Terrence Jones sidesteps questions about Portland incident, impresses Dwight Howard

you forgot that Dwight was only 17 years old when he as a rookie basically a child, Jones is 20 Year old man LOL...

 

Dennis Rodman, Kevin McHale, Otis Thorpe VS Dirk, Rasheed, Bosh, Gasol

 

I can just imagine how that game turns out. Team two tries to flop one too many times, and McHale clotheslines Dirk, Rodman kicks Bosh in the nuts, and Otis uses his enormous hands to slap the mess out of Gasol.

Rasheed sits on the bench.. "Why am I even in this game?"

 

TJones is 6'9" but realistically.....that's a couple inches of extra neck. The rest of his frame is consistent with a normal length necked 6'7" player with some long arms. Compare him to a 6'7" player with length. Now his measurements look good.

He is 250 lbs and that isn't going to change. He's not going to go down to 215 or whatever.

Here's his problem. He's too slow to play SF. He's not a good enough shooter to be a stretch 4. He's not big enough to be a 5.

When you watch Jones play....when the ball swings to him...everything stops. Because the defense is willing to give him the 3-ball. They know he's about 30% out there..they play off...and Jones stands out there up faking hoping to draw the defenders towards him where he can put the ball on the floor. That's Jones' pet move, up fake, dribble drive to his left and either attempt to finish or dish. Watch game video from last year. And then watch the scrimmage action put up yesterday. Same thing. Everybody knows his game.

His jumper, as someone mentioned previously, looks terrible. He coils up, cups the ball, and take an hour and a half to unwind and release it. Way too much off hand in the shot, way too much pressure. It takes forever and it's not efficient. It's actually worse now than when he was at Kentucy. His shooting has actually regressed. Hence his drives become inefficient because he has to attack with the defender already playing off him a couple steps.

For this reason...he's a ball stopper. Opposing defenses will give him the 3-ball all day long and will game plan for the ball to funnel to him to shoot it. (By the way, as far as shooting the 3...everything I'm saying here applies to DMo as well. Opposing defenses are going to play off both Jones and DMo until they prove they can knock down the 3-ball at a 40%+ clip.) He needs major, major work to his shooting mechanics. I don't know what he did all summer but just tossing up a gazillion shots with the same old twisted form isn't going to change things. If fact all that does is make it worse, makes it more difficult to change the mechanics.

In my humble opinion, I get the sense that both TJones and DMo are doing their own things as far as their workouts go and their improvement. I don't get the sense that DMo is the most coachable dude. I think he likes to look good, likes to look like he's working hard but he's not allowing himself to get coached up. I think TJones spent all summer here down at the gym just playing his game and working out. TJones is hoping to improve his game by simply playing a lot and doing the same old things that got him to where he is now.

In my opinion, TJones is best served being a garbage man, which is what we wanted TRob to do because we figured out TRob couldn't shoot for ...... Well, same thing with TJones. He can't shoot for ..... either.

Now the good side is....TJones is a tremendous ball handler for a 4. His ability to bring the ball up is on par with Royce White's. He's very, very good at grabbing the defensive board and marching the ball right up the seam while everybody is getting back. I love that aspect of his game. He brings it right down the middle, catches the defense going backwards and makes good plays. Not the best passer...nowhere nearly close to as good a passer as Royce but he is effective in that role. And he has good defensive potential. Don't know if the sparks in his brain fire off fast enough for him to ever be a great defender but he certainly has the body and athleticism to be a heckuva defender. With that in mind, UNTIL he changes his shooting mechanics and gets some professional coaching up of his shooting, specifically catching and shooting...he needs to pack it in the paint, run the floor like mad, board, defend, and look for the backdoors and seams in the D to exploit while finishing off Harden/Lin/Dwight, etc. Letting him catch and hold at the 3-point line is a recipe for watering down the efficiency of our offense....which is exactly what the opposing D wants us to do.

Now, everything I said about TJones shooting applies to DMo. I have no idea what DMo did this whole durn summer but it wasn't working on his shot. DMo's 3-point shot is terrible. It's flat and hard. He's just firing up bricks and precious few of them bang down. And the way he is shooting is going to create long rebounds and run outs by the opponent. He's simply shooting too hard and too flat. That's a recipe for disaster. To make matters worse for DMo....he will never be a defender. He's simply not athletic enough...NOR is there the desire to get significantly better. He's the same guy, coming in looking to score the ball. Right now...I just don't see it with him either. Even more so than Terrence.

If I were Morey and McHale I'd be looking for an opportunity in a preseason game to get DMo major run, feed him the ball, and let him post a 30 point game or two...and then ship his a... out as soon as I got a quality offer. I just don't see it with him. At this point, I think he's fool's gold. He had a shot last year to take over the 4 spot when we traded PPat and dude noodled it up. If he hasn't significantly improved his skill-set and the skill-set we need at the 4...it's time to go.

