DMo's b-ball IQ is within the very best of the bigs in the league. I'm not yet putting him in the stratosphere of Duncan or Hakeem, but in this day and age he's more than supreme in that aspect. Rox haven't had a big like that since Scola left and that's saying alot.
Defensive real plus minus D-Mo + 1.81 Jones + 1.71 Howard + 0.99 Dorsey + 0.92 Smith + 0.50 D-mo has been far and away our most consistent defensive presence this season. He is the primary reason our D held up when Dwight went out the first time. He's been doing it all year. Jones number is important. His offensive versatility has always been great, but his defensive awareness has been a joke. As I stated in my post, he has been good so far, if it sticks it's a game changer, because his defense has been what kills us. It's a small, but promising sample. Healthy Howard is DPOY level, but when he came back from injury he was terrible, and his numbers reflect that across the board. Smith is in a similar situation. He had some adjustment time, but I imagine his number is gonna keep going up now that he's found a groove because he's elite defensively as well.
I wonder if Morey was talking about defensive real plus minus yesterday when he said of defensive metrics, "The public stuff is still really terrible".
You know, if it was Dwight last night doing 26-12, people would say that DMo did an okay job (other than the foul trouble) playing next to Dwight. But since it was Jones, the inevitable comparison raised its head and DMo was perceived to be playing poorly.
It's clear he's not ready to be full time center at this moment, may be not ready at all (look at Dirk, his niche). He just lacks physicality to bang with big centers like Lopez.
I'm glad jones is doing well but let's not forget DMO's contributions throughout an ENTIRE season. There was a stretch when Dwight went out the first time and when he came back where dmo was playing like the 2nd best player on the team. I'm thrilled jones is playing with such energy and its apparent to all that DMO has hit a bit of a wall, but he is playing out of position at C where he has to bang with other bigs and work through different defensive responsibilities. Who's to say if the roles were reversed, jones wouldn't be having similar struggles? I mean the guy has barely played 10 games all season !! And he naturally wants to make up for lost time. When DMO learns to anchor himself a bit better his post moves are just too good to stop. The team needs to learn how to utilize him better and he needs to work on his muscle strength....the rest will come. I am excited to have jones and DMO on the team and am rooting for them BOTH to succeed. All this childish debate about who deserves more minutes is just that. Let the flow of the game dictate minutes and let's acknowledge they have different strengths that can help the rockets win. And the next time jones throws up a stinker--and he will--I won't be jumping on him to get benched. I'll be rooting for him to pick up the pieces the next game.
Considering Morey has those numbers pop up on the monitors inside the Rockets lockeroom, I would say no.. he was not referring to those metrics
That just means it's the best thing that can be put on display in public. He also said even their internal metrics for defense aren't that good.
Not much better though, he'll still be playing out of position which is the problem. It'll be much better next season when he can go back to being the starting PF once we've addressed the hole at the backup 5 with a real backup 5
DMo isn't a good rebounder. I've accepted that he may never be. Lots of big, ground bound guys aren't like Brook Lopez, Marc Gasol, Roy Hibbert, etc. I would like to see him be more aggressive offensively though. I feel like he can do more than he is showing, but he is just kind of stuck in this mediocre rut for some reason. He is good for 10-16 points every night, but he doesn't have as many big games as I think he is capable of. Demand the ball more and stop passing up open shots.
The main issue with DMo right now is he is being too unselfish. When he gets on the block he needs to look for his move first, not look to throw it back out first. He should post and force a defensive response while he's got the ball, not throw it out before the defense is forced to respond to him.
It's ok to pass out against the big guys, but then he should demand the ball back to repost immediately and make his move. Against the small players, he should make his move right away.
