Exactly. There is actually a high risk trading D-Mo now (what if it all clicks for him in a year and he starts posting some monster games) and a very low cost of keeping him around. He doesn't earn a salary equivalent to two vet min contracts. Morey seems to burn through a couple of those every fall.
I'll be so glad when the season starts and people stop saying Dmo doesn't have a chance and should be traded. Maybe he should but I think he needs to have a chance to play and I think if he can hit his 3's that he will be the starter at the 4 unless a trade is made. There is a difference between playing with the Rockets in the NBA and playing euro ball.
Jones has already demonstrated that he contribute in more ways than one. He can score, rebound and play defense. He should have played more last season.
Just look at what the Rockets were able to do with the bustiest of the Rockets busts in recent years Marcus Morris. Everyone was clamoring around about how terrible he was, but they didn't stop and pay attention at how the Rockets took that garbage and really turned him into a very productive niche player for them in year 2. It's really pretty amazing at what the Rockets have done in the past with players alike to make them useful. Same goes with Jordan Hill. When they figured out that he's never going to be a dominant player, what did they do??... They found a niche for him and turned him into an extremely valuable specialist in his niche area. They might fail and end up like Flynn or T-Williams, but there is still a good chance the Rockets might very well be able to do the same thing with D-Mo & Jones in year 2 like Morris or Hill. They might never be "A Lesser Howard" or "The Next Dirk" but that doesn't mean the Rockets shouldn't explore ways that they could make them useful next year while they are still playing with House Money.
I don't disagree, I just don't see how he is a great fit next to Howard at the moment or should start. He hasn't really demonstrated an ability to spot up which I think is going to be key for the starting PF.
One of the big reasons I think D-Mo will be the starting PF & a very valuable player for the Rockets this season is because he is the best 4 to get productivity out of Howard, which is going to be a key priority of course. If you remember, on the Lakers he got the ball passed to him a lot from Gasol from the high-post or closer for close shots because it is easier for a 7-footer to make interior passes. He wasn't getting great post position or spinning for a lob for 48 minutes to make it easy for the guards to pass it to him, so they used Gasol to pass the ball to him. I think the Rockets may look to duplicate that using D-Mo, who is a good passer.
Spain - France was one of the best basketball games I've seen in a while, including NBA. Maybe it wasn't great in terms of shooting percentages or highlight-reel plays, but the intensity was absolutely incredible, combined with very tolerant refs in terms of contact allowed. Just a great evening for a fan of the game of basketball.
they did collapse however they didn't collapse against Italy, they did everything they could to lose that game since it didn't really matter, they played Mumbru and San Emeterio throughout the 4th q and overtime
I am not a proponent of trading Dmo, but to HMMMHMM's defense, I doubt there is that high of a risk in trading him. Guys rarely come out of nowhere. They either show signs along the way and eventually just get the opportunity, or at least show progression. It sounds like HMMMHMM has been watching Dmo for a few years now, and if he hasn't made any huge leaps in that time, I doubt he's all of a sudden turning into Kevin McHale if we trade him. At the end of the day, Dmo, TJones have shown nothing that suggest they are anything beyond mid first round fodder. No different from Morris, or Patterson or the dozen that come and go every year. If you trade one and they eventually blow up into the next Kenny Thomas, big whoop. Firstly, calling Marcus Morris the bustiest of the recent busts is a huge slap in the face to: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=217000 Secondly, calling Jordan Hill an "extremely valuable" specialist is really stretching it. In fact, calling Jordan Hill ever even "valuable" at all is being overly generous. Just look at what we got for him. (the measurement of "valuable") What did we get for him again? (I think it was Derek Fisher's withered corpse) This team currently has too much on its plate to worry about turning Dmo/Tjones into the next Morris/Hill. My guess is that only 1 out of the 2 will get that luxury. The other one that loses out, the team will likely cut bait on, without losing much sleep over.
Wow. He may be raw & a little immature. He entered the league at only 20 years old after all, but those factors do not equal the same thing that he does not know how to play basketball. In reality, he has incredible offensive skills for a player his size & is also talented as a shot blocker / rebounder.
