Though Rockets coach Kevin McHale called the Rockets’ power forward position open, saying he needs to see more physical defense and rebounding from the position, a vote of confidence for his returning power forwards, Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas, is expected before the season begins.

The Rockets intend to pick up their fourth-year option on the contracts for both players, a person with knowledge of the plan said on Tuesday.

In keeping with their policy on such moves, the Rockets will wait until the Oct. 31 deadline to pick up the contract options for the 2015-16 season for both players should unforeseen developments influence that decision.

The plan, however, would seem to indicate confidence that Jones and Motiejunas can fill the roles McHale described as they head into their third season.

“It’s not a challenge for me,” McHale said. “It’s a challenge for them. They need to go out there and take that spot. It’s open for competition. We need guys who are going to defend with physicallity and rebound. We had two of the top rebounders in the league last year with Omer (Asik) and Dwight (Howard) and we were still like 20th in rebounding. What does that say about the other guys? Not much.”

Jones averaged 16 points and 9.1 rebounds last season, taking over as the starting power forward in the season’s ninth game. He was replaced as a starter in the Rockets playoff series, however, to have Asik matched up against Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge.

Motiejunas averaged 5.5 points and 3.6 rebounds, averaging 15.4 minutes after initially struggling to secure a rotation spot. He was dropped from the rotation, however, in the postseason.