Could Motiejunas and Jones both move out of the rotation?

Dmo requested a trade via agent in Asik style. That is how I read on ESPN.
He probably did it once unlike Asik who did it every other day but the Organization knew that he wants playing time bad without realizing his flaws on the court.

Spoiler

Apparently Omer Asik is not the only big man on the Houston Rockets who is upset with his role and wants to be traded as soon as possible.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, forward Donatas Motiejunas wants to be moved and the Rockets are calling around the league to see if any team is interested and can meet their asking price.

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/nba/rumors/post/_/id/20555/why-donatas-motiejunas-wants-a-trade

 

Yeah I saw that but it doesn't mean that the Rockets have any obligation to meet his demands. He signed the contract, and if he wants out, he can go to his lawyer to find a way out even if that means opting out of guaranteed money.

To me all that said to me was D-Mo has A. Been hanging out with Asik too damn much, and B. D-Mo has no idea how much more difficult it is to succeed in professional basketball when you start moving around to your 2nd, and 3rd team in as much seasons. Moving to another team that really is just giving you an try out and doesn't have the time and energy invested in your success isn't good for your chances at success.

Moving D-Mo right now is just dumb on both sides… but hey if he doesn't want to be a part of this team than he's got to go eventually. I'm not denying that… just pointing out that its dumb, and D-Mo needs to stop hanging out with the Robert Smith of professional basketball.

 

apparently the deal was, Dmo sits his first year, and then gets decent playing time in second. I guess this all changed cuz Rockets landed Howard. And now he is unhappy. He just wants playing time. Would u be happy if u are lied to?

 

No. Jones is a garbage man period. Watch him play. Realize he can't shoot and what he does is hustle sometimes and get garbage around the bucket. For Jones to "develop" he's got to become a much, much improved shooter. That hasn't happened. Didn't happen in 2 seasons at UK and hasn't happened through 2 seasons here. So his "development" has reached a certain stage. He's an NBA garbage man.

Lest you get the entirely wrong impression that doesn't mean he's a bad player. There's probably only about 10% of the players in the NBA are players you would consider to be bad, that is players that have guaranteed contracts that would be out of the league without their guaranteed contracts or players on rookie deals or non-guaranteed deals who are still touting potential or contract value. But Jones is just another run-of-the-mill player in the NBA. And he will remain such unless he gets on another team. Perhaps if he were on another team, they'd let him develop as a playmaker since he does have a good handle. But he's not going to "develop" as a playmaker here. We aren't even attempting to develop that aspect of his game.

The development TJones sorely needs here is to develop his shooting. If he doesn't do that then he's not contributing positively to a championship team. He's not big enough nor strong enough to control the paint when Dwight is out of the game so he can't contribute in that role. He doesn't spread the floor well enough when Dwight is in the game to contribute positively. And he doesn't rebound or play defense in any outstanding measure that makes his discernibly better than a lot of run-of-the-mill guys on vet minimum deals such as Jeff Adrien or Mike Scott for example. TJones is not distinguishing himself defensively, or on the glass (despite the 17 rebound night last night) nor with his shooting. You could pencil in any number of PFs in the NBA into TJones minutes and get the same or better production.

 

Are you D-Mo's agent? If so, you should have explained to him how a 4 year guaranteed rookie contract works in professional sports, and explained to him the concept of "team options" on that contract before signing on the dotted line. I've never heard of guarantees made to 21 year old prospects that supplants their needs over that over anyone else….much less a potential franchise superstar. I highly doubt there were any guarantees made other than-

"we'd like you to come over from Europe this year. It might be tough to get PT in your first year because of the depth at PF with 2Pat/Morris/Jones/White etc. but if you hang in there and develop in year 1, you will get your chance at PT by year 2"

That much is completely true. Morey traded 2Pat and Morris to give PT to D-Mo, Robinson, and Jones. It was D-Mo that played himself out of that opportunity. If D-Mo is going to be unhappy at anyone its got to be himself for not seizing the opportunity. Still Houston is still his best shot at a long career in the NBA. Trading him right now while he still has a few years left on his deal is just dumb.

 

Can u explain to me how u came to conclusion that Houston is best shot for Dmo? Team like Spurs would suit him much better.

 

No doubt Terrence needs to develop his shooting but one can say you need to develop having more patience and not posting every game about him. This getting tiring.
I assume you know how the NBA works. Tons of new unproven talents start out as garbage men.

Tmac started out as a defensive garbage man for the Raptors and so on and we knew how that developed.....not saying Jones will be on his level one day he probably won't

Lol By saying this I will probably draw the attention of Tinman(c) but who cares.

