2015-2016 Rockets season recaps: Time for Jason Terry to move on

In a perfect world, we would have seen little of Jason Terry this year. Ty Lawson would have come in and synced up with James Harden, allowing The Beard to operate off the ball while Lawson took care of the handling duties.

He would have also ran a devastating pick and roll with Dwight Howard, while Patrick Beverley came off the bench in as solid a one-two punch at point guard as there is in the league.

The Rockets would have rode their new lineup to postseason success, and we would have heard hardly a peep from Terry as the third point guard playing limited minutes on a contending team.

As we know all too well, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and vision fails to match reality.

In truth, the Lawson experiment fizzled in a spectacular failure, forcing Beverley back into the starting lineup and JET into the direct backup point guard role.

Terry played in 72 games for the Rockets, a sure sign of their troubles at the position, and though he did shoot 35.6 percent from beyond the arc, the veteran contributed little else, finishing the year averaging 5.9 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 17.2 minutes per game.

He was a negative player on both offense and defense, and while his -0.2 offensive plus/minus wasn't exactly terrible (even if it was below average), he was regularly abused on the defensive end, finishing the year with a -2.6 defensive plus/minus and an atrocious +6.3 differential percentage.

Even Terry's supposed forte — veteran leadership — fell mostly on deaf ears, as his honest public criticisms of the squad throughout the year had very little effect on the on-court results, and his playoff guarantee of a Game 5 victory against the Golden State Warriors backfired to the tune of a 33-point blowout defeat.

Terry interviewed for the open head coaching position at the University of Alabama-Birmingham during the season — yes, while he was still playing in the NBA, he was taking job interviews — before he was ultimately rejected for the job. A career in coaching at some level is likely on the horizon for JET. He should wind up as a solid coach someday, as 17 seasons in the Association no doubt left him with a wealth of knowledge, and his success in earning a ring with the Mavs should earn him automatic respect in almost any locker room.

Terry's two seasons in Houston were certainly appreciated, even if he played more than we would have liked, with his career clearly on the downside. And with his contract now up, it's very unlikely we see JET back with the Rockets as a player next season.

If we somehow find him playing surprising significant minutes in Houston in 2016-2017, something has gone exceptionally wrong with the Rockets' offseason plan. It's more than time for the propeller to lift off into the NBA sunset.