[ClutchFans] X-Factor: The Impact of Terrence Jones

There's still a ton of season to be played, and T-Jones will have to keep doing this for a while longer before he's proven...

However, I did say early and mid this year year that we should just go with T-Jones instead of trading for another PF.

As soon as I saw him switch from one side of the rim to the other mid air for a dunk last season, I really wanted to see what he can do as a starter.

Really exciting player that is very entertaining off the court as well.

 

The other awesome thing about that play other than the fact that he was still basically able to dunk it home while being undercut was how he landed. Dude looked like a damn ninja. It was great. A 6-9 258 pound guy with that type of agility is impressive to watch. I think as he matures and gets a little stronger he will be something to behold. It seems like Howard is taking him under his wing. Maybe he can show him around the weight room.

After every game, people keep saying he needs to do it more before they believe. It's starting to get funny now. I was impressed how he missed his first two easy shots and knocked down that contested 3 pointer in the corner. That's when I knew he was going to have a decent game. That took a lot of confidence to take a shot like that in a game like this after already being 0-2. Confidence for young players like him is really what separates a lot of these guys and that right there showed me he believed in himself.

 

It makes me SO happy to see his improvement. His insertion into the starting lineup has been SUCH an uplifting move, and I swear I love this team as-is and wish they could grow this way together. I hate that we..."have to" trade Asik. Having him, Lin, Garcia, Casspi, and Brooks/DMO off the bench is awesome and we usually kill other benches. Asik is going to go start for another team that stinks and probably wish he could be back here in the end. I dunno, maybe not. wtvr.

GOOD JOB TJ!!!

 

The young man can play and all he needed was an opportunity. I like that he rebounds and plays D.

 

I don't think that's exactly true.

Remember, the Rockets spent all of last year developing TJones with the Vipers. TJones was far from NBA ready when we saw him playing last year. With a full season of development and off season work, he's become a much more complete player. Good enough to put on the floor with regular minutes.

I think we often forget how good a development system the Rockets have fostered. So many of our players have spent time with the Vipers learning our systems, improving their strengths and shoring up their weaknesses.

Novak, Brooks, Marcus Morris, Beverley, CJ Watson... and the list goes on. A good number get back to the Rockets and NBA, while some wash out.

This year Covington and Canaan are with the Vipers and we can trust that the Rockets will make sure they work on their games until they can show that they're ready.

The Rockets get young talent and develop it. They are one of the pioneers in terms of creating a viable farm system for their draft picks and young prospects.

TJones got his shot because he showed he was ready. And if we're lucky, we'll get to see his development continue upward.

 

Not sure how much he really developed going down to the Vipers. All he did was run around playing pg and shooting 3 pointers...literally. I watched just about every game and he was he biggest guard in the d-league last year. Well that is until Royce White showed up.

 

We also have to remember that they are doing things Between the actual games. Like the coaches working with his decision making and form, or Jones bulking up and increasing his strength, or reps in the gym working on his shot.

It's hard to work on your game in season as a NBA player. The travel schedule is harsh, the games come one after another. 82 games is a lot of time without a lot of breaks.

The D-League season is 50 games long. That's more time to get in playing time, work out, get in practices, and work on weaknesses. It's time to get into basketball form against better competition than in College, but not so good as being thrown into the fire that is the NBA.

http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterocke...me-in-d-league-than-sitting-on-rockets-bench/

Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was Terrence Jones.

 

I've always been on the bandwagon that they should have let the kid play. I always said the things he wasn't good at were things he needed to actually play in games to learn from just like all other big time rookies around the league. They sent him down and he ran around playing guard because he was too good for that level of competition. I compared it last season to me running around playing against 8th graders. I think he would be even better right now had he been in the rotation from day one last year. Just my opinion. Every time he got minutes, he was productive. From day one. Every time. Yes, his defense was bad, but hey the coaches felt it was so bad that he didn't deserve to play and I guess their opinions are the only ones that matter at the end of the day. It was the same thing that got Marcus Morris glued to the bench his rookie season and Jones was no exception.

 

No need to wait for 20 games. It's legit. TJones is vastly improved. Jeremy saw that early on, when they had that mini-camp in LA.

Side note: Somehow I think Jeremy will make a very good coach. He's got eyes for talents, he understands and reads the game well, and he's articulate, as can be seen from many post-game interviews.

 

I respect the opinion, I just disagree.

If you have an actual farm system (like the Vipers), I'd much rather he work on it there with actual playing time than sacrifice Wins that we need for seeding.

If we didn't even have a shot at the play offs that's one thing. If you have a shot at the play offs and need to build valuable experience, that's a different kettle of fish.

For one and done players or players who still need seasoning, I have no issue with them going down to the Vipers. Especially if there's multiple things they can work on and we have suitable players that can man the position in their absence.

Would we really want Canaan getting minutes over Bev, Lin and Brooks? Or Covington getting minutes over Parsons, TJones, Garcia and Casspi?

Personally, I think they've struck a nice balance.

 

Canaan didn't show he was ready in summer league and preseason like Jones did so no, I don't advocate him or Covington playing right now. Jones burst onto the scene from the first summer league game all the way through pre-season. He showed scoring, rebounding, ball handling, and shot blocking ability. That he could impact the game in multiple ways.

Like I said, I just didn't agree with the way he was playing in the d-league if anything because he doesn't play like that in real NBA games. If they were really developing him, he should have been in the post more, but instead he was just free lancing. It looked like YMCA ball most of the time. He would grab the rebound and bring the ball up the court almost every time and just do whatever he wanted because he was just flat out better than every other player in that league. That is why I'm saying, I'm really not sure how much better that experience made him overall. I think he could have learned to play better defense with the big club just fine. Sacrificing wins? Marcus Morris sure wasn't stopping anybody and Greg Smith is turnstile on defense in his own right.

 

I agree- and that would be very interesting. How many Asian coaches do we have right now?

Yeah, though, he's got a great mind for basketball and is very intelligent in general.

 

Dwight mentioned it as well. Maybe he should be a coach.

 

Yup... Jeremy and Dwight were high on him all summer.

 

If he keeps it up, I think I'll become a TJOF.

 

TJones looks like he's blossomed into a star....DON'T LOOK BACK...JONES....KEEP GOING!!

 

Did you ever think that the rockets wanted him to improve his transition game and facilitating? Maybe they felt he was lacking from a passing/offensive awareness/facilitating stand point.

In our offense we let almost everyone not named Dwight/asik bring the ball up court. If he grabs the board and everyone is already running, he should be able to bring the ball to atleast half court and if it presents it self, all the way to the rim.

It helps out our fast paced offense by the coaching staff and players being able to trust him and his dribbling up court. It keeps the pace much higher compared to having to have someone else wait for a pass in order to push the rock/tempo.

I respect your opinion, and maybe tj didn't need the d.league assignment. But i feel we are revolutionary in the farm system mold. Strasburg/Bryce Harper were probably ready for the majors immediately coming out of the draft, but you still give them seasoning and have them work on the small stuff at worse.

 

Keep going Jonesy!!! I have faith in you! At this rate, he's on track to be an all star before Parsons!

Go for it! Don't play scared. Aggressive but under control like you've been doing!

 

That my be one of the funniest things I have ever read on Clutchfans. Good one Carl.

 

Wow. How many games did TJ spend all of last year developing in D-League?