Well he'll have an uphill battle trying to get playing time being solidly behind DMo and Smith. I'm sure they will find some minutes for him, but I think he's looking at like 10 a night.
Vegas insider has Jones's expected return date to be January 23, 2015. But I expect him to be back on the court playing first week of February 2015. He will probably average around 12 minutes per game to get back in playing shape. it will take Jones about a month or two to get in game shape.
You are insane if you really think TJones is getting 10 minutes a game. He will be placed back in the starting lineup and DMo will be relegated to backup C duty. Just because he has been hurt does not mean that he lost his 14 pts 8 rebounds a game skill. Get real people!!!
Will be tough for him to crack the rotation right off the bat, he'll probably get 10-15 min a game initially, moving KPap out of the rotation. I could see a minutes breakdown like this: Howard(30)/Dmo(10)/Smith(8) Dmo(20)/Jones(18)/Smith(10) So Howard and DMo each get 30mpg, and Jones/Smith each get 18. If Jones gets back to where he was at the beginning of the year he will command more minutes as the season goes on.
When Jones comes back, I wouldn't mind giving Dwight a couple of weeks off. DMo, Smith, and Jones can hold down the 4/5 spots.
Great to hear that Jones will be healthy soon to play NBA basketball. He will be brought back slowly, but that doesn't mean that he can't contribute on the court.
A likely scenario could be Jones plays about 10-15 minutes in his first few games back so he could get used to competition against opponents. Then McHale may start him two or three games like he did with Josh Smith just to see if he'd be ready to handle it. Man, this would be a good dilemma to be in--having to choose between T. Jones and D-Mo. D-Mo has been so solid, but I'm eager to see what Jones could give us once he's fully recovered and ready to go.
I'm anxious about Dmo when TJ comes back... I hope he still will be able to find a groove with whatever time he gets. DMo being relegated to the bench always causes problems for his confidence. He comes out with major rust.
Well that would be pretty terrible for the team if they inserted the weakest defensive PF on the roster that has missed 3 months back into the starting lineup....but who knows? Crazy things can happen.
Rip why would you give Dwight a couple of weeks off? The dude isn't even 30 this isn't the Spurs who give just days off here and there for their geriatric players.
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/yAnd9vBdDV/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Terrence Jones at Rockets practice today.</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A video posted by Jenny Creech (@jennydialcreech) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-01-18T21:01:36+00:00">Jan 18, 2015 at 1:01pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>
I think Jones was poised to breakout this year. I cant really see him reclaiming that. The trajectory is lost. I'm not expecting much out of him this year but am glad he'll be back. Not looking forward to watching this coaching staff struggle for 3 weeks trying to find time for him though. Tinkering with lineups... kills me.
I want Jones to get some minutes, and I want Dwight to be healthy for the playoffs. Dwight has played almost 900 games as pro, he has a lot of mileage on him for a 29 year old. I feel confident in DMo at center. I would just give the young guys some minutes and rest Dwight for a couple weeks.
