Dwayne Jones

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Do you guys think there's any chance this guy gets a shot of sticking with the Suns next season as our end of the bench guy? Dude can board. I didn't see the two regular game he got into this year, but this game he looked good. He was always around the ball on the rebounds even though he only got 4 in 6 minutes. We are weak on the boards, and having a rebounding specialist would be nice. Not sure our rookie Griffin is doing anything positive for us. I'd rather have Jones as little as I have seen of him over Griffin.
 

dreamcastrocks

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I was impressed with his garbage time minutes for sure.
 

Lefty

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Do you guys think there's any chance this guy gets a shot of sticking with the Suns next season as our end of the bench guy? Dude can board. I didn't see the two regular game he got into this year, but this game he looked good. He was always around the ball on the rebounds even though he only got 4 in 6 minutes. We are weak on the boards, and having a rebounding specialist would be nice. Not sure our rookie Griffin is doing anything positive for us. I'd rather have Jones as little as I have seen of him over Griffin.

I don't think it would hurt. The guy was active in the few minutes he was in there. What is strange is he is 6'11" and it looks like he can play, but how come he can't stick with a team?
 

AfroSuns

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I don't think it would hurt. The guy was active in the few minutes he was in there. What is strange is he is 6'11" and it looks like he can play, but how come he can't stick with a team?

Maybe his offense? but since the Suns have enough offense they need him more for rebounding purposes. i remember when Rolo was inserted into the starting line-up, primary reason was to guard the paint and grab rebounds, his added offense was a nice unexpected icing on the cake. this guy may just be perfect playing alongside Lou, off the bench.
 

82CardsGrad

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Do you guys think there's any chance this guy gets a shot of sticking with the Suns next season as our end of the bench guy? Dude can board. I didn't see the two regular game he got into this year, but this game he looked good. He was always around the ball on the rebounds even though he only got 4 in 6 minutes. We are weak on the boards, and having a rebounding specialist would be nice. Not sure our rookie Griffin is doing anything positive for us. I'd rather have Jones as little as I have seen of him over Griffin.

He seems to be at worst, a slight upgrade over Collins... We clearly don't know enough about the kid at this point, but it seems he might possess an intriguing upside. In the ideal world, he would develop into a solid back-up solution for our big men. But of course, there are WAY too many other questions that need to be answered first, such as, what will happen with Amare and Frye next year...
 

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He had some moments playing against the Blazers scrubs--who, let's be honest, are barely NBA players.

But let's not get carried away. I did like it when he would go down on offense and continually post up his man. Of course, Goran never passed him the ball, but oh well. That fast break he ran was a thing of beauty.
 

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Desperate Men will take desperate measures. D. Jones in motivated. Essentially, he is trying out for all teams, ala Bell in the early 2000s with Philly in their playoff run. I would like for his to get a minutes or two against their first unit just to see what he can do. Playoffs are a poor time to experiment, or tinker with team chemistry - however, we may need more answers if Robin can't make a come back.
 

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You can't teach rebounding. And he knows how to rebound. There really is no reason Jones can't be slightly better than Collins. I can guard Aldridge the way Collins does. Just grab his arms and hang on or push Aldridge for the foul. I can do that. I think the mobility of Jones could cause problems for Aldridge. I'd definitely try it. At the very worst, he'll get 3 fouls early (ala Collins). So its a win-win situation.
 

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You can't teach rebounding. And he knows how to rebound. There really is no reason Jones can't be slightly better than Collins. I can guard Aldridge the way Collins does. Just grab his arms and hang on or push Aldridge for the foul. I can do that. I think the mobility of Jones could cause problems for Aldridge. I'd definitely try it. At the very worst, he'll get 3 fouls early (ala Collins). So its a win-win situation.

I agree, however I think Jones can have more of an impact on the offensive end. Right now every time Collins gets the ball close to the basket on the offensive end he seems like he is moving in slow motion and usually gets blocked or alters his shot and misses. If Jones can catch cleanly and dunk quickly (ala Robin Lopez) he can be more effective than Collins.
 

jagu

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The big thing is that Amare thrives with guys that can board. Rolo, Shaq. Dwayne Jones just may free up Amare even more and if they try to double team, Jones can get the rebound because that's what he does. Come on Gentry!! You'd be the man if you make this switch!!!
 

Errntknght

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I don't think it would hurt. The guy was active in the few minutes he was in there. What is strange is he is 6'11" and it looks like he can play, but how come he can't stick with a team?

It wouldn't be too surprising if some issue surfaces with Jones that explains why he hasn't stuck but it also wouldn't surprise me if its simply that he hasn't been in the right place at the right time - or maybe he has been improving slowly and we're seeing a better or more motivated player than past coaches & GMs did.

