I know we all moan about getting killed on the boards, and I know the positivity brigade comes out and says 'but wait for Dwight to come back' But where is the evidence to back up the positivity?? I noticed Westbrook recorded his 10th triple double of the season, I dived into the records to see where that placed him (who cares?) - but I stumbled across this gem. Most seasons leading league in defensive rebounds 6 by Dwight Howard (2007–08–2012–13) Most consecutive seasons leading league in defensive rebounds 6 by Dwight Howard (2007–08–2012–13) Until last season, for 6 straight years Dwight Howard had led the entire NBA in defensive rebounds per game He's the all-time great in terms of defensive rebounding. Now that is saying something isn't it?? For the record, he had 'slipped' to 3rd last season in defensive rebounding, and is currently 4th on this season (despite playing injured and missing some game time as a result!) If we can get to the post season with a frontcourt of Howard and Jones healthy, teams are going to find it very hard to score inside. Then DMo and Smith come on with the fresh legs to either push the pace (Smith), or torture their backups in the post (DMo). Looking forward to getting the big guy back and controlling the boards once more :grin:
THANK YOU!!! NEeded this!! Getting CRUSHED on the defensive glass is our biggest problem IMO Rocket River
Yeah, people don't understand how big Dwight is for us in playoffs and in general for the team. Yeah Rockets have won games without him, but that's because of the help of TJ getting healthy and other forwards and guards rebounding as well.
D-Mo's poor rebounding numbers aren't as big a liability as people think. He does a good job boxing out, and there are many times one of our guards will go in and grab one of those gimme rebounds and D-mo just let's them have it. Having said that, D-mo's rebounding is definitely a liability wherever he starts, but particularly at center. His lack of standing reach combined with his lack of leaping ability leaves him grossly overmatched against starting centers. He certainly could be more physical, but even at his best he's only gonna be an adequate rebounder ala Luis Scola. Having Dwight will mean the world on the glass.
Our defensive rebounding is horrible when Dmo is on the court. Of course, the same is true of Smith, Dorsey, and Jones. There's really little difference in our overall defensive rebounding regardless of which combination of these guys we have in the floor.
Actually we are a slight positive in terms of rebounding with DMo on court (over the course of the season). How much of that is due to Dwight playing next to him for a large stretch I don't know? But actually grabbing the rebound is only half the battle, the first half is sealing your opponent. Getting the all time 'most seasons leading league' defensive rebounder back might just mean that we get some 'unsealed' defensive rebounds as well?
first of all, dmo isnt a center, he's a pf. with dwight out he's forced to play a lot of minutes at center. buncha rockets fans b****ign about dmo not rebounding dont get that. tho i'd rather him bulk up a bit this offseason, he's strong enough for pf. rockets arent gonna be a good rebounding team till dwight gets back. and next season morey should look for a real backup center. dorsey and black are 3rd string players.
We were already struggling to rebound with Howard. Take out Jones and it becomes much worse. Further complicating matters is that the remaining players don't seem to understand "boxing out".
You know what the difference is in the Rockets system between a PF and a Center? The guy who rebounds and defends the paint better is the one we call the center. They do the exact same thing in this offense and for much of the defense. There is a reason why every young big going into the draft says they are a PF and compare themselves to a PF like Aldridge or Melo. They simply don't WANT to make their career about the dirty work. On draft night DMo was called a "Consceincious Objector To Rebounding". The guy hasn't WANTED to get better at the dirty work since day 1, but that just happens to be what the team needs mostly at the moment. So the whole, he's not a C, argument is arbitrary. If he doesn't want to do what the team NEEDS to help them win then he runs the risk of losing minutes to someone that will put need first. DMo is only a PF by choice. It's just that the team has NEEDED a center. It's been up to him to change his game to help the team.
What part of Dmo is not a center dont you not understand. By choice? Huh! Dude isnt strong enough. Its not because he doesnt want to do the dirty work
He's not a center not because of anything that has to do with his physique. If Horford, Hickson, Hayes, and all the other "under 7 foot/270 in" bigs in the league can do it, so can the 7 foot Donatas. If he's weak, then he should have gotten stronger. He's had three years to get in the weight room and he surely looks strong enough. DMo COULD rebound much much better as the team has needed him to and he hasn't made the adjustment to his game in the sake of team need. People need to stop with the excuses. It's a major weakness in his game that could ultimately cost him minutes and usage down the line because teams including the Rockets don't always need his natural game. Sometimes they just need a little more dirty work. If you think he's secretly actually been decent then you are just looking for excuses. PF or Center he's not giving the Rockets all that they need from him at the moment.
