Jason Terry’s Minutes Threatened By a Rookie

The pressure-cooker is already on in Dallas, and playing time for the vets is by no means a guarantee. Just ask Rick Carlisle (who’s in mid-season form when it comes to dropping f-bombs to the media). From ESPN: “Is rookie Dominique Jones pushing Jason Terry for playing time? The short answer is: absolutely. First, there’s this from Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle: ‘We’re what, the fifth-oldest team in the league now? We have to continue to play our young guys and develop them. Whether Dominique is going to be a starter or play that much [the 700 minutes Roddy Beaubois logged as a rookie], who knows? Anybody that can bring a different dimension and can give us toughness and athleticism defensively is going to get a strong look. To this point, he’s done all those things.’ … As for the veteran Terry, Carlisle said he’s implored him to work on ratcheting up his aggressiveness and intensity as a defender, giving him the green light to gamble more and storm passing lanes. Of course, Terry’s calling card is as a knock-down shooter and not necessarily as a savvy defender. Asked if he believes Terry can deliver a consistent defensive presence, Carlisle snapped, ‘Why the [expletive] not? Tell me why can’t he? You’ve never seen him have some great defensive possessions? Can he do that all the time? He can. He can.’ And then Carlisle added this: ‘That’s one of the great things about having Jones here. Jones has really, in five or six days, established himself as a rugged, tough, physical defender at the guard position. He’s got a chance to get minutes because of his defense.'”