So anyone who says anything bad about DMo is considered a DMo hater???? Man this is like freaking Deja Vu.... T_Man
This is pretty much what I was suggesting. Since Dwight went down, we haven't had the option to bench D-Mo even if McHale wanted to, so I wasn't suggesting he needed to play more. But what I am saying is that he has been the teams second most important player this year. If he plays well, we win. If he doesn't or gets into foul trouble we lose, that pretty much shows a players value to a team. We are 43-20 (with a top 10 defense) and he has been the only constant in the frontcourt. People complain about all the things they think he sucks at, but the fact is he has obviously had a major impact on a team with the 4th best record in the NBA. People are far too quick to fall back into their conformation bias with D-mo. Many thought he was a big ol scrub before this season. Now that he's hit a little slump people have a chance to say it again, and ignore a seasons worth of very positive impact.
We actually bench him for a few games when Smith was a starter. DMo is my third favorite but I no longer think that he's the second most important player. He was when TJ was out and when we haven't acquired Brew and Smith. I think Ariza is the second most vital player specially come playoffs. We are almost elite when his defense and 3 point shooting is on point - couple that with MVP Harden and healthy Dwight of course
I don't hate DMo, but i'm not going to drink the Kool-aid that he's the #2 guy on the team... I swear everytime he has a bad game there's an excuse for it.. if someone says anything negative or what he needs to improve on some people go freaking berserk as if we were talking about them personally.. This same crap happened last year with another player. I give DMo tons of credit for his improvement and his fundamentals on the offensive end.. But just as Howard needs a lot of work on his offense, DMo needs a lot of work on his defense. I can't help it if the truth hurts... T_Man
Dmo can create his own shot, that in itself is incredibly valuable, so when he plays well, its basically free points for the team, which then translates into wins. And since Mchale allots minutes based on performance for him, when he plays well he gets more minutes. It's similar to Lin (and most role players who can create shots), that when they play well, it correlates with winning, also Dmo has that same trait where if he's playing badly he ruins it for everyone. It's the idea that playing them more minutes is why their team wins that is the problem, which is a correlation does not equal causation issue. Playing Dmo more minutes when he's playing badly doesn't help anyone but the opposition win.
No matter how much you try to push the Lin parallel, it is completely different and everyone can see that except for you and a small handful of other posters.
It's the same with both our young bigs sadly They're both really good! And both have different skill sets.
Exactly As I stated DMO = C/PF TJones = PF/SF But they are both very good. They need more seasoning Rocket River
Don't have to push.... Just go thru and read all the post.... Every player has an upside and a downside... So why do fans get so pissed when a player's downside is exposed? Why do fans want to make excuses for that player? Harden was scrutinized for his D last year and he deserved every bit of it.. It's up to that player to work on his downside and DMo is not an exception. T_Man
Dmo is frustrating. Great post up game and decent outside shooting. He is great on his rotations, but his post defense and lack of rebounding really hurt. I don't know if he will be able to improve those things either.
I thought the same thing so I decided to go check out his rebounding stats against TJones and JSmoov who look to the eyeballs to be much better at rebounding - surprisingly I found they all had about the same rebounding rate. In 28 minutes Dmo gets 6 boards a game. In 27.8 minutes Tjones gets 7.2 boards a game. In 25.7 minutes JSmoov gets 6.3 boards a game. http://www.clutchfans.net/stats.cfm So both Tjones and JSmoov are slightly better re-bounders than DMO - so apparently he is not as bad as we all think he is just not as explosive as the other two. DD
This is the thing I hate about stats.... A player can have 3 games... He can get 20 rebounds in a blow out game playing garbage time and then get 3 rebounds the next 2 games.. But the stats will show that he's getting about 8 rebounds a game which is very deceiving... T_Man
So when the stats don't agree with you, you hate them, and try to find excuses such as getting 20 rebounds in a blow out game (which never happened with DMo, BTW). And you are accusing people of making excuses for DMo? True there are some DMo fans who do make excuses. But don't we all do that for players we like?
Ha... I don't really like stats period... I feel that most stats can be created for any purpose that you want and they don't tell the entire truth... There are some stats that are accurate such as free throw percentage.. It is what it is... But most are very deceptive.. Good or Bad. For instance as Good as magic, Stockton and Kidd were, they were also the leaders in turn overs.. As for the excuses... I want make any for any player, if you look at what i stated... Howard was criticized for his offense and bad fundamentals and he deserved it.... Harden was criticized for his defense and he deserved it.. No excuses should be made for players, they need to work on their weakness... I loved Hakeem, but he had a hard time reading double teams and at times his passing was just bad.... There's one thing to like a player, but then there's another thing to take it personal when you point out the weakness of that player... As I keep stating, DMo has come along way, but he has along way to go.. T_Man
Is there a stat for rebounds missed? Like where we can track when players are in position for rebounds and don't get them. I feel like this would be where we could see if D-Mo is really matching up to the eye test that he doesn't get the rebounds he should due to bad blocking out, positioning, and slow to get off the ground. Or maybe its the fact that he's 7 foot and sticks out like a sore thumb when a rebound isn't pulled down.
So much of basketball is mental. Sometimes I feel like DMo plays excellent defense, but still gets scored on easily in the post. He just doesn't scare anyone with this goofy babyface, opposing players are very confident against him. I think a few flagrants here and there may help him, he needs some badass rep in the worst possible way.