 

How in the world would DMo play for Popovich when he can't even play good enough defense for McHale's taste?

Do you have any understanding of Spurs at all?

 

I do not post every game about him. Observe the post history. Sometimes it's been a couple weeks between posts.

No, I don't need more patience. I know how long it takes for players to develop. I also know and understand the longer it takes for them to develop the lower their ceiling is and the more their trade value diminishes.

But that's not the issue here and never has been. This thread is about whether Jones and DMO are rotation worthy. I still contend that in their present state neither Jones nor DMo are rotation-worthy on a CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM! So, you can see where we are here. This is not a championship team nor a team that will contend for a championship with Jones not only in the rotation but starting!! He simply isn't good enough. (We are 5-7 against teams above .500 since Jones was put into the starting lineup.)

I am keeping this thread alive for a reason. When Jones was shooting 60% from the field and 45% from the 3-point line early in the season I told you I seriously doubted if that would continue and the only question in my mind was how low his shooting percentages would fall. Well, they've fallen into the abyss. He simply can't shoot. The only redeeming factor about that is he knows he can't shoot so he isn't jacking up a lot of outside shots. Thank God.

All the same his play is clogging up the offense. Yes, he looks good in the box score every few games but believe me his numbers are a product of playing alongside Dwight and cleaning up from the overplay of Dwight.

 

Go do some research and look at the long term success of NBA players who were traded by the end of their 2nd years in the league and then tell me why I'm coming up with that conclusion.

Any team trading for D-Mo right now is essentially taking a flyer on him at a low cost, or taking him as part of a filler for a bigger trade.

That means they will cut him in a heartbeat if he doesn't give them immediate impact which he wont. He still has some physical maturing to do along with developing the skill he needs to be successful long-term in the NBA.

IT IS IN D-MO'S BEST INTEREST TO STAY WITH THE ROCKETS... regardless of what he thinks, Asik's emo a#$ tells him, or his agent tells him. All other teams will waive him in a heartbeat the moment he under-performs for any given period of time.

 

That's not true about every team.


If DMo is traded to the sixers he'll get more opportunity to play major minutes over the next 2 years and develop under a very, very good coach. The only way Philly would waive him before that would be if he did something to damage their brand off the court or he disturbed team unity on the court or in the locker room to the degree that they had to either waive or trade him. But just him sucking while playing won't get him cut on quite a number of teams.

 

Of course situations could open up playing time for D-Mo but that doesn't mean that he's not at a higher risk for being out of the league or getting moved around again and again if it doesn't work out at that next stop. You can tell me situations where it worked out or could work out but that doesn't change the FACT that for players moved in the first 2 or 3 years of their career, their success rate drops significantly.

You can point at certain situations around the league and tell me.... THERE... he will do well THERE... but you can't tell me that there isn't risk of it not working out, that team making major roster changes, and D-Mo ending up being yet another NBA casualty in the process.

Philly is a team currently in flux. They could wipe out their entire roster tomorrow and think nothing of it. A team like the Rockets has had, and currently has long term planning with their young prospects. The fact is, he's still a prospect (Same age as Robert Covington who has more NBA ready skills & body)... an investment in time and resources that the Rockets have interest in developing. With a new team like Philly he could very well just be a flyer... a gamble they will throw on the court and say "lets see what you got bubba". Maybe that's what D-Mo wants right now because HE thinks he's ready to play in the big leagues, but that's probably NOT what he NEEDS.

D-Mo NEEDS more development. If he gets moved to another team ASAP he better be ready to play right now because if he isn't he'll be in and out of the league asap if they aren't thrilled with what he brings.

Oh and that coach over in Philly might as well be Kevin McHale. They run the EXACT same system as the Rockets and share the EXACT same basketball situational philosophies. I love watching Philly games because of this. Its like watching the same team as the Rockets but with completely different types of players. Its fun to watch even though they dont win hardly as many games as the Rockets do.

 

So tell me, what was Milsap his 1st yr and and half in the league? Yeah, any bum can get 17 rebounds while sharing a court with Howard,Nene,and gortat. You're reaching and its not even for straws. I guess hoarace grant wasn't a garbage man his 2nd yr,right? Have you ever thought about roles? Have you ever thought about or played when you don't get plays ran for you,but still must be productive. Thomas Robinson says that's why he struggled early. He tried to save the franchise vs just contributing and getting better. You can have this thread because you think you know how a guy after 21 productive starts will turn out.

