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Donatas Motiejunas - X Factor

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by DudeWah, Nov 23, 2014.

  1. DudeWah

    DudeWah Member

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    One thing I am convinced of is that D-Mo is perhaps one of the keys to this season. There's a lot of talk about how "hot garbage" he is, but from what I have seen D-Mo is still a young big man who makes mistakes. That being said, however, this team performs way better when D-Mo has a good game.
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    His strengths are as follows:

    1) Solid positional defender

    D-Mo is hardly out of place during defense. He is in the right position almost always. He does a good job standing his ground. His rotations are very good as well. This year he has even managed to start blocking Shots. His one weakness on defense is during pick and roll defense he sometimes fails to pick up the shooter resulting in an open 18 footer. One other point of concern is sometimes he over commits to the double team.

    2) Great passer

    Motiejunas (like many European big men) can pass the ball very effectively and make the right pass. McHale has mentioned many times the offense becomes less sticky whenever D-Mo is in the game. He does an excellent job keeping the ball and overall offense moving. My only knock on this is sometimes he makes the pass too quick and does not look for his own shot when he is very open or in a position to make a good move. He needs to work on this.

    3) Low post scoring ability

    I still believe the Rockets use Motiejunas wrong in the post. There are times when he has his man sealed and the guards simply do not throw it in. This has to be a confidence killer for a young skilled big man. That being said, this is part of an overall problem of our post entry passing being terrible. D-Mo's downfall here is his inability to hold his post position sometimes. As well as his iffy (sometimes terrible) ability to convert in traffic.
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    His weaknesses are as follows:

    1) Consistent Rebounding

    Donatas has some games where he cleans up a lot of boards. But other where he does not go strong to grab the rebound. I liked what I saw last night that not only did D-Mo actually go after every rebound, but when he grabbed them, he grabbed them hard and did the Dwight swinging elbow thing :p. I think Motiejunas' biggest problem here is that he does not actively go strong after every board in every game. He often lets guards and forwards take the board away from him. He needs to be more like Dwight and clean up everything since he is a legitimate 7 footer.

    2) Confidence

    Motie is one of those players that feeds off of confidence. This has been evident ever since his first Rockets' interview. Motiejunas needs to go back to being the confident player to play up to his potential and start playing consistently, this leads to point #3

    3) Consistency

    Although he is a young player, he is receiving consistent minutes with Jones out now. That PF spot is his to take and he needs to put in performances like last night's every single game. There is no reason with Jones out and Tarik Black (who is terrible) his only competition that D-Mo should not be playing 30+ minutes a night. That being said, I feel like he is starting to actually become acclimated to the work load and hopefully we can see that sort of effort going forward.

    4) Hands

    D-Mo loses a lot of passes in the post as well as rebounds because he lacks the hands to get the ball sometimes. He really needs to address this and start playing bigger.
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    With these points in mind

    I truly believe a lot of the success for the Rockets (especially in the immediate future) depends on D-Mo. This gets compounded because Terrence Jones is one of our biggest trading piece for our next big piece, be it a third star or whatever. The Rockets are going to depend a lot on Motiejunas going forward.

    My hopes are that last night is the beginning of solid consistent showing for D-Mo going forward, rather than an aberration. I think the game is finally slowing down for him some. He looks a lot less rushed than in times past.

    For the Rockets case, that would be the best scenario as they are going to rely heavily on Motiejunas going forward.
     
    #1 DudeWah, Nov 23, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2014
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  2. DudeWah

    DudeWah Member

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    Here is his in game splits. Another point is that he needs to work on actually staying on the floor in the first quarter by not fouling so much early. And if he could maintain his first quarter production (when he does stay in the game) throughout the game, we would have a more than solid player on our hands. I'm glad to see his defensive rating highest in the first and fourth quarters though. Especially the fourth quarter part. Once again, consistency is key.

    <a href="http://imgur.com/KjRaOXt"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/KjRaOXt.png?1" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
     
    #2 DudeWah, Nov 23, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2014
  3. Dhoward12

    Dhoward12 Member

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    You just jinxed him
     
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  4. DrNuegebauer

    DrNuegebauer Member

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    Weakness 5:
    Co-ordination.

    I don't think a player can be an X-factor if they are uncoordinated? He always looks like he is about to fall over, and the ball seems to inexplicably bounce off his hands sometimes - like he snatches at it or something?

    Far from an X-factor. Best case, he becomes a passable backup?
     
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  5. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    :mad:If DD didn't jinx him, he would be an all-star right now.
     
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  6. skroodup25

    skroodup25 Member

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    He still watches too much...... If the ball is away from him he watches or after he blocks a shot he tends to watch the ball or stand around like the play is over. I'd like to see more of a my ball attitude like pat.......
     
  7. DudeWah

    DudeWah Member

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    I only think he is an X-Factor because of the hand the Rockets have been dealt as well as the future direction of this team. Everyone knows a trade is coming sooner or later. It will be hard for the Rockets to keep Jones during that trade if they intend on landing anyone of value. Motiejunas' development will be more important than ever.

    And I do agree with the Coordination tidbit. A lot of his issues stem from lacking lower body strength as well as not having the correct center of gravity because he does not get low enough.

