Zach Lowe: Terrence Jones could be asking for $15M per year

That is a silly question. Do you know why? Because Terrence Jones wouldn't be a free agent this offseason because he hasn't even played the 4th & final year OF HIS ROOKIE CONTRACT!

No one would pay 11.67 mil because he is unproven, just as it is unproven that he is a bust which is the tag it seems you are trying to place on him after a year tragically swiped from him by a freak injury. The dude almost permanently lost what he loves to do most in life, play basketball.

You know who else wouldn't get paid 11.67 million if you could only judge 1st year in d-league & 2nd year (real rookie year)? D-Mo. But D-Mo beasted his 3rd year. And as much as he beasted, it was well known that Terrence was the bigger badder stud opening eyes last year before the freak injury. This is TJ's redemption, his re-do of a 3rd year coming up, and we should support him, not acting like a bunch of BSPN talking head haterade-drinking Laker fans. The hate for TJ is unreal. We have 2 solid PFs that could easily start on any NBA team. Everyone remember this thread when November turns to December to 2016 and TJ is having a helluva season.

 

hope cuban signs him

 

I think I could see Blazers paying that money. He'd be a hometown kid, too.

 

Well... it took less than 24 hours.

Good luck retrieving this thread back out of the dumpster.

 

Let's give TJones November before making too many definitive statements. My guess is Lawson is going to make him look really good.

 

Plays well in the RS...is nowhere to be found in the post season.

 

In terms of what Zach Lowe was getting at.

-A 25 year old player,
-at the most stacked position in the league,
-who was at best the 4th best player on the team that he came from,
-in a year before the true cap number rises,
-in a more saturated market...

Just got ABOVE what Lowe is projecting an offer might be for Terrence Jones who is... (hint: Player A has the same name as a hall of famer great baseball star)

-A soon to be 24 year old player
-at a position of need (or a position that could be upgraded) for virtually half the league
-Statistically was a top 5 player for a contender last year and the year before
-In a year where the cap goes BOOM
-With a very weak market for projected available players

Should probably look to get at least what player A. just got in free agency. At least any half-way smart agent would negotiate using this information.

..............

Anyone who thinks what Lowe is throwing out there as an offer Jones might be looking for is a crazy offer just hasn't been paying attention, or is purposefully ignorant to this current situation out of stubbornness.

.......

Is Jones going to be a Rocket very longer because of this.... maybe not, but who cares? Why is this making some of you guys so damn angry? The way I look at it, if Jones is OVERPAYED by Morey next Summer its probably because he landed Durant, and is totally fine going over budget to keep the team together and win titles. If the Rockets end up overpaying to keep Jones, that probably means we should be celebrating..... so stop the whining and b****ing folks.

 

Yea that GM will get fired in a yr or two. No way TJ is worth that

 

not much doubt he'll get that kind of $s. to get DaReal's $s though, as you and others have correctly stated, the 3rd star must already have been acquired.

 

I've said all along that I believe he will keep one (DMo) and either trade Jones or let him go in free agency. This is not to make an argument on who is the better player but who is the better fit going forward. Dmo being able to play both C and PF gives you a lot more flexibility than Jones who is only capable of playing the 4.

That is assuming DMo is healthy. That gives you three guys in Howard , DMo & Capela capable of playing the C spot tho as long as Howard remains healthy DMo plays mostly as a 4. He's a nice insurance policy.

The thing is , I could see situations where Jones isn't traded and is in fact resigned and even overpaid by the Rockets in free agency.
Say the Rockets land Durant or some other top tier player via FA next offseason. They will be over the cap at that point and will be very limited in how they could fill his roster spot. They'd have the MLE and BAE along with vet min deals to work with.
Can they find a player better than Jones (or DMo) with the MLE , BAE or vet min ? I'm not so sure that they would.
In that situation (assuming they couldn't land a better player) they'd be foolish not to retain Jones and field the best team possible , even if they had to overpay in doing so. The only effect at that point is the total amount of salary Les would be paying .... and I really dont care how much he has to fork over to bring home an O'Brien Trophy.
Basically it becomes the Chandler Parsons situation all over again where had Bosh chose Houston you'd have had Howard , Harden & Bosh and been well over the cap making flexibility a non-issue.

