Let's not get confused here. Smith and Jones are adequate rebounders. They are not great by any stretch of the imagination. Dmo is a notch below them. There are literally 100 guys who are better rebounders than Dmo. Is that good enough?
Mmmmm....yes, you might match Tjones against LeBron, maybe even Melo, but those are players who can give you big minutes at the four. They're fairly solid dudes. And Tjones would need a hell of a night to guard them (not to mention refs who don't worship the aforementioned players....good puck with that). Against the lithe greyhound sort of 3? Not so much.
Its not even really about Jones' physical attributes to defend the 3. What it comes down to is his positioning on the court. Jones is most effective and will be around the bucket on most possessions. Taking him away from the bucket depletes what he is good at. If you keep him around the bucket then defensively getting back becomes an issue since he's the furthest distance from their goal on defense when he is under the rim, and his man is already at half court. So the question really shouldn't be "Is Jones athletic enough to defend 3's" it should really just be where do we want him positioned on offense that makes him most effective, and helps the team the most defensively as a unit?
But yes.. Jones played the 3 in college, and in high school. If they wanted to move him to the 3 spot I think he would do fine, but would ideally you'd want him back down to his college weight. Like with Morris, the Rockets put him at the 4, and groomed him as a 4 to make him more effective sooner. Could have been a 3, but the Rockets don't like to gamble as much as you'd think they do. Terrence using his athleticism as a mismatch at the 4 spot, and Morris as a stretch 4 was a sure bet. Taking the not-so-sure bet could have you end up with a lost project like Derrick Williams.
I just wish Donuts would quit blowing layups, because I've lost count of how many times I've seen him screw up a gimme. Seven feet tall and he can't just stuff the damn ball in the basket? It's weird. He can look like an artist at times in the post, but still blows layups.
I cringe too when D-Mo doesn't just dunk the gimmes too but at least I am no longer breaking furniture when Asik fumbles perfect passes around the rim. Thank God Dorsey only averages 6-8 minutes or I would go postal if he missed more dunks than he already does.
I think that's a good comparison. DMo is not good at the 5 because he doesn't really have the endurance to bang with the bigger players, Jones would have to learn how to shoot to play the 3. They both sort of could play those spots, but it wouldn't be pretty.
He keeps doing those tear drop or baby hooks when it's 3-4 feet away from the basket. It's up to McHale and Hakeem to lecture him about being in that position.
He is the X factor, where X = most ineffective rebounding big man in the league. Even his Battier backtaps go the wrong way.
Dmo is really hard to predict because he seems like such a confidence player. If he played with confidence and didn't get so rattled when he screws up or gets owned he'd be a much more consistent a dominate player.
Yeah.....extended minutes for this guy in playoffs = disaster on boards. The man just cannot box out