Terrence

Jones

Jones has been out of the NBA for a couple seasons and was never able to establish himself after a few promising years to begin his career in Houston. Still only 28 years old, there’s no guarantee he’ll get another shot in the states.

Jones signed a couple 10-day deals with the Rockets this season, but never saw much playing time and wasn’t kept around for the playoffs. He spent most of the year in the G-League, where he had a solid campaign. Jones showed some flashes early in his NBA career, but has never been able to stick around.

Jones signed his second 10-day contract with the Rockets a week ago, and he has not factored into the team’s front court rotation. And with Kenneth Faried expected to make his return Monday, that was likely to remain the case if Jones were healthy enough to play.

He’s only played just over one minute with Houston so far, and there’s been no indication that his role will grow for the time being.

Jones hadn’t appeared in a game since March 2017, but after signing a 10-day contract with Houston he called it the “ultimate second opportunity.” Kenneth Faried exited this game with a sore left hip flexor, but Houston could go even smaller if Faried misses time. Leave Jones on the wire outside of the very deepest leagues.

“I’m just happy to be here. To be back [with the Rockets] means a lot because I already felt a part of this family, this organization and they welcomed me back with open arms,” Jones said. “Everybody has shown me they’re happy to see me so it’s all around love.” The Rockets do not have much depth at the four and Jones lit up the G-League prior to joining Houston, but it’s unclear what type of role he’ll have. Deep-league fantasy owners can take a wait-and-see approach here.

Jones has been dominating the G-League this season, but this seems like a bit of roster manipulation by the Rockets as he’ll be assigned back to the G-League. Leave him on the wire.

Jones declared for the 2011 draft, but surprisingly withdrew his name late and became a major part of Kentucky’s title run. His numbers tailed off as a sophomore due to the arrival of Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague. At 6'8/244 with solid range and excellent rebounding ability, he’s projected as a borderline lottery pick.

“I liked a lot of the stuff they did,” McHale said referring to Jones and Donatas Motiejunas. McHale did add that the level of competition during the summer league is not reflective of what either will see in the NBA, “so I take all that with a giant grain of salt.” McHale admitted that he’s not sure where Jones and Motiejunas will be able to best thrive, but that’s expected given the total reconstruction of his team’s roster in the offseason. There will be more questions than answers early on in Houston.

This is a big workout for the Pistons as it will likely go a long way toward determining what the team does with its No. 9 pick on draft night. Speculation has been swirling that the Pistons are ready to hop on Henson should he remain available, but the club could certainly go in another direction as well. With just 72 hours until draft day, Henson has a chance to solidify himself as the Pistons’ top target.