I'm neutral on Jones, but he is the obvious piece to move (in combination with other pieces) to upgrade the team (PG most likely). Dmo is just better and you can likely keep Smith which rounds out the position. I like Jones and saw some value from him in the regular season, but he seemed very ineffective in some of the more important playoff games. Having better PG play in those important games seems like a better use of resources.
Sure if you can trade him for a good pg then you do it. No argument there. Doesn't mean he's a worthless player who needs to be traded for scraps
you won't get good value for Jones because teams know we don't really need him long term and other teams know it...they all know we really need a PG...that plays against us...we need a PG a whole heckova lot more than most other teams need our 3rd best PF.
This is very true. That is why the courting of Llull is continuing. I am quite certain he feels comfortable in Spain. It's too bad we can't use his draft rights in a trade. I guess ending up with Grant or Tyus won't be the worst thing possible.
Tyus Jones would be a decent "get", but it would be nice to have that #18 pick for some other deal (although who knows hos much PatBev will make and will he make it in Houston?) Maybe Llull is actually decided. Or maybe he does just need that little nudge. It seems like he's gonna be here, but that could just be me, mis-reading the tea leaves.
Not only that- how many teams actually need a PF of his caliber? He's a starter on a mediocre team, and a rotation guy on a good one, and that's about it.
I know some of yall want JONES traded but who (PG) can we get that's going to make sense? LOL. Everyone knows we want to keep DMo. Him and CC are untouchable IMO. Too young and too good. As much as I dislike Smith at times, almost everytime he shoots, he's STILL better than Jones. It wouldn't be the worst thing to keep him, he's young and improving, but we're tyring to win NOW with Dwight and James. We need to improve the PG position. We have basically every rotation spot filled.
Hypothetically, how far do you think this team would have gone if they had traded DMO and Patrick Beverly plus a pick for Goran Dragic at this last trade deadline? Remember this team went to the WTC finals without those two and the most glaring monster size hole on this team is the PG position, Beverly being out really hurt. Remember both the first 2 games were winnable in GS while playing with two 37 year old PGs chasing Curry around. Curry having to chase Dragic around court would have been no day at the beach for GS.
I'd be interested in a Terrence/Mo Harkless deal. That's 2 players that have underperformed. Orlando is a little short on bigs right now. And it sure looks like they've given up on Harkless. I happen to think Harkless has some game that needs to be tapped and he could possibly becomes a good 3&D SF. So, I'd take a flyer on him. I think Terrence/Harkless is a more realistic trade than pie in the sky first rounder for Terrence trades.
I'd honestly be happy with Rubio just because he's an elite facilitator / defender. Not the shooter I'd like him to be. Lawson, better shooter but not as good defender would be welcomed. I think James would Lawsons ability to create for others. Then we're talking about James Harden who isn't getting double teamed and will have more open looks. Not sure if they're any point guards we can draft ready to contribute other than the top 2 PGs Russell and Mudiay (both going 3rd and 4th personally) are going to be really good. Kaminsky would be great but he's not going to be there at 18. Imagine him, DMo, Dwight, CC.
You know Jones was probably the only layup person in the who series. Smith scored from driving from the perimeter and Howard got his dunks and occasional layups but it was Jones that had those hard angled layups over and over again. I wish people would go back tot he footage. True he can't defend and doesn't really have a jump shot but give him his hard in traffic layups at least. He did have those despite what anybody else might think.
All I'm saying is, get a PG who can shoot and facilitate, get a PF who can shoot and defend, a healthy DMo, Dwight, CC, Harden, Ariza. You got yourself a core there of good... great players.
It would have solidified the 2 weakest spots on the team, starting PF and PG and would have the effect of solidifying the bench as well. When guys like Terry and Smith would be coming off the bench, it would make that bench unit stronger.....I mean, that's pretty easy to see.
You have your view and I have my view. My view is if Goran Dragic was playing on the rockets playoff team they would have done dramatically better as the PG position was far and away the weakest position they have, what did Harden ask for at the end of the playoffs? We all know you cherish the ground DMO walks on and have complete disdain for TJ, but I'm just an objective rockets fan nothing more.
I think either scenario would have dramatically improved the team.... With DMo and Bev you solidify the largest weaknesses on the roster and make the bench better With Gogi, you make the PG spot better and make it to where the weak PF spot and weak bench don't matter so much. Hell just having Bev to pester Curry might have been enough to get past the Dubs.
The problem against the Warriors seems to me to have been more the inability of the Rockets to deal with the small lineup featuring Green as the center. There was no D-Mo to punish Green in the post, and Jones and Smith, while athletic, are not great at defense, especially post defense. I am not sure that having Dragic would have done a thing to solve that problem.
How do you know DMO would have punished anyone in the post (especially against the DPOY runner up) in the very physical intense playoffs with all opposing teams studying all your weakness's and referees swallowing their whistles? You do realize DMO has only played 5 entire minutes in the playoffs for his entire NBA career. I'm not saying the kid would have done terrible or that he would have punished anyone checking him, but the game is played completely different in the playoffs and players like Green flourish in physical defensive scrappy and hard fought rebounding playoff games. Remember when the rockets win the rebounding battle they usually win. I've actually seen Patrick Beverly play in the playoffs and I know what he can do as he's the teams bulldog.
