Could Motiejunas and Jones both move out of the rotation?

19-9 for the out of rotation,not good enough Jones. A lot of teams wish they had a 22 yr old pf who has 38 starts and the 4th or 5th option could do what jones is doing. Keep this thread alive like Elvis!

Maybe our 4 yr varsity,big time college basketball player basketballholic has more for us,right. He must have something for us,lol.

 

Careful, Einstein will argue that because we haven't won a championship, he is right and you are wrong.

Pretty sure Jones has Tyler Hansbrough more than covered though.....

 

Not quite. Asik isn't playoff proven. Howard at least went to the Finals although in the East but he has more experience and can lift his game accordingly.

You can argue of how good Howard compares to other Superstar PFs and Cs but this is another conversation.

Asik is top 10 defensive and offensive Center but that is not saying much other than the league is devoid of Centers.

 

He had a good game. I thought he played well. And I enjoyed watching it. I'm not anti-()ones.

But......just to keep things in perspective here.....it was the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns are not a playoff team. They are going to fall out of the playoff chase barring a major acquisition. Their only serious player out there is Dragic. And their big man rotation???

Miles Plumlee, Channing Frye, Morris Bros., Alex Lin....that's a worse big man rotation than ours.

They are another lottery team. They're going to fall out of the playoff picture and wind up in the lottery.....barring a trade for Gasol or some other interior difference maker. Their first or second best player is out for the season. And they have not one single dominant big.

So....once again...enjoyed watching it. Yes, ()ones looked good. Yes he is improving incrementally. But he's still a ()AP....which is to say, just another player without a J. If ()ones had not been in the lineup....DMo would have went off at the 4 or Omri would have went off at the 4 playing alongside Dwight and Harden last night in that game. Guys, Reggie Evans would have scored 16 (he would have missed the 3-ball that ()ones hit) and grabbed about 12 boards along with about 5 blocks since he is a more dominating rebounder/defender than ()ones is.


Here's the only thing I took out of this game and I'm crossing my fingers that it continues. ()ones actually hit a 3 tonight and he actually threw up two 3-balls. He went 1 for 2. I suppose because Dwight's free throws are actually looking GREATLY IMPROVED that I am HOPING somehow the shot magic rubs off on ()ones. Perhaps the Rox are working internally on the mental aspect of these things with both Dwight and ()ones? (I'm just guessing now.) Maybe they told Dwight to just step up and let 'er rip at the FT line because there is a very NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE in his stroke the last 4-5 games. Perhaps (and I'm just guessing) they're taking a similar approach with ()ones and encouraging him to just let it fly out there and with that confidence edge he can shoot about 33-35% out there for the balance of this season. That would be a very pedestrian 3-point average but it would be almost acceptable as a contributor in the big man rotation of a championship contender. I HOPE! I don't believe it will happen but I'm hoping it happens. (33-35% is the upper reaches of what he can shoot with those mechanics.)

This has never been about me disliking ()ones. I am not anti-()ones. I am hoping beyond hope that he develops into a rotation big on a championship contender. This is about whether ()ones and NoDMo are really rotation bigs on a championship contender since we have been contending for a championship since we signed Dwight. For them to become rotation bigs on a championship contender ()ones has to get a decent J and NoDMo has to replace the NoD with D. Both guys have gotten their minutes out of necessity...not because they earned them. However, ()ones has been good enough to continue earning minutes because there is no one else out there to go to and he's played enough minutes to put up some numbers to justify continuing with the long experiment. However, when we get to the playoffs and start playing for real.....I'm sorry...he just isn't good enough.

 

Basketballholic, so tell me why those same suns beat the brakes of the championship big man rotation offered by the Pacers twice? Not once,but twice?

As I keep saying, morey didn't pay nor does anyone believe that howard is a marginal upgrade to asik. Howard for the most part based on recent history is by far the best ceneter in basketball and it not really close. Does that mean he's dream in late 80s and early 90? No,but he was brought here because even with his marginal post game,he requires a double team. Defensively, he can erase shots, and is a great rebounder. That alone is the tilting of the big man rotation for the rockets. What Jones and D-Mo are here to do is support him and the rest of the team. Look up and down every teams roster and tell me what teams 4th or 5th option is producing like Jones. Lance Stevenson is averging 14-7-5 and people are talking about him being snubbed for the asg.

You won't admit it,but this team was built to win for this year. It would be nice and you can pull morey quotes and all,but this isn't the celtics or lebron-wade-bosh crew who were instantly on the clock because of age. I mean the celtics guys had been in the league for 12 + years seperatly. The rockets starters are 5 yrs or less except howard. They have time on their side. They especially have time when the starting pf on a possible 56 win team doesn't even have 40 starts and just made 22.

 

well I can pull a quote from morey this was today on 790, actually basketballholic knows what hes talking about bigs but may go over board at times. You have to have bigs who can set solid screen, run pick and pop when the game slows down in playoffs. It’s no way around it. Jones is solid and young his shot will get there with time but he does alot of other things. With Howard lacking a jumper you have to have at least one big who is proven who can knock it down and play solid D. I think we are one man away from having a solid big rotation just like morey sees. Right now we have 3 but need 4. Ppat is a perfect type of guy to have in the rotation with jones.

