Sleeping on Terrence Jones?
He seems to have fallen out of favor on many mock lotteries. Coach Cal says of him:
"He will be able to guard 2s, 3s, and 4s at the next level"
"He can hit his head on the rim"
"He has barely scratched the surface of his potential"
I gotta say, I think Cal has a point, even though he's obviously supporting his player, I think Jones is going to make a good pro. I think he is going to show really well at workouts.
I think he's a Scott Skiles type player and woudn't be suprised at all if he find his way back into the lottery when its all said and done.
Workouts will be huge for him. If he can prove teams that he plays smart as well as having a lot of potential then he should sneak back into the lottery. Teams like Milwaukee and Utah could really use a player with his talents but in order for any of these two teams to draft him he has to show that he can and will play hard and smart, all the while showing his vast amount of potential. Playing smart is especially important. Team interviews will be huge too. If he treats the workout like a job interview then his stock should go back to the lottery and Milwaukee or Utah would be good places for him to land. Utah and Milwaukee are two lottery bound teams that grade highly a player's attitude, possibly even higher than their potential. Why do you think Utah picked Gordon Hayward over Paul George in 2009? I'm not saying George has a bad attitude, but he must have not have done well in the interview part of the workout, while Hayward did, because George clearly has more potential than Hayward and is the better player, yet Utah went with Hayward because he passed the interview part of the workout while still showing a good amount of potential to work with. (And man is he becoming a budding star lately or what.)
He can't shoot like Al Harrington.
The thing with him is that he can't shoot, doesn't score well on the low block when matched up against college 4s, and this idea that he is a great defensive player doesn't pass the sniff test when he got worked like a speed bag by another player in his draft class who plays the same position. If you are a bad team and take Terrence Jones, you will still be bad. They won't be sleeping on him if they pass on him. Conversely, if a reasonably good team that can use a second unit athlete takes him, they can come away feeling as though they didn't come away with a completely unusable bum. They'll have a guy.
I think if drafted into the right scenario, he could be a very solid player in this league. Never a superstar, but solid. I think the absolute ceiling for him is Lamar Odom (Lakers), and the floor is Lamar Odom (Mavs). He'll end up being somewhere inbetween there.
He will be a bust. He may as well not have a right hand. He can't go to his right and shoot off the dribble and can't use his right around the basket. Doesn't have a real good post-up game cuz of that and doesn't have real good skill set for the three.
I for one am surprised he is not in the lottery. He gave Thomas Robinson all he could handle both games this season and I think both of them play very similarly.
He isn't that consistant, but who is playing on a team with that much talent?
Even if Jones is 6'9, that is still a little undersized in today's NBA, when you have guys like Amare, Dirk, Duncan, Bosh, Aldridge, Garnett and Bargnani who are hovering around the 7 foot mark. Now, I know Griffin and Love are both 6'9 or thereabouts, but they both have one outstanding quality which allows them to compensate, and neither are great defensively. I don't see Jones having that one quality required to excel starting at the 4, so he'll either play as a post-up 3 ala Shawn Marion of late, or he'll come off the bench at the 4 like Thaddeus Young does for the Sixers.
Either way, I wouldn't take him top 10, but probably late lottery to mid first round.
for all the time i'm in the comparisons business world i never saw more resemblance between two player like between him and James Johnson, it just in all aspects physical, style, qualifications and mentality, but based on this and the same as Johnson, he's not a player you want to take lottery cause even he has good talent and physical profile he doesn't impose his will in significant degree and very unstable especially in his mind.
All I know is, a playoff team is going to get a hell of a player and with teams in the 6-9 range on both conferences needing any win they can get to sneak into a good playoff spot, he can be a player that can make a difference down the stretch next season.
He's not a top-10 pick by any means because of so many weaknesses but he can be what Jeff Green was supposed to be for the Celtics this season, a nice piece off the bench that can play spot minutes at both forward positions and is a jack-of-all-trades.
There isn't much potential there but that's because he's already so talented, he just needs to be polished a bit. He's a finished product and whoever picks him up late in the lottery or in the early 20s is going to get a hell of a player.
His ceiling is definitely Al Harrington. Remember BTPH, Al Harrington could not shoot to save his life early in his career. Not even early in his career, it took him 8 to 9 years for him to even make one 3PT FG per game, and even then he was shooting only 34%.
future_scout....Calipari said that at the press conference last night about guarding 2, 3, and 4.
I dont know what 2 he is going to guard. In fact....we were posting about this yesterday as far as what determines position. Some of us said, it depends on what position you can guard. Offensively, Jones is not a tweener, he is a PF. Defensively, at this moment he is a tweener because he will have difficulty guarding the 3 and the 4. I think maybe in the future he will be able to guard 4's effectively and if he is, that is what will keep him in the league. Defense will be a real challenge for him early on I believe though.
I agree with TOL23....he is a Harrington type that can be a very productive bench player.
I'll absolutely give you that. I can see where you're going there.