If we drag through this season with both of these guys underperforming their trade values go in the dumpster. They're already slipping. This is why I was hoping, hoping, hoping we could somehow trade these guys for a guy like Cody Zeller in this year's draft. Cody is a true player. He works on his game. And when I say he works on his game...I'm not talking about him showing up at the gym and scrimmaging and lifting weights. I'm talking about he gets the coaches out there and he isolates the parts of his game that need to get better and he works on it. There's a big difference between spending hours at the gym firing up shots, scrimmaging, and lifting weights....and actually working on your game. Zeller has that down. I don't think DMo has it. And I am questioning whether TJones has it.

 

TJ probably has the best chance to contribute off all our current potential PF's on the roster. As for any controversy time and good play tends to put out the flames quite effectively. Barring a trade I think he'll get most of the minutes of the candidates.

 

I was listening to your opinion until you said defenses will play off of him until he can hit 40%+ from 3. No way.

40% from 3 is a deadly shooter.

If Jones shoots in the low 30's from 3, they won't lay off of him.

 

He did the only thing he could. Avoided the question. His lawyers would be negligent if they had not advised him to, and I feel sure the Rockets reinforced it. It is in his and the teams best interest to sweep this thing under a rug as quickly as possible.

 

basketballholic an interesting take. From memory only, Jones shot 26.7% from beyond the arc and D-Mo shot 28.9%. And D-Mo did spend the summer playing for his national team, which came in second in Europe to a loaded French team led by one of the best point guards in the NBA.

Power forward is an interesting position for the Rockets. The team obviously does not need scoring from the position. Nor good rebounding. They already have those in spades from the other positions. What they do need from the power forward is 3 point shooting and somewhat below average defense. It sounds easy, but how many 6'8" and up players can hit 33% from beyond the arc? Not many.

The other thing the Rockets need from the power forward position is cheap. The NBA is all about the CFA and the salary cap. Jones and D-Mo certainly fit the bill.

We shall see.

 

Finally somebody saw what I did there ... Thank You!

 

Only 1 PF shot above 40% from 3's last season. Only 31 players total shot above 40% from 3's.

 

You won't catch him sleeping, but he will catch you sleeping...........especially if you homeless, yo.

 

VERY NICE!!!! Clever, wish i could give reputations or something. Keep up with the good jokes...I just love it!

 

Lol jus in case yall missed it in the photoshop thread ...

 

LOL. Nice.

 

Sorry, but that's not true.

Harden, Lin, Parsons, Dwight, PF


Harden and Dwight pick and roll the other 3 guys spotting up. Jones is shooting 30% from 3, Parsons shooting 38%, Lin shooting ...... oh.....let's say 36% (he'll be right at 40% this year). Now....who is the ball going to funnel to???

The reason why Jones hesitates when he catches out there is because he knows his percentage sucks, he knows it's not a good shot for him. He doesn't have the confidence to catch it and rip it. Hence, the multiple up fakes in an attempt to draw the defender closer for the blow by. But the defenders are too smart to bite up close with Jones. They know he can't shoot. They know all they have to do defensively is distract just a bit once he lifts up and his percentages go in the toilet.

At this point....Jones may be able to hit low 30's in game situations when he is wide open with no contest at all, nobody around. But if you put a defender within 8 feet of him, waiving the hand, his percentages cave down to mid 20's tops. It's a recipe for the ball being funneled to him. And it makes him the focal point of the next play after the initial pick and roll action has dissipated to him holding the ball outside the arc.

 

DMo was the same player this summer over there that he was last season. Running the floor, wanting to score the ball, shooting abysmally from outside and not defending anybody. Same dude. He hasn't improved one iota. I expect he'll shoot about 30% from 3 again this year. Have a spectacular game here and there where he goes 6 for 9 from the field and 4 for 5 on 3 balls followed up by a week of clanking the 3-ball at 15% all the while having zero impact defensively or on the glass. That's a minimum salary player.

I really think we need to make a trade sooner rather than later...something like GSmith and DMo for Jason Smith and a pick or possibly a guy like Mirza Tetelovic and a pick....to get value for these guys before we go into the regular season and discover that they are the 12th and 13th guys in the rotation and aren't going to see the floor. If that happens their trade value falls to zero.

 

You mean a consistent jumper. If he becomes a consistent shooter he has All Star pontential.

 

TJ shot the 3 pretty well last year in d-league. So that didn't count?

 

Is all about his shooting mechanics. His shooting just didn't look easy and follow thru it seems like he thinks about his mechanics while shooting. If he can have an easy relax form he can bevome a much better shooter. Im not HIGH on Dmo but will see. As far as Covington goes I don't expect to play at the 4 but his natural pisition at SF. Covington is a year away from getting real minutes. Canaan I want to see him BEAST tonight vs Pelicans.

 

hoops are bigger