Agreed with the shot blocker/rebounder, like I said, he is active. As far as offensive skills, Jones has above average individual skills like ball handling, 3pt shooting etc. What he lacks is the ability to put those skills to use in a team setting, or in other words, the ability to play basketball. Individual ball handling is useless if you dribble when you should be passing. 3pt shooting is useless if you shoot when you should be dribbling. Generally he just does not know what is going on around him. James Harden at 20 years old knew how to play basketball. Shane Battier at 20 years old knew how to play basketball. Luis Scola at 20 years old was bustin' up grown ass men and definitely knew how to play basketball. Age has nothing to do with it. Guys like DeAandre Jordan and JaVale McGee never learned how to play basketball(whether unable or unwilling), and if they were 6'9 they would be the 12th man on their team too. TJones played on a glorified allstar team his sophomore year in college, and was a disappointment his freshman year. He never learned how to play basketball in college, and now that the Rockets are on the contention train, he won't get a chance to learn on the fly here. I'm not saying it is impossible for him to come around and become a decent/solid player. I'm just saying, from what I've seen, I'd bet against it.
Let us face it. There is absolutely nothing statistically significant about Jone's 276 NBA minutes last season. Less than 6 NBA games, with the majority of time facing bench players. D-Mo with twice Jone's NBA minutes only approached statistical significance. but at least he had 5 full games playing with the starters. And they of course both looked great in D-League, but we all know how much credence to give that.
I'm proud to say I'm Lithuanian! All tournament I was impressed by the way our coach handled the team. Yes, you may say DMO didn't played as much as he should have, but you can't say he didn't got his chance to show what he can do and on some night he did it pretty well, even showed he can play at C position, the same goes with other players like JV, Kleiza, Kuzminskas, K.Lavrinovic, all of the players were equal except maybe Kalnietis who played amazingly well and is our only PG. But this philosophy allowed by president; Sabonis himself helped to get the result. I think Kazlauskas did an exellent job, he wasn't afraid to rotate starting line up, he didn't had a problem playing 6 big mens, he didn't had a problem teaching seibutis playing at pg position, same goes with pocius. And even tonight when there was 2 minutes left on the clock and Lithuania was leading by 15, Kazlauskas asked his players to stand up and give ovations to the players on the court to slow down the whole tempo which symbolized the end of the game with two mins left. LIETUVA!!
Multi team deal, Rockets got a conditional 1st round pick for Jordan Hill Which was later flipped into deal for JAMES HARDEN Fisher was just the excess. If Omer Asik was 6-8 he'd be in d-league. The point is if the player can contribute. Mcgee and Deandre Jordan are starters. "Knows How to Play Basketball" is nice. But Ryan Bowen knows the game. Doesnt mean hes a guy you want out there. T Jones has an array of versatile tools, plus hes actually beefier than he looks. He's definitely a type to try to coach up. Plus he actually had a hand injury last year that limited his availabilit, or he miight have been in the mix around when dmo and greg smith were You talk about there being rare surprises, t jones played well at all stages last year. 17 Per in pros. He's definitely in play flaws and all.
Hm, remembered it to be a conditional 2nd, but you are right. No wonder the Lakers are where they are, trading 1sts for the likes of Jordan Hill. Point was, he's not very good. TJones/Dmo may be the same caliber. Hopefully not but likely so. That case, trading them is not some "great risk" like someone said, especially if we can swindle another 1st from dumb teams the likes of the Lakers. Disagree? If Omer Asik was 6'8 he'd be a rich mans Chuck Hayes, still a beast. And Ryan Bowen was a playoff starter/Dirk stopper/Rocket Hero! TJones has yet to earn a place worthy being mentioned in the same sentence. I know he has versatile tools, I listed them. Terrence Williams had versatile tools and so does Royce White. Knowing how to play basketball does not guarantee you success in the league, otherwise I wouldn't be typing on a message board. But not knowing how to play basketball means you are likely to be useless. Anyways, I'll agree to disagree. I admit I am being a little too harsh on him. It's still too early and he is not beyond reproach. Just because I don't think he will make it doesn't mean anything. I'll still be rooting for him.
I am at crossroads with Jones here. He has shown flashes of brillance. I think coach did not use him because he had problems with defensive rotations and midlevel injuries in the first half of the season. TJones has played well in the first Summer League in Vegas, as a Dleague Allstar, in the DLeague and recently has been pretty good in Orlando Summer League. He had some pretty impressive games with blocks, steals in the NBA as well. Showing his overall versatility. He has done everything a player could do in that situation, when second year players like Morris, Patterson, or a stretch FW like DMo was favored. I think he might be a Top 10-15 pick.... putting him in late lottery. If he continues to get better, he could be even better. If in any case he is going to lose confidence like Jonny Flynn did, then that would be unfortunate.
Marc Gasol for the fade away 3! Wait, wut.? <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GKdGBPH7Bfo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/kIy-cYF47vU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
