or helping on our perimeter players. Jones would seem to be the lesser of several evils. Stop Harden, stop Howard, stop Parsons, stop Lin/Beverley, and then I'm worried about Jones. There is not a defense out there that can take away everything.
Rockets role players are quickly building up some serious trade value, if needed. Bev, Lin, Brooks, Casspi, T Jones
In the words of Ditka "Every minute they spend gameplanning for that GL set, is a minute less they spend practicing something else." Spoiler In other words, at least we have a PF who'll be in other teams gameplan. Haven't had that since Scola.
All I want to know is, didn't Mchale see how good Jones fits till the last few games? I mean his game is positively delicious.
The Asik situation was a unique won and the twin tower experiment was probably a prudent thing to do. Asik is a better player than Jones, but just doesn't fit anymore.
Jones' offensive effectiveness is all predicated on him being able to hit the 3-ball, which he is doing for the last few games. If his 3-point shooting falls off dramatically it will crater most of his offensive game as teams will funnel the ball to him and dare him to shoot. If he doesn't shoot or can't shoot the 3 effectively but instead tries to drive the ball, he'll convolute the offense and become ineffective against defenses that are playing off, giving him the 3-ball, and playing him for the drive. Just remember what I said. If Jones hits his 3-balls at a decent clip he'll look great playing with the big boys. But if his strokes disappears.....his effectiveness will disappear. I hope he keeps stroking it. But I have no reason to believe at this early point in his starting role that he will. History says he will revert to around 20-25%. If that happens.....he won't be a starter for long. If he has turned the corner with his 3-ball he could be a tremendous difference maker. We'll just have to wait and see.
^^^So let me make sure I understand what you're saying. You think a guy who shoots less than 2 three pointers a game on average is successful because he has been able to make 1 three pointer per game on average? Interesting. Let's be real. Other teams aren't respecting him as a shooter right now. Probably every three he has made has been of the embarrassingly wide open variety.
I don't expect him to keep shooting 50% from 3. As long as he is hitting over 37% of his 3's and grabbing 8-10 rebounds I'm happy. It's enough to help us dominate rebounds as well as open the offense up for Howard and Harden. Just what we need.
I'm saying teams haven't isolated on Jones yet and made him shoot the 3-ball and he's been fortunate to knock down the 3-balls he's shot. Once teams scout him a little bit and they discover that Jones MUCH MORE PREFERS to put the ball on the floor and drive than he does to shoot it and then they discover that he is much more PROFICIENT at driving than he is at SHOOTING that they will play off him and force him to shoot it. When that happens he's gonna have to jack some 3's OR he can try to force the ball with the drive. IF all he does is stand out there and pass off then logic says we're essentially playing 4 on 5. So he's gonna have to prove that he can shoot the 3-ball effectively at some point. Remember what I said. It's gonna happen. He'll either knock them down effectively or he'll start clanking and at that point either forcing the drive or simply deferring with the pass. Jones' long-term success with our starting unit is going to come down to how effectively he is from the 3-point line. I'm not saying he's got to shoot 43% out there. But he's got to maintain a respectable 35-40% to stay in the starting lineup long term. It's a function of our offensive system.
LOL what are you even saying, Tjones had like one 3 point fg made last game. All these "space" issues are overblown, the reality is the court is big enough to accomodate 4 guys in the post and one slasher, just take a look at the Spurs see how they have TD, Splitter in the post but somehow have enough space to accomodate Parker and Many who like to drive it in. In TJone's case he's effective because he knows to be opportunistic on offense, you have Howard and/or Harden demanding double teams so one guy is left open...usually him. This is pretty much the way the TT was supposed to work, the difference is he doesn't have butter fingers like Asik and he hustles for scraps, and again unlike Asik.
This is Jonesanity. If Lin had a great 4-game stretch and his fans went into a frenzy, people would have ridiculed them. Let's wait a little longer. I am rooting for him and hope that he will reach his potential soon. When Asik is traded, DMo may get more minutes and has a chance to challenge Jones's claim to the PF throne.
So you're saying all these scouts and professional NBA coaching staff can't even put two and two together and still haven't figured out that Tjones isn't a deadly 3 pter? Driving it in or 3 pts aren't the only option you know, he can receive handoffs and lay it up in the post. In this game he only scored 6 pts via 3 pters but he ended up with 18 pts. I'm not even sure how why you keep saying teams are gonna play "off" him. What are they gonna do, double team him so they leave Dwight open? If they stick close to him then that means Dwight can go 1-on-1 on his man, if they leave Tjones to double Dwight then that means Tjones can go do what he wants to score the ball.
That's true about the Spurs but not true about the Rockets. There are differences between Duncan/Parker and Dwight/Harden. You have to remember this team is built around Dwight/Harden and both guys are wanting space, space, space. Listen to both of them talk. They use the word all the time. Dwight is not multi-dimensional like Duncan is. And Harden is not a mighty mite buzzing around like Parker is. Different teams, different superstars. Our superstars DEMAND space to be effective. Jones was 2 for 3 in his last game from 3, 1 for 3 before that. So, the 3-point attempts are starting to come. But we've only just begun with this starting unit. You've got to allow time for Jones to go around the league and for teams to get some video on him, know his tendencies and strengths and to take them away from him and see what he does then.
