Just watched Open Court interview with D'antoni. When talking about defenders they added, first name he mentioned was MCW, not just good but great defender. When talking about Ennis, said he "can" defend. MCW is going to be in the rotation, not as some third string. Why Would Morey meet and try to sign a third string at 12:00 July 1?
MCW has certain skills and physical tools that are useful, his problem is that they don't naturally fit into effective play if he just goes out and does what he naturally wants, and especially when he's a primary ball handler. With players like him it a lot about attitude and buy in (and skills, yes) when it comes to whether they can confine their games to a specific role that highlights what they are good at and protects them from themselves in terms of what they are bad at. You don't want him as a primary decision maker, you don't want him shooting anything that isn't in the paint, even that isn't at the rim unless he has to. He also has the advantage of being 6'6, which means that there are more varied positional experiments you can do to find his proper role. That said, I have watched enough basketball and followed basketball long enough to know that using limited samples and even worse, pre-season samples to project anything is a very bad decision. What he will be able to do consistently will need about 15-20 games at a minimum to see. Morey took a gamble, because this is what teams like the Rockets who are at the cusp have to do. If you have no sure thing signings, you have to go with some minimal risk / high reward guys. Safe signings like a vet PG who is fine but will likely be out of the rotation in the playoffs and has no upside won't change your regular season record and has no potential to help you in the post-season. Signings like MCW can boom or bust, if they boom, great, if they bust, it's a cheap player and you can easily find another cheap replacement.
Of course, just that Of course, that's a statement that can basically always be made about any player that isn't playing too well but has skills that if it all came together they could do better. There's nothing to deny there, but two pre-season games doesn't help much to conclude anything about the reality of that happening over a season. Every year teams are talking about end of bench guys who are impressing in training camp, and half of those guys rot at the end of the bench after the season starts. The original point I made is that he hadn't previously played in a manner that just doing what he was before would work for Houston, and he has to make adjustments, so he's a wild card. Ennis on the other hand has a career 35.9% 3PT, 57.8% TS. 79% of his FGA were already 3PA or at the rim, and hustling and being active on defense is part of his game. He doesn't need to change what he was already doing, just can't regress. Cutting out his 1 FGA/36 from mid-range is pretty insignificant. Injuries were mentioned in relation to MCW's last two seasons, but last season he missed the end of the season with injury, he didn't play injured all year. Similarly in Chicago he missed a good chunk of the start of the season with injury but came back healthy to end the season. The reason he was less productive in both those situations is that he was no longer placed in a role where the offense ran through him and it affected him because he was not used to being off ball as much. I'm rooting for him though, would be a great story, and just what the Dr ordered for Houston.
Playing MCW in the playoffs against GSW could be a probelm, espically not being able to shoot...his man will double or slack off to clog the lane. I could see minimal minutes but both Ennis and MCW give another prespective that we haven’t seen last year. I still have to see Ennis guarding quicker guards successfully. If he becomes less foul prone, I could see him guarding KD but Curry and Klay might be too quick off a screen.
I also believe MCW is our new, playmaking Corey Brewer. Just minimize the 3's and midrange. AND Ennis is Ariza/Luc' ish enough, but younger.
I liked it too. He is replacing the defensive minded backup guard we lost when Pat Bev was Traded. Whom also plays like Brewer by running and slashing. Shoots 3's like Brew, Play D like Bev. Maybe a better passer/playmaker than both
Thinking of MCW as more of a Brewer that can handle and pass has helped me see his role a little clearer. He’s a wing moreso than a PG on this team. I still think that if he’s going to be in the rotation against GSW, he will need 4 shooters on the floor with him, ie small ball or at least no Capela. Someone mentioned that if Hartenstein can show range at the 5, that could open up more time for MCW. Probably doesn’t matter in the regular season, but definitely true in the playoffs. Otherwise I think we would need the Tuckwagon lineup to see MCW.
the other day i wanted to pull his face through some filters in a photo editor to get a cartoonish look only to find out he kinda already have a cartoonish face
I don't think they intend to use MCW the same way we use our other forwards. As much as DM and MD have been talking him up, they must have a plan to use him even against GS. His defense may be needed for sure. Instead of him camping behind the 3point line when Harden or CP drive we have already seen him in a trail position which is a different wrinkle to the offense. Also in iso situations, you can surround him with shooters. He seems adept at driving and kicking, finding someone for a dunk or layup, and drawing contact. I'm not a big fan of him posting up, but I havent seen enough of it to draw a conclusion. He's a wildcard that Mike D may be able use in spots against GS, it used correctly, and I have to believe they had them mind when they signed him. In the meantime i will enjoy the "MCW sucks threads" after he has a sub par GAME.
It's looking like MCW is going to be the better defender of the 2... that's disappointing cause I had high hopes for Ennis the way everyone was talking about him replacing Luc/Ariza. The man couldn't even keep Bogdanovic in front of him. Why not give Caboclo a try as a defensive stopper, hes no worse on offense than Ennis from what I seen but could be much better on Defense .
Im digging these 'embrace and know their role...wanna comeback and prove something' stories we will get from mcw and melo. Emotion is a funny thing. I love the way morey is playing ALL the cards in assembly of this team. Its really a work of art. Optimistic projection has mcw as key in one of our wins against golden state and solid contributor spark plug through playoffs. I see mcw getting tons of garbage minutes when we get big leads and I see this guy balling out torching second units. Its going to be fun. Im really high on this dude and yes I'm going off 2 games, sample size, being biased - over reactionary as one should be in 2 games. Hey its human nature but I like him.. lanky style bouncing around. We need that anyway. And as for ennis? He too will get tons of minutes. I think a big part of strategy this year is to get high mileage if we can out of mcw and ennis. Thats why this thread combo is intriguing. Ennis mcw minutes hopefully by extension brings down the minutes for harden cp3.. Im still in deep thought about ennis. Him and i will go through some moments this season. Im still not all the way sure what about ennis either. but the optimist leans to good things. He is already prime candidate for this years cfans whipping boy thats for sure.
