I'm pretty excited about our future pf combo in dmo/Trob both young athletic and big with different skills. We got the 7 foot skilled offensive player in dmo and the long athletic 6'9 pf in Trob who can rebound and dunk on ppl while. I think Trob can turn into a great defensive big also because of his great leaping and quick feet to go along with that 7'3 wingspan. And to think we got both these guys locked into rookie deals in there first yr of contract. There's no doubt in my mind that one if not both turn into an Allstar player. Dmo is ready to start he's gonna make some rookie mistakes but I see the outcome as sort of how Yao was his rookie yr. we're he shows flashes of just unguradble offensive moves. Now I dnt see dmo ever being the defensive presence Yao was but really not many our guy was 7'6 and 340lbs. Lol. But he will be able to score on just about anyone in the post like Yao did. I also think dmo and Trob can play together for stretches because both can just get up and down the court together. Wow all these ideas are going through my head right now. What if dmo put some more weight on and could play the center spot with Trob at the pf spot. That's potential right there and could be a elite very big and athletic combo down low. U could literally run pick and roll on both sides of the court with either player. I'm getting excited just thinking about it. Hopefully mchale tries out a rotation of Lin/beard/parsons/Trob/dmo for a stretch that lineup could pay off big layer down the line. Assuming the bigs are as good as I think that's championship team right there.
People asking for DMo to be starting next game is just like people asking for DMo to be playing 15 minutes at the start of the season. You need patience. As long as DMo gets 15+ minutes per game ... it's pretty good. We may need to look like we have a void for the star PF free agency signing or trade, Delfino playing 4. In any case, if we don't get a star PF in the offseason, I hope DMo will be the starter then. And T-Rob and complement Greg Smith better with his defense and rebounding.
I hope Greg Smith or Trob can start simply because they have the body to at least back the others down I don't mind seeing Dmo getting more minutes and maybe even finishing the game sometimes depending on game situation
Biggest change I saw w/ DMo tonight was he was VERY aggressive on offensive rebounds (trying to tip balls he couldn't get) and his blocking out and securing DRebs. Defensively he had a better game, a couple of lapses, but for the majority of his time he was doing fairly decent in the rotations. Offensively, I want to see us exploit his post game. He needs more touches down low and I think we see a guy that can score 15+ a game.
If Dmo is playing well he should get the start, there isn't anybody in front of him at this point. Carlos can come in and play some minutes for him but it really looks like Dmo is the better option at this point. You can see with more playing time he is playing better, I don't think his bad D in the past was so much his body size as it was not knowing where to rotate to and when to switch.
Just put in my order for a Montiejunas jersey. Morey better not trade him. That's one "asset" I'll be furious about flipping. He's a franchise player in the making. He did pretty well tonight for a rookie receiving his first substantial playing time against one of the best defensive front lines in the league.
found this on youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYfdgjDrfZ0 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sYfdgjDrfZ0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
He was 62% in the D-League. Prob just a small sample size thing. He should be in the 60s range long term
He's better than PatPat at rebounding... I loved that running rebound he got last night... He really looks for the ball... He tries so hard, and it pays off!
As someone who closely followed DMo's play since the pre-season, have hyped him since last year's draft, I agree with you, and have said this all along. However, I do believe that rather than giving the Rockets coaching staff credit for shaping DMo into an NBA-ready player, there will continue to be detractors who insist that the staff is stupid for not playing him early on. For whatever reason, regardless of lack of logic, there seem to be a certain group of fans who refuse to believe a player can develop without playing NBA minutes.
Jeremy Lin developed without playing NBA minutes but it is the actual team that invests the NBA playing time that will reap the benefits. It is hard to believe he would've had significant playing time without the trade.
You must've misunderstood me. I was referring to the fact that DMo was not good enough to play at the beginning of the season, but is good enough to play now. That is development that can be done without seeing court time. After Landry, Brooks, Patterson, etc. I don't see how this is debatable. Of course, once a player is "NBA ready," then he must play on the court to improve. But a player who's not ready to play in the NBA doesn't become better by playing in the NBA. Austin Rivers wasn't ready at the beginning of the year. He's still sucks horribly after an entire season in the Pelicans rotation. And quite frankly, DMo was not ready at the beginning of the season. If he was, he'd have played over Patterson or Morris.
I have followed D-Mo since we drafted him. He has shown steady progression as a basketball player. At the draft the knocks against D-Mo were attitude, motor and rebounding. He went on to lead Europe in rebounding last season. And his attitude and motor at this point are unquestionable. However, I can say with reasonable confidence that D-Mo was not ready for rotation minutes at the start of this season. And I have watched 80% of D-Mo's games over the last 17 months. NBA coaching and the D-League have benefited D-Mo immensely. Ideally D-Mo would just play in the frying pan of the rotation at this point. But it looks like he is heading into the fire of being a starter. D-Mo's per 36 line last night was 17/9/3 against a very physical top 10 defense. Zero turnovers. And he really has not been integrated into the Rockets offense yet. Plus there were those 3 or so tap back offensive rebounds he was involved in. I honestly have seen very few of those this season from the Rockets roster. Best case going by this season's end 20/10/3, worst case 14/6/1. So far D-Mo has displayed all of his offensive skills in the NBA. He has just not displayed them together. Last night in the first half I believe I saw a D-Mo who was told to go out and rebound and defend. He did a good job at it. In the second half it looked like he was given the green light to shoot. But D-Mo's defense ultimately is going to determine how much he plays. He is quick enough and tall enough to give most NBA players fits. How soon he is able to master defense is still undetermined.
I respectfully disagree that he was not ready at the beginning of the season. Investing playing time at the beginning of the season similar to the playing time invested on Jeremy Lin might've meant enduring some short term pain for long term gain. (Lin was horrible to start the season) But anyway, all is well that ends well as they say. Still, he needs to develop defensively by observing the pet moves of the opponents and forcing them away from their comfort zone. I hope we don't end up being as soft as the former Raptors frontline with Bargnani and Valanciunas. I'm confident Dmo and Asik complement each other better on defense and on the glass.
it does look funny when a team that had 9 PFs in the beginning of a season plays SF in PF's spot #LetMotiejunasStart
His spin move is a thing of beauty. Very few big men can spin as fast as he does. And yeah, he already has the Dream Shake in his arsenal.
How was Jeremy Lin not NBA ready at the beginning of the season? For Christ sakes Linsanity lasted 20+ games. Lin was bad because he was coming off of surgery and couldn't practice much in the offseason. That's different from not being NBA ready. The same could've been said of Douglas, who despite being crap was absolutely an NBA level player. DMo, early in the season, looked like a 10 yr old playing against his dad. Getting knocked around silly by 3rd string scrubs. That's different from playing badly. That's the very definition of not being NBA ready.
It would be nice to see him work with Hakeem over the summer, definitely can't hurt, but not sure how he could work on dmo's defensive side