    If he could work that out a lot of his problems would go away naturally.
     
  8. rocketsballin

    rocketsballin Member

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    rockets fans shouldnt give up on dmo so fast. he's shown he can be productive on the cout. bench players are supposed to be inconsistent so that shouldnt be a knock off. with more consistent playing time he can only get better. he started against the heavily favored mavs and got a double double in heavy minutes.
     
  9. HRox832

    HRox832 Member

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    He also needs to learn how to stop commiting stupid fouls/violations.
     
  10. jtr

    jtr Contributing Member

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    D-Mo is incredibly coordinated for a 7 footer. And he has great footwork. The problem is that 7 footers should never ever receive a pass below their waist. Especially in traffic. It is up to the team to correct this. D-Mo seems to be hit in the shins two or three times a game by passes in traffic. That is never ever going to work.
     
  11. jtr

    jtr Contributing Member

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    The most important thing about D-Mo is defense. He has consistently come up huge on the defensive end. His defensive rotations are almost flawless, although about four times in the Dallas game he was in no win situations. Guarding Chandler when a Dallas guard breaks free and drives into the paint. He made the correct rotation shutting off the layup, but the PF did not rotate or was to small to deal with Chandler taking the lob for the jam.

    There is no true big out there to help D-Mo out on defense. The Rockets would not have beat Dallas without D-Mo.
     
  12. Russjr2

    Russjr2 Contributing Member

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    I don't know man. DMo still looks lost out there most times to me. No post moves in the paint (that ugly half hook shot thing he flips up doesn't count)., and cheap fouls he picks up. Maybe with this extra playing time he will improve. I cringed every time he gets the ball to try and score.

    I'm cheering for him though...
     
    #12 Russjr2, Nov 23, 2014
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2014
  13. RoxBeliever

    RoxBeliever Member

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    I don't know why you want to trade TJones away. We need both of them.

    Another up-and-coming to watch out for is our young man Clint Capela in the DLeague. He is a natural rim protector. I think we wait a month or so, he'll be ready to bring up.
     
  14. DudeWah

    DudeWah Member

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    Yeah along with our post entry passes sucking, the bounce pass to the big man thing that our guards do is terrible. The only big man the Rockets have had over the last 10 years who can catch those passes is Dwight Howard.

    Yao struggled immensely with those as well.

    And in that same time span, the only player I recall ever being able to give bounce passes going full speed to big men that didn't result in turnovers more often than not is Aaron Brooks.
     
  15. jtr

    jtr Contributing Member

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    The one thing that D-Mo is not out there is lost. He does pick up cheap fouls, especially in the first 3 minutes of the game, but I put that down to adrenalin. D-Mo has a beautiful post game. Those shots will eventually fall. But right now his main asset to the Rockets is on the defensive end. That is where half the game is played.
     
  16. DudeWah

    DudeWah Member

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    Capela wont be ready for anything until late this year. But more than likely it will be even after that.

    I don't really want to trade Jones. But judging by deals we have made in the past, if a pattern could be established, I would posit that Jones is the most likely player on this roster to be traded.

    Jones, Beverley, Canaan. One or more of those three will for sure be included in any trade for a "3rd star" (I use that term loosely) that the Rockets attempt to pull off.
     
  17. RoxBeliever

    RoxBeliever Member

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    I'm just glad that without Dwight and TJones these days, DMo is coming to our rescue.

    DMo has taken after Papa's team vibe when he said last night, "I'm just after the team wins." Previously he was frustrated at his lack of PT, and whenever he was in, he tried to score and get his stats. Now he's just letting the game come to him.

    I see his friendship with Papa as a major stabilizing force for him. Maybe in the past he really had no one "to eat with him" (i.e. with whom he has natural rapport). I remember he used to go with the Lin-Parsons crowd, while James had his TJones, Bev etc crowd. Now he has a fellow Euro his age for camaraderie.
     
  18. kemah

    kemah Member

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    lol

    Dmo had one good game. I hope he keeps it up. If he can then this season could look bright.
     
  19. DudeWah

    DudeWah Member

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    Yes I believe this is a strong point as well. Having Papa around has helped D-Mo function within the team better. The motion in the offense is significantly better when Papa and D-Mo are both in the game together.

    Another point:

    Once again, I do think there is credence to the fact that D-Mo falls on the court too much. I am just hoping going forward, since he is getting consistent PT that will start to happen less. Then again, Scola used to fall on the court all the time as well and he was a monster. So, perhaps it's not that big of a deal. Maybe it's just the euro style :p
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    He's had about 3 really good games so far this season. And they've all come since Jones has been out. I think our fan base has been pissed at the PF/backup center positions all year long because of the fact that we have scrubs like Black in the rotation and Motiejunas started the season poorly so a lot of us are quick to dismiss good performances and likewise, too hasty to lash out at any bad performances.
     
  20. meadowlark

    meadowlark Member

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    The "hot garbage" talk is totally ridiculous...and reflects the lack of intelligence of the poster rather than any legitimate judgment of DMo.

    DMo has made steady progress and now is a productive rotation player. Just think where we would be without him at this point in the season.
     

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