At this current rate, Dmo is totally dominating the post regardless of opponent. This speaks to the most obvious truth: The guy has grown up and become a "wolf." Having Howard in the post playing the weak side is just going to be devastating for teams. Suddenly the Rockets have a really awesome problem to have: Which PF is better suited to start? I personally like the stability that Donatas has brought to the PF position. Yes he has his limitations, but his offensive post game is exactly what this team needed. I personally see the Rockets better suited having a bench lineup of: Starting Lineup:
Funny and oddly contentious thread. D-Mo has impressed me well before tonight, but it was hard for me to believe what I was seeing. It's always that way when you've been watching a player for years and suddenly he knows how to play well. I always thought that when Howard came back we'd see him as the D-Mo of old though. Tonight sort of freaked me out. His Euro-ness seems has to have morphed into something else. His footwork is excellent, and I'm quite surprised that his spacing seemed to have meshed with Dwight's game so perfectly. His rebounding overall is still annoying (tonight especially), but he does get a hand on a lot of misses. TJ brings things D-Mo will never be able to do, but his overall game just isn't close to what D-Mo's doing now. TJ's greatest weakness is his lack of size, the best PF's in the league happily shoot over him and his perimeter D is marginal at best. His entire game (as is) is best suited 10 feet away from the basket on offense & defense. On offense, that's certainly not ideal for Dwight. Defensively it certainly wasn't a negative last year until the playoffs. We certainly need TJ healthy, and I don't care if he starts or not because he's better than most NBA fans would acknowledge. But what D-Mo is doing now is probably affecting Morey's mind, and probably really disturbing McHale - 'cos D-Mo really has to have several facial bones broken before coach believes what he sees. 40 games from now I won't care who's starting. Health, chemistry (and this year, every damn win) so Happy Holidays to our pfs, and pray Bosh enjoys his money.
Where do people get that idea about McHale? He's a great development coach, especially of power forwards, maybe the best in the league at that, and his process is very transparent for players. He wants them to understand and perform the core fundamentals, and then he's really patient with their extended games as long as they do. Dmo knew what he needed to get better at, he did, and here we are. It wasn't like it came out of thin air, or Dmo just randomly hit the button on the right things by accident. The unfortunate part was his national team, like always set him back slightly again with their crappy coaching.
I don't even think there should be a discussion about this because D-Mo is equal or superior in almost every facet of the game. Having said that I really want Jones back because he is an upgrade over Dorsey and Black, who are complete zeros on the offensive end. I think a lot of us D-mo supporters have been reduced to insulting Jones out of frustration. We knew he could do this all along, yet the team refused to give him any consistent chance to do so, instead we got a lot of Jones and his less than adequate defense. When D-Mo did play he was asked to do stuff that he wasn't good at, and never allowed to do what he was good at. Understandably he didn't look good. I think most of us can agree, staggering D-Mo's and Dwight minutes so that one of them is on the floor at all times is the most important. I would still start D-Mo, and then sit on of them halfway through the first.
Coaches need to work out the rotation in a way that Harden or Papanikoloau (best post entry passer) would be on the court with DMo at all times.
That's just silly! You need 3 quality bigs (at least) to win a championship. Bynum-Gasol-Odom KG-Perkins-Big Baby Duncan-Splitter-Diaw Dirk-Chandler-Matrix.... Dorsey and Black are stopgaps, we need all three of our big horses to compete. Remember, we were worried about lack of depth, now people are trying to say one ofur better players (either one) is dispensible. That's just silly.
but Dorsey and Black did very well, especially defensively and on offensive glass. I think we could give TJones a shot at his natural position - SF.
The thing with DMo, he might be euro, but he is also Lithuanian and one thing Lithuanians are known, is for sure toughness. Remember this guy? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bEm5WE8kITk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Where is JVG when I need him? :grin: I'm not criticizing McHale's coaching at all, but if you think he's happy with all the missed rb's last night from a 7' pf you don't know much about him. I'll give credit to McHale for D-Mo's light bulb going on in his head, but you can't tell me he's the pf he wants. D-Mo's been really hard to ignore though, and thus far I can't believe he's as good as he is now. Give credit to whoever you want to.
Always want more, never perfect, can always do better, that's just the business But, Dmo ignited the team at a time it looked like it had nothing, and was giving nothing What type of PF does Mchale want? I have a fair idea what Morey wants, but what does McHale want?
BBS cannibalism is an apt term. They were calling DMo "hot garbage" until just recently. TJones has been called by many disrespectful terms. People forget what it takes to get to the levels these two have achieved. Enjoy them. Support them....and support what is emerging as the best team in Houston since the days of Hakeem and Clyde.
Oh please. Terrence Jones is most definitely not a Small Forward. I don't care that some draft people thought that is what he might have been when he entered the league. The guy is 6'9" and 260lbs with a sub par outside shot, not exactly SF material. Plus he is a natural shot blocker, don't take that away from him by playing him on the wing guarding quicker players like Paul George, Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, Harrison Barnes, Tyreke Evans, Nicolas Batum, Kawhi Leonard & Terrence Ross, that would be a disaster.
That's just the discussion that happens with tweeners like Jones. Honestly, he's not really well suited for either PF or SF, but sort of suited for both. He can't be a SF because he'd be a bit heavy and can't shoot and he can't be a PF because he's too small and can't defend. It sucks to be stuck between 2 positions like that, but he's good enough to play either in a pinch and if he ever learns how to shoot and play defense then he'll be a solid role player.
TJones size is good for a PF at 6'9" 260 lbs and a 7'2" wingspan. He has three problems defending the post, poor technique, lack of focus and a lack of natural strength. Strength should vastly improve as he continues to mature physically. DMo was a physically different person at 22 but he is now a very good defender at 24. With more experience TJones focus and technique should improve as well, IMO.
It could happen, and you are right that his technique defensively is pretty bad, but he'll never be able to competently defend the bigger PF's because sometimes size really does matter. Either way, I don't think he'll be on the Rockets by the time he figures it out, if he figures it out because he only has the one more year left on his rookie deal and I think he either gets traded before next season's trade deadline or walks in FA.