 

So you know how long it takes for players to develop,yet your sig you want kanter. What did Kanter do in his 1st 20 starts? Hell what is he doing now? You know how long it takes,but I'm willing to say you didn't play basketball past jr probably. Get out of here with that,lol. I guess you knew mcgrady and jermaine o'neal would be all nba by their 4th year also. Or maybe you watched paul george as a rookie and thought he would be a top player too,right?

 

This is coming from the guy who bashes Jones any time he doesn't have a great game constantly but wants the Rockets to give up their 6th man & probably 2nd best perimeter scorer for Ersan Ilyasova.

The guy with 3 years/24 mil left on his deal and you tell me who has been playing better this season-

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2767/ersan-ilyasova

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6597/terrence-jones

And that guy he wants can't even hold a starting spot on maybe the worst team in the league... yeah lets give up Lin for him, and dump Jones while we are at it. Makes a ton of sense.

 

You do realize Chucky Brown and Mario Elie contributed to a Championship Team along with Carl H. You need role players like T Jones who sacrifice scoring for defense, rebounding, and blocking shots. Not everyone needs to be an NBA allstar to win a championship, you need chemistry to win.

 

I agree with that. When a player on a rookie deal starts moving, the odds go up that he will be out of the league sooner and it also indicates that he most likely does not have even star potential. Precious few guys on rookie deals break out after they are traded while on a rookie deal.

 

Rebounding is probably the strength of Jones' game. And for the season he's basically middle of the pack among NBA power forwards in Reb%. That should tell you something. Not isolating one game.

I'm not isolating one game when I give you stats on Jones. I didn't isolate his 3 for 10 shooting night as proof that he can't shoot. I'm giving you season results. Stay within the confines of the season. One game and one play don't mean very much. There was a highlight reel some time back of Jones catching the ball at halfcourt and taking 2 dribbles to the rim and throwing it down against Pau I believe. Sensational play. Demonstrated Jones athleticism and his skill set (dribbling and dunking). But that doesn't mean he's an effective rotation player. That was ONE PLAY. He hasn't done it since. Now if he gave you 3 or 4 of those every game...different story. But he doesn't. IT was ONE PLAY! One game of 17 rebounds is just that. ONE GAME! A garbage game against a lottery team. That's all it was. Just a blip on an otherwise pedestrian NBA player campaign.


It's not really about how he will turn out. It's about the Rockets and their need for rotation players that can contribute positively to a championship team. But let me ask you anyways. How many games do you need to know how a player is going to turn out for this season? Once again, we're not talking about a career here. We're talking about THIS SEASON. I've seen enough to know that Jones is not going to help us spread the floor around Dwight and Harden and to know he is going to be ineffective playing the 5 when Dwight is on the bench. I don't need another 40 games to know that. I don't need to watch another 40 games to know Jones' shooting stroke isn't going to magically improve this season. It's not. It is what it is. He's not going to magically turn into even an adequate Casspi-like 3-point shooter. And he's not going to magically gain about 3 inches and 20 lbs and retain his athelticism enough to be an effective backup 5 for us when Dwight take a seat. Jones cannot and will not fulfill either of those roles for this season. And both of those roles are much, much more critical to our championship aspirations than Jones piling up 17 boards in a single game against a lottery team.

 

Ilyasova is better than he showed this season but not by much.
He would be a better fit right now but because the team is kind of out of sync he probably give you + 2 wins at best when he is playing at his best and not like this season.

The best solution is still to get a cheaper Courtney Lee and Thad Young, and a back up C to shore up our bench.

Shooting, better Perimeter D and some Post play off the bench.

Terrence Jones' emergence helped define what is still missing. We probably still would not go to the WC finals but we could be going as far as that 2008/09 team with the right chemistry. Idk what Morey is thinking right now.

 

Yes, they did. LOL

Let's talk about them though.

Mario was a true 6th man, coming off the bench for the most part...firing DAGGERS and D'ing up on the perimeter. Elie was the quintessential 3&D guy.

Jones is none of that.

That brings us to Chucky Brown.

Chuckie Brown was another pedestrian NBA player, pressed into action similar to Jones, out of necessity. Chuckie Brown's place on the Rox championship team could have been easily filled by any one of many players in the league at that time. He was simply in a situation where he was used. He filled in as a starter for a dozen games or so, had a couple big games where he put up some solid offensive numbers, but overall we went about .500 with him out there and the guy he was defending typically went off for somewhere between 20-40 points against us and if he was starting for us against playoff teams we were most likely on the losing end of those games.

Pretty good comparison to Terrence Jones I'd say. Chucky Brown. An 11th or 12th man.