Houston Rockets: Terrence Jones Now an Option at Power Forward

April 03, 2013; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings point guard Isaiah Thomas (22) goes up for the basket against Houston Rockets power forward Terrence Jones (6) during the third quarter at Sleep Train Arena. The Houston Rockets defeated the Sacramento Kings 112-102. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

In the Houston Rocket’s Wednesday night 112-102 win at Sacramento, rookie Terrence Jones received an opportunity to play some meaningful minutes.  Jones capitalized and scored 14 points, grabbed 12 rebounds in 29 minutes.

This was Jones’ first minutes since his April 1 call-up from the D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers. It also marked his first NBA appearance since Dec. 19^th.

Jones has spent most of the season in the D-League, and has averaged an impressive 19 points and 9 rebounds in 24 games.  In February, Jones was named as a D-League All-Star, marking the second straight year that the Rockets had a D-League All-Star representative. In 2012, Greg Smith was named as an All-Star.

With the recent struggles of Donatas Motiejunas at power forward, and Smith being inserted as the starting power forward, Kevin McHale decided to give Jones a look, and he impressed not only McHale, but many others as well.

“Terrence played very well,” McHale said. “He had a great practice (Tuesday). I kind of told our staff, ‘We’re giving everybody a shot at that spot, we might as well give Terrence a shot.’ And he did a great job. He played really well down in the Valley. I was watching him. As the year’s progressed, Terrence has just gotten more comfortable with what we’re asking him to do. He’s just getting better and better and better. So I was really happy for him.”

The Rockets should be very pleased that between 1^st round draft picks Royce White and Jones, one of them seems like they can add some sort of contribution for this season.  Look for Jones to receive minutes in the next couple of games.