However, I'd argue Odom's handles were way better. Dude basically played PG at Rhode Island and was thought of as a point forward when he came out. He was basically a Rich Man's Royce White (same size and versatility with a much better J).
Being able to guard 2-4 on the college level and pro level are two different things. I've watched enough Thad Young to know that undersized 3/4 tweeners cannot be NBA starters unless they can put up 20 a game or block shots like Josh Smith.
But, like TOL23 said, there are a few boarderline playoff teams that would really benefit from having this guy. If the Jazz ever make that trade to clear up the log jam, they might take a look at T-Jones with their second pick.
They'd be better off dumping a guy like Hayward (who made no sense in the lottery btw) and taking a guy like Lamb to create more space down low for the big guys.
Maybe dangle Milsap to get a young PG or another young wing (depending on who they take with their second 1st round pick).
I would never compare TJ to Odom, unless you mean a very poor famished man's Odom. Trust me, I am not trying to bash TJ but Odom is a bit of a stretch. To me, Odom has been the closest player to Magic Johnson in terms of positional versatility....unless you want to throw in LBJ....but who is better at playing Center on defense/offense? For sure Odom can play SF and PF very well and he is a very good ballhandler and passer. TJ just pales in comparison when talking ballhandling, shooting, and versatility to guard 3 and 4. I maybe wrong but I would hold off on the Odom comparisons.
A lot of people undoubtedly are.....the problem though is that very often Terrence Jones sleeps on Terrence Jones.....we have all seen him sleepwalk through certain games and that infuriates team managment and fans....talent/physical prowess has never been an issue.
i don't want to get into it because i spoke my mind on tj3 many times.
in terrence jones i see a player that will be able to guard a lot of SFs and PFs. by guarding SGs Cal means that if on any given play, jones has to step up to check a SG he will be able to, without making it a liability or a big mismatch. he will be a defensive player
...that has the athleticism and iq to move well without the ball and make good cuts from the weak side.
with the ball in his hands, he will use mismatches to score on offense. posting up smaller defenders and facing up slower PFs.
"His ceiling is definitely Al Harrington. Remember BTPH, Al Harrington could not shoot to save his life early in his career. Not even early in his career, it took him 8 to 9 years for him to even make one 3PT FG per game, and even then he was shooting only 34%."
A jump shot is not limited to 3s. Al Harrington was knocking down mid-range jumpers early in his career.
If Al Harrington went from being a terrible 3pt shooting, is it impossible for TJones to improve his shot? Shooting is one of the easiest things to improve once you reach the league. You can get into the gym and shoot 1,000 shots a day for an entire summer and you can improve your shooting from deep drastically. Ask Mario Chalmers and LeBron.
It's not like he has a broken stroke either, he just has an extremely slow release. Jeff Green didn't have the ability to shoot and he has the ability to be a great player off the bench, although he did not play this season.
As I said, it's not impossible to become a good shooter when you have a decent stroke like TJones. It's guys like John Wall and Tyreke Evans that have a broken strokes and need to completely rebuild their shooting.
ive been a huge uk fan for years and totally love and agree the mention from quickpostc theres time when tj just flat out looks he doesnt care and i undsertand the mentions on it being easy too get lost with all that talent around but still give the effort and at times tj just doesnt give that effort
I don't think Terrence Jones an especially good defender at any position. He could capably guard 4s, but he is not a great post defender. And I think he is too slow to defend well on the perimeter.
On offense, it is sort of the same story. Jones was a decent post-up player in college, but his lack of a right hand and overall shooting ability will prevent him from being much of a post scorer in the NBA. He probably can drive by 4s, but if he played the 3, he wouldn't be able to attack the basket much in the half court due to his lack of speed.
Basically, Jones is a good rebounder and an okay shot blocker who may be a better shooter and ball handler than most NBA 4s, but I really don't see any reason he would be a starter for a good team in the NBA anytime soon, and he isn't really a high upside pick.
def agree with some of what you said ^... he is a matchup defender in cases. you shouldn't assign him a position without knowing who you playing. he will guard 3/4s depending on matchups. and he will be a good defender imo.
his upside is pretty high, he's 6'9 which i decent for a PF. he can develop a pick n pop which could be lethal if mixed with his slashing. he is very athletic and while some might question his "will", since that indiana game / pinky finger injury, he flipped the switch. he doesn't wonder around, walking mainly because Cal. who was always breathing down his neck...
"Shooting is one of the easiest things to improve once you reach the league. You can get into the gym and shoot 1,000 shots a day for an entire summer and you can improve your shooting from deep drastically. "
Can you please tell that to Andre "62.8% on free throws in his 7th season as an All-Star wingman in the NBA" Iguodala?
"He will be able to guard 2s, 3s, and 4s at the next level"
Just not Royce White, anyone like Royce White, or better than Royce White.
"He can hit his head on the rim"
But more important to evaluating a basketball player is the fact that so do the vast majority of his jump shots.
"He has barely scratched the surface of his potential"
Him and JaVale McGee both, right?