Houston Rockets power forward Terrence Jones missed practice on Thursday due to a bruised rib. Jones already missed the majority of the last season because of a nerve condition in his leg as well as a partially collapsed lung. He sat out Houston's practice on Thursday because of a newly acquired rib injury, according to the Houston Chronicle.
While the condition is reportedly not considered serious, Rockets head coach Kevin McHale said that he currently has no timetable for the power forward's return. During the team's Media Day press conference, McHale said that the team was looking for a big season from Jones who sat out 49 regular season games last year mainly due to nerve issues in his leg.
Terrence Jones only played in a total of 33 games last season as a result of several ailments. He missed 40 games because of the aforementioned nerve inflammation in his left leg, three because of flu, and another six related to his partially collapsed lung.
Jones made significant progress the last time he was back on the court. But he once again become limited when an injury occurred in the game where he partially fractured a rib. Before the 23-year-old forward injured his rib on Wednesday, McHale mentioned that he was making good strides and delivering quicker decisions.
At the start of training, some thought that fellow forward Donatas Motiejunas would pose as a worthy challenger to Jones for the starting power forward position. However, the 25-year-old Lithuanian also dealt with a back injury and has been recovering from a recent surgery. McHale said that Motiejunas has not begun running yet and was not sure how long "DeMo" will be out.
With Jones and Motiejunas questionable because of individual injuries, the Houston Rockets have had to use rookie players Montrezl Harrell and Sam Dekker extensively in the frontcourt.
Coach McHale does not seem worried about losing his two power forwards. This is likely due to the fact that the Rockets did win 56 games last season despite injuries to Dwight Howard, Patrick Beverley, Jones and Moteijunas, according to ESPN.
"We have so many young guys playing in the frontcourt. The only two guys that have been in our system at all as far as bigs are Clint (Capela) and Dwight (Howard). The rest are trying to figure out what they're doing," McHale told the Houston Chronicle.
He said that more spotlight can be focused on Harrell now that the veterans are unavailable. "I like him [Harrell]. He's a big kid, plays hard, gets up and down the floor, brings great energy. I really like what I see out of him. He's got a chance," McHale mentioned.
