This is not fair. I want to know the guy or guys responsible for selling their souls for the '94-'95 Championship, cause since then Rockets and the fans have been snake bit. Injury after injury, let down after let down, and heartache after heartache. (Not serious, but serious)....
Was there any explanation as to how he hurt his back or was this something that had been bothering him for some time?
problem is that our offense is dwindling, all things considered harden, howard and dmo were what we had for pure offense and now we just lost 1/3 of it... at the same time, smith and terry may bring their playoffs' appearances hopefully
Those of us also had the foresight to have the same opinion before this happened. Even if DMo was healthy, the Rockets still have two other PFs who are about as good as DMo, if not better, in Jones and Smith. If we are to rank the 3 of these guys, DMo may well come in third, though it's pretty close. The team can withstand this injury given the depth at that position, it's just that losing depth means you are less able to afford another injury in the front court. We have no one nearly good as Dragic for his role-- a guy to create off the dribble and take some pressure off Harden. Maybe we don't need Dragic, but we need somebody for the job-- maybe Isaiah Thomas, who was traded for pretty cheap and is under a pretty cheap deal? When the team has a serious MVP candidate and a star center whose future is uncertain, you just gotta strike while the iron is hot. Hoarding assets and not giving yourself an edge to stand-out when you have a chance to go far because you are focused on future free agency is not productive. Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor.
I guess K-Paps had a timely return. He will probably get a lot more minutes at the 4 now since McHale appears to trust him quite a bit.
If/when Pap comes back... he may be able to fill in the void if not scoring-wise; his play-making ability. It's not like DMO was a huge defensive presence either.
Dang... What a kick in the nuts. I was hoping we'd be able to use him at the 5 some when Dwight inevitably gets into foul trouble. Now I guess we'll have to go small or play Dorsey or Capella. I don't know how I feel about either of them seeing minutes in the playoffs. Honestly, I'd like to see us give Capella some minutes in these last few games to see how he responds to "playoff like" pressure. If we can get him comfortable going into the playoffs, it could pay off in those games that Dwight fouls like crazy.
Its still going to be about matchups. If we play a team with bigs (like Memphis), D-mo was not going to be able to guard Gasol consistently. We know he can't guard D. Jordan. Hell, he can't even guard Robin Lopez. The "small" lineup would feature some combination of Jones and Smith... and that's not a bad lineup. Again, between Howards/Jones/Smith/D-mo, somebody was going to get "less" minutes come playoff time.
As long as you have Harden you have an opportunity. I think and maybe the front office think .... That Dmo's growth this season primes him into becoming a second star for this team. Given the questions around Dwight's health, it is not surprising we held on to DMo for a soon to be free agent who has walked away from us in the past ( situation of course was different ) I also think Dmo is definitely the best of the 3 PF's and could also play Center. While there is some truth to making decisions for this year a priority, i think the best teams are always looking ahead. Sure they have to value the present more but would you go all out this year, knowing that next year Howard will only be at 80 % ? Also Definitely not being able to retain all of Dragic, Brewer, and Smith ? What about the year after that ? Dwight will now be free agent .. Harden too ? Are you willing to give a 65-75 % dwight the max ? and If not what is your plan at center ? Sure new Free agents may come up and new doors open but you have to be flexible in order to pursue them. Personally I felt very comfortable going into next season with an improved capela and stronger Dmo waiting in the wings should something happen to dwight. There's something to be said for maximizing the chances this year..... and something more to be said about maximizing the window of opportunity. Would you rather have a 20 % chance to win the chip this year ? Or a 15 % chance to win over the next 4 ? Those numbers are completely arbitrary but they are an example of the types of decisions our front office has to make. I think they chose right at the time and prolly would still take it now.
Harden has to pull a "Jordan" in the playoffs and play out of his mind along with Dwight..it's doable..time will tell