One thing that we tend to overlook is that there is a rather fuzzy line separating the guys that are good enough to make a roster and those that are not - statistics alone tells us that is to be expected. That means there are going to be mistakes made fairly often. Heck, the decision makers have lots of things to think about that are more important than whether marginal player A is better than marginal player B, so you shouldn't expect too much accuracy. Very likely, one thing they do consider is whether or how often a player has failed to make a roster in the past so every failure adds to hill the guy has to climb to make one.

Luckily, for Dwayne Jones he's found a team that is in desperate need of what he does best so he figures to get a fair trial. From the little bit I've seen of him, bringing him back for the summer leagues, at least, is a no-brainer.
 

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I don't think you guys are giving Collins enough credit. The guy is always where he's supposed to be on the floor. Maybe he's too immobile to make a play, but he's not clogging the lane on offense and he's making an earnest attempt to play defense. He also grabs the occasional rebound and doesn't turn the ball over.

Whatever this kid brings, I wouldn't put him in a situation where he would probably hurt the team.
 

slinslin

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I don't think you guys are giving Collins enough credit. The guy is always where he's supposed to be on the floor. Maybe he's too immobile to make a play, but he's not clogging the lane on offense and he's making an earnest attempt to play defense. He also grabs the occasional rebound and doesn't turn the ball over.

Whatever this kid brings, I wouldn't put him in a situation where he would probably hurt the team.

Of course he doesn't turn it over he never gets the ball.

Of course he isn't clogging the lane on offense since he is non-existent on offense.

Last night he got backed down by LaMarcus Aldridge thats terrifying.
 

AfroSuns

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Last night he got backed down by LaMarcus Aldridge thats terrifying.


I saw that too and although LMA is taller, i don't see how it is possible that Collins with all his experience and behind will let Aldridge back him down
 

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I really like what I had seen out of him. Yes it was garbage minutes but you can't teach a guy to be aggressive. He went after balls, pushed guys around, went to the floor and hustled.

I remember when we got this player called "Dudley" that everyone made similar comments about and said he should get more playing time to see what he can do.

That is how I feel about Jones. I see potential for him to be much more then a bench stiff.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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I really like what I had seen out of him. Yes it was garbage minutes but you can't teach a guy to be aggressive. He went after balls, pushed guys around, went to the floor and hustled.

I remember when we got this player called "Dudley" that everyone made similar comments about and said he should get more playing time to see what he can do.

That is how I feel about Jones. I see potential for him to be much more then a bench stiff.

hmm, comparing jones to dudley is a bit of a stretch. dudley was a star at BC in a bigtime conference. if i remember correctly he was a late first round pick. he also held onto a roster spot in the nba for his entire career. jones has none of those things going for him.
 

AzStevenCal

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I'm not going to put the guy in Ben Wallace's class but IIRC Ben had a very humbling beginning also. Even once he finally got a real chance in Orlando people wrote their success off to the coaching change and motivated scrubs trying to earn roster spots. It wasn't until after he was moved along as a part of the Grant Hill trade that people realized just how much he'd improved. Maybe we got lucky here. Maybe I'm dreaming.

Steve
 

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Jones is tall, mobile and can rebound. He definitely deserves a strong look for next season especially since the Suns have an option which likely makes his salary a real bargain.
 

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Jones is tall, mobile and can rebound. He definitely deserves a strong look for next season especially since the Suns have an option which likely makes his salary a real bargain.

The reason I am in favor of getting Jones a look instead of Collins is that I really can't think of how he could be worse. What does Collins do exactly? What would be the worse-case scenario?
 

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The reason I am in favor of getting Jones a look instead of Collins is that I really can't think of how he could be worse. What does Collins do exactly? What would be the worse-case scenario?

I don't see Collins being with the Suns next season but with with the injury to Lopez I'm sure glad he is on the roster this season. IMO, the Suns will need two big men to back up Lopez next season with concerns about his back. I wouldn't mind if Jones is one of them.
 

Divide Et Impera

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I was certainly impressed with Jones' few minutes last night. He looks like a really big dude out there. I know he's 6'11"/250, but he looked bigger than that. What I really liked is how he really rips the rebound out of the air at the proverbial highest point - even in traffic.

I'd give him some more burn in this series and moving forward. I would like to see him at 10 minutes or so - maybe even a bit more....
 

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The reason I am in favor of getting Jones a look instead of Collins is that I really can't think of how he could be worse. What does Collins do exactly? What would be the worse-case scenario?

Exactly ^^^. The suns have absolutely nothing to lose in putting dwyane in over collins. Collins does absolutely nothing well hes just the type of guy that wont blow it.

Also i think one reason he hasnt played to much is that portland doesnt have much offense down low. Aldridge is not a banger and camby is well...camby...
 

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From Gentry

"Sure. The minutes we play him and everything and I thought that second unit went in and played well. I was happy with Dwayne Jones. I thought he showed a little bit of rebounding and toughness and things like that. That other group, Lou and those guys did a fantastic job."



I don't think he will replace Collins starting, hopefully there will be more garbage time (with Suns blowing out the other team of course) so we can see more of what he can do.
 
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