I think the only terrible thing about D-Mo's game is his defense, which was nearly non-existent last season. I think he improved on it though. A little bit. Still, he's a liability on that end of the floor. Below average rebounding doesn't help much either. However, Dwight can compensate for that a LOT. That is one of the reasons I think the D12/D-Mo frontcourt has a lot of potential. Donatas also has great court vision and passing ability, which T-Jones simply doesn't have, even though Terrence looks better on the defensive end. I think it all comes down to whether D-Mo will be a liability on the defensive end. It's all up to him to either earn that PF spot or lose it.
I would even go as far as to say D-Mo's passing ability potential is close to Joakim Noah/Marc Gasol.
Didn't Dmo start some games last season and lost that job as well? So that starting 4 is not DMO's yet. If he continues to get outplayed by Jones, its a good chance that Jones will win that starting spot.
Indeed Smith could be that starter as well. Probably would have started the 1st pre-season game if he wasnt injured.
What bwhahahahahah so you dont think Jones plays team basketball. What do you think he did in college.
These discussions always seem to overlook the Asik/Howard combo. You can bet McHale isn't overlooking it. No one knows how they will perform under NBA game conditions....but starting them together and having at least one in the game at most all times is potentially the best use of our personnel. If they are successful together, then the discussion will be on the back up minutes. Casspi will win/has already won the "Delfino" minutes, although fewer IMO. The battle will be for whatever minutes will be left over. DMo will win that battle because he is more versatile than either Jones or Smith. He can play the 5 in limited minutes as well as 4 and he can be a very effective passer. However, winning this battle won't get him a lot of minutes....if the Asik/Howard combo works. Greg Smith's best and perhaps only chance to make this team is if the Asik/Howard combo fails. Otherwise, he is gone.
Asik will be traded only if: 1) the Asik/Howard combo fails or 2) someone makes DM an offer he can't refuse...in which case the DMo vs Jones discussion will be mute either way.
I think alot of the playing time that Jones/D-Mo/Smith and Camby (to a lesser extent) get depends on how well Asik & Howard play together. If for some reason Howard and Asik play well together, I think its highly possible that if at full health only one big gets PT other than those two. Could be Smith for all we know and both guys suffer the hit in PT.... not likely IMO, but its possible. Just based on what we saw the other night in the FIRST preseason game, it looks like D-Mo was a better fit playing with the other 4 starters because of his excellent ball movement, passing, and POTENTIAL ability to spread the defense out if his 3's start falling. Jones, looked like the far more dynamic player, but the important thing to note with his one preseason performance is that he wasn't moving the basketball like he should be with that first unit, and was often playing outside of the offensive sets... leading to others not being as involved in the offense. So based on the notion that the Rockets aren't going to win the title on the back of Terrence Jones or D-Mo, and they will actually be needing to maximize the abilities of Harden & Howard first and foremost... playing a starting PF that is more Shane Battier than Rudy Gay makes better sense. You are probably better off having balanced scoring with another dynamic player coming off the bench. So if Asik isn't playing much with Howard, based on the first preseason game, I'm going with D-Mo right now.... however, they A. Need to get Asik back in the lineup first to see whats going to happen there, and B. They need to explore different lineups for the next 7 games to give a better analysis.
Like someone said earlier, I think we'll have a 9-10 man rotation for the first half of the season, so may the better man win.
Jons has tremendous upside as a odom like 4. That's what I really like with him. I like donuts too,but jones can beat guys off the dribble when defenders close out of control. He can finish at the rim,in transition and will play well off howard and harden.I'm not looking for just a guy to play off harden and howard,I'm more in tune with a guy who has to be accounted for whether howard and harden are playing well or not. We should've learned our lesson with yao/tracy combo with trying to get guys who just fir vs having dynamic guys. Ultimately the team will have have to beat miama if the wanta title. That means outplaying the bron-wade-bosh trio as well as outplaying a guy like chalmers,allen and the other guys.
I like Jones' potential more than Dmo, but I like Dmo's reality more than Jones. Jones has all the physical tools and requisite skillsets to become everything the Rockets need as their long term starting PF. Yet his lack of basketball IQ has me questioning if he will even be in the rotation. Jones is already the second best shot blocker on the entire team, yet he is a liability on defense because he's out of position even moreso than Dmo. Jones has all the ball handling and shooting skills of a Lamar Odom on offense, yet when you put him next to 4 teammates, he plays like an oversized Ricky Davis. Jones is the youngest player on the entire team, so he has an opportunity to correct these things. And if he does, he is our answer. But unlike shooting, dribbling, or other skill based attributes, improving one's basketball IQ is not going to be an easy task. I completely agree with you about putting dynamic players next to Harden/Howard. That's one of the reasons I like Lin over Beverley. However, right now, Jones is only dynamic on a practice floor. Put him in a team setting and he is a black hole.
I disagree with the premise. I agree you probably won't have both in the rotation at the same time, but I'm betting we'll see them taking turns to show what they've got -- 10-15 starts for one guy while the other is in D-League, and then switch. Then, come the trade deadline, at least one of them will be traded. And, it might be the winner is traded, or it might be the loser, depending on how good they turn out to be compared to other power forwards we can get on the trade market.
More likely one of them starts and the other holds down the far end of the bench, with someone like Casspi coming in for relief.
Casspi will be playing the 3 and 4. So those two players will see some minutes, one just wont see as much as the other. Oh and Smith might be getting that starting job as well. One of them might be traded as well.
I see no problem for both guys to have their minutes. DMo will likely foul out every game anyway, so there will be minutes left for everyone in PF. And really, if you're on team Jones or on Team Motiejunas, you should wish to see your favorite coming off the bench, because that's where the good times are: more touches, more shots. Jamal Crawford, Emanuel Ginobili, James Harden/Kevin Martin in OKC times - they all were bench players and that was not because they're bad.
black hole huh? Coming out of the mouth of the Busty One. Can't you at least save your heavy choice of words for the regular season? It's only been preseason like last year when Royce White looked actually like a player. Time will reveal everything.