790 - Terrance jones is really coming along, from were he was lasyt year in the dleague from being a good starter & on a contending team

Morey – well yeah hes been great. "I would say we have three bigs where you can kinda throw a lock in at, we are in very good shape when they play, Obviously 1. Dwight howard, 2. Omer when he comes back & 3. jones". We have dmo who can give give us some good minutes and smith when he healthy can give us some good mins. But yeah we have those three guys Dwight, omer, & jones who we know can play at a very high level at their position

 

Didn't T-Jones have a solid game against San Antonio last week? If I recall, he kept the Rockets from being blown out of the building in the first quarter(which enabled their comeback win). And last time I checked, the Spurs have a pretty decent front court. So he's not just doing this against lotto teams or overachieving squads like the Suns.

 

Dmo is playing good D and his picks and rotations are great. He still commits a dumb foul here or there but he'll figure that out.

 

nope, we are trying to get out of the first round, no room for "he will figure that out mentailty" in a playoff rotation. That backup PF spot will get filled.

 

Disagree.

 

I bet morey will bring in another PF by the deadline

 

Yes, he did have a good game against the Spurs...again. I think he's had 3 decent to good games against them.

Sorry to discount that but I am. 1. Spurs are something like 2 and infinity against other playoff teams. 2. There is no more sly coach in the league than Pops. Pops NEVER shows what all he's gonna do to other potential playoff teams during the regular season.

There is not a doubt in my mind that Pops has us totally diagnosed and knows exactly what he would do if he faced this team in a 7-game series right now. There's no doubt in my mind that Pops is going to match us up with 2 bigs on the floor if he can get Splitter healthy and keep Timmy healthy. There's no doubt in my mind that whichever big is defending Jones is going to play off him and help on Dwight in the paint, forcing the ball out to TJones. There's no doubt in my mind that Pops is going to cover our wings tight and make it difficult for them to catch. There's no doubt in my mind that Pops would make Jones reverse the ball up top to Harden or shoot it from long range or try to entice him to dribble drive into the congested paint area where both Duncan and Splitter are hanging out waiting for him.

There's no doubt in my mind right now that if San Antonio were healthy today and we were facing them in a 7-game series starting right now that they would beat us. I know we beat them 3 times in the regular season. And you can call me crazy. But I'm convinced if they were healthy and we were playing them in a 7-game series as both teams are currently constructed that we would be toast.

 

These are important words from Morey and I agree with them. The front line combination of Dwight and Asik changes the dynamics on this team. That is a team that is very much akin to the 1999 San Antonio Spurs unit with Duncan and DRob playing together....at least on the defensive end. And in my mind, Dwight and Asik are slightly better defensively than that Twin Towers setup but slightly worse offensively as Asik does not possess Timmy's jumper, especially that wing bank shot, nor Duncan or Robinson's hands.

Now....with the Dwight/Asik/Jones setup, you've got 3 guys in a rotation that really are defensive guys first. This team becomes a lock-down defensive team that tries to maximize turnovers and fast breaks and tries to minimize long half-court possessions where we become much less efficient.

That's a whole different dynamic.

However, in my mind, the IDEAL setup for this team is to acquire a sweet shooting 4 man that can play as part of the Dwight/Asik trifecta. I'm still a proponent of the Twin Towers concept mixed with a true shooter at the 4, over Dwight/TJones/whoever and even over Dwight/Asik/TJones. That's why I say TJones is not really a rotation big on a championship team. He's not good enough. He's not good enough defensively against playoff offenses. He's not good enough offensively against playoff defenses. In the playoffs we're going to be playing other good team that ain't gonna simply turn the ball over just because we got a couple bigs in the paint. We're gonna have to play some half court offense. I think dominant defensive centers combined with 4 other players that can all shoot, pass, and finish is the ideal setup or a run to a ring. Dwight and Asik are so good defensively that they allow you to play a 4 that maybe lacks a little bit in defense but can gun the 3 and dribble drive in space and finish. I think that is a championship combination in this era of basketball.

 

When u have 2 guys (asik and howard) who has a range of 8 ft combined,they can't play together. When you have 2 guys who have the mentality to get back in the paint,they don't work well defensively either. The asik-howard combo was a disaster offensively and defensively. That's a fact,not opinion. The surprised defensively wasn't a surprise to me bcause of natuarl instincts. Omer nor Howard is used to being outside the paint.

 

I agree with you bro you now we have had this BIG convo time and time again. I really enjoyed to hear morey say that this morning because he seems like he feels the same way, and knows what its going to take to compete. I like Caspi and Dmo but they dont belong on the floor in a playoff BIG rotation at PF unless someone gets hurt PERIOD.

me personally I think the rockets or a PPAT or BASS solid big with a jumper coming off the bench to making a run this year if we keep asik. I could see us going up agaisnt okc & clippers with those guys. 3&D is a need also but garcia may show up ? and 2 guys off our dleague team are gone just this month that could do it. I know morey sees this hes smart so maybe hes waiting on garcia/convington/casspi or mayybe he already has his eye on a guy that can fill that 3&D role.

 

So basically you analysis is everygood good game he has had doesnt count. Ok. Your analysis doesnt sound agenda driven at all.

 

Yooohooooo!

 

So instead of playing 2 guys who have a range of 8 feet combined, you advocate playing 2 guys that have a range of 6 feet combined??????????

Because Jones has a range of about 2 feet brutha.

Jones got totally worked tonight. Here we are going down the stretch. We hit a tough playoff opponent and we got nuth'n man.

If McHale has any sort of brain at all he's got to take Jones out.

 

Dmo has yet to dunk the ball in a couple games. Why would you layup it so softly? There were so many opportunities missed...

 

They didn't want to listen they too worried about a back up point guard. Going to learn in playoffs tho