Here's your potential roster in that situation:

Dwight / Capela
DMo / Jones / Harrell
Durant / Ariza / Dekker
Harden / Brewer / KJ
Lawson / PatBev

That roster is loaded for bear regardless of how much you are paying each individual player.


Things get a bit more complicated should they not be able to land that top tier FA as they would likely prefer to maintain more flexibility. Its likely one of DMo or Jones (possibly both) are let go and they look to fill the position with a cheaper option , just like Morey did when Bosh decided to stay in Miami , he got Ariza for roughly half the cost of Parsons. Then again , I'm not certain he can repeat that coup as there just aren't that many capable big men & they do tend to be overpaid.


Under normal circumstances , I agree Jones isn't worth $15m a year. I think MLE money is fair value .... but to the Rockets under ideal circumstances next offseason , it could be worth overpaying him to chase that championship.

There are of course other options - like packaging him and other assets prior to this years trade deadline for a comparable or better player .... the kicker is that to remain relevant in next years FA (Without breaking up the core) you need to trade for a player making similar $$ who's contract extends beyond this season and that severely limits your options.
Can you think of any names that fit the description - equal to or better than Jones at the PF position , making roughly equal $$ who's contract expires beyond next offseason and is available.

 

I say there some desperate team like the knicks who do this... Poor Jackson.

This is not his actual worth, but the inflation price for a player who could turn out to be actually 18ppg-10rpg in his prime in the east or what not..

Teams strike out on players and have to fill the seats with nba starters who are not good but look flashy and can compete, aka Lopez getting nearly 14 million a year with this stat line.....

Robin lopez signs for 4years@54
9.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks

Didnt jones have better #'s? when he was healthy...

 

This thread is giving me serious vibes of how cfans expected to pay Parsons like 8m a year or something. It ain't about how much you think he is worth, it's about how much one team is willing to pay, and in the context of this giant salary cap raise where Reggie Jackson gets the max.

 

If we land Durant then that means Ariza, Brewer and likely Beverley are traded to make the cap room for him.

Dwight / Capela
DMo / Jones / Harrell
Durant / Dekker
Harden / KJ
Lawson /

Still pretty solid.

 

I agree!

TJ is a SCRUB! Worse yet, a scrub that cant stay healthy!
So the dude had a decent stretch for a handful of games before his next injury.... and then he pulled a disappearing act for the playoffs...

I hope Cuban signs him - cause it will be a total waste...

He's a Stromile Swift, folks... accept it.... a decent guy to have in a support position on a reasonable contract - but that's about it... and certainly not worth starter money...

 

The difference being that no one really cares if someone offers Jones crazy money and he walks.

 

Morey can acquire guys like TJ in his sleep. I think it's almost a certainty that he's traded before the deadline unless his game just blows up this season and he kicks it up a full notch.

 

He is a superstar fellas. Morey, McHale, and Co are holding him back. He believes in himself and some idiot like Cuban will believe in him too. LMAO

 

Howard is gonna require a plan for reduced minutes. i figure DMo to be as instrumental to the plan as Capela.

 

It's a bad comparison in the sense that TJones is better than Swift in nearly every way but it is a decent comparison since they were both athletic 6'9 PF's with potential. Stromile Swift had all the tools to be a star, he just never grasped how to score consistently or defend beyond blocks.

I think we will get to see TJones' true value this year. He's at his best as a role player finishing on dives to the rim and out-quicking slower 4's. I think we'll find that neither of our 4's will get many touches in isolation. Harden and Lawson are just too good at distributing the rock.

 

People hate TJ's guts. How will you guys feel about TJ if he stays healthy and plays a great post season?