Just one question, if he's been so terrible, how have we managed to play so well without Dwight and Jones? Last I checked it's hard to win with big men that aren't doing any dirty work. He's a bad rebounder, but the team has still had a lot of success with him playing big minutes. It's just stupid to suggest he isn't doing any hard work simply because he has been bad in one area. Somebody has been boxing out, somebody has been guarding opposing bigs and somebody has been defending the paint while we have been winning all these games. I know many won't give him credit, but D-Mo has been that guy. He has some things he still needs to improve, I can say that for basically everybody. Ariza is a terrible ball handler, he's not giving us everything we need from him. Parsons could handle the ball, why can't this scrub. Don't get me started on all the things Beverly needs to improve. I mean seriously STFU like he's been some huge liability, yes I secretly think he's been at least decent, although certainly not perfect.
If the Mavs had forced Dirk to be a center simply because he's 7 feet tall then he wouldn't have become the player he became. Sure DMo like Dirk could play a bit of center in a pinch, but it's by no means how they are best utilized and you won't get very good results when you are doing that.
I'm not going to pile on DMo's poor rebounding (think I did that enough in his dedicated thread), but I think you have to give some credit to our guards for surviving without Dwight & TJ for some stretches. Harden/Bev/Ariza/Corey have done a really nice job on the boards -- even pretty contested rebounds -- in their absence. Those 4 have done a lot to fill the gap.
No doubt about this, D-Mo isn't as good as Dwight, other people had to step up. But I can also say D-Mo boxing out has helped in that regard. We rebound better with D-mo on the floor than off, we have the 7th rated defense, and we have a better win% than last year. This flat out doesn't happen if a teams primary big man (which D-mo has been) is playing poorly. He's a bad individual rebounder, he needs to improve this, but that doesn't negate all the things he has done well this year. He's also played far more minutes than he has ever played, his rebound numbers have been tailing off, and I think the workload is a factor. Last season he averaged 8.5 per 36. Through the first 57 games he was averaging 8 per 36, over the last 12 he's averaged 6 per 36.
The Rockets have managed to play well because D-Mo is still a good position defender, and is a plus offensive player. People are thinking waaaay too into my thoughts on this position debate as if I think he's a crap player. If you've been following my posts for longer than a day you'd know that I'm a HUGE D-Mo fan. He's the future, and probably the 2nd most valuable player on the roster as far as building for the future goes. However... the Rockets have needed rim protection, and rebounding since Dwight went down. Its a need, and D-Mo nor any of the other bigs have stepped up enough to satisfy that need. Its a fact. I could probably gripe more about Smith more than anyone as he's been a pretty big let down on the defensive end through this stretch. D-Mo is a PF by trade. Its who he is mentally more than physically. For whatever reason guys have the physical ability but just don't play that way. There is nothing wrong with that, but folks need to understand that YES he does have the physical attributes to be an average Center. Still that doesn't mean I think he's chop liver, and that doesn't mean that the Rockets aren't better off with what he's bringing to the table vs. nothing at all.
You may be right. There is the age old saying of "Be All You Can Be". D-Mo might not hit his ceiling making himself into Omer Asik instead of Dirk Nowitzki. Again that's why bigs like Clint Capela are saying on draft night that they are more like Serge Ibaka rather than Steven Adams. They are smart enough to know that being known as skilled/talented is better than tough/grinder. However its not a stretch to say that the Rockets have needed rebounding and rim protection from the 5 spot. D-Mo has given them other things. The question is would it be physically possible for D-Mo to give them more rebounding and rim protections?? My answer is yes its possible, but the side debate (which you've highlighted) is whether it hurts the other parts of his game, and what makes the Rockets overall gameplan stronger (D-Mo's offense, or less offense but stronger effort on the glass)... that's up for debate. What's not up for debate is whether the Rockets needs for rebounding and interior defense have not been met by D-Mo. That's a pretty big fat no. Doesn't necessarily mean I'm knocking D-Mo. Its just a fact. He isn't cutting it on the boards when the Rockets needed him to the most. Maybe that's not his fault, and its Morey's fault. That's not the point though.
