With the day’s practice complete, Rockets coach Kevin McHale looked to his right, saw a familiar face and imagined a 6-foot-9, lefthanded power forward in his rotation. He was not thinking of Josh Smith.

Nothing was imminent, but Terrence Jones had begun work on a treadmill, the next step in his long rehabilitation from a nerve issue in his left knee.

“Another big thing that’s happened, Terrence Jones has been able to run on a treadmill,” McHale said. “Terrence Jones has been able to do some stuff that honestly he hasn’t been able to do since that thing happened. I was excited just to see Terrence with a smile on his face. He ran on the treadmill. He ran on the floor. He’s been jumping a little bit.

“I don’t know when – it’s not imminent – that’s just like making a trade for a really quality player and not giving anything up.”

Great time for break

The break in the Rockets schedule, with two practice days between the Rockets game Monday against the Trail Blazers and Friday’s in Memphis was particularly well-timed.

With the additions of Corey Brewer and Alexey Shved and the return from a knee injury of Kostas Papanikolaou, Rockets coach Kevin McHale said there was some time to get new players more familiar with the Rockets system and to get Papanikolaou the extra work needed after the time he was out.

“I feel a little better after today,” McHale said. “Putting them out there, getting them in game situations is going to be big for us. They’ll grow through that. Today, you could really notice, like Paps, being out so long, he had some rust on his game. Getting the rust off Dwight (Howard) after a long, extended period, getting Alexey and Brew comfortable, all that stuff is going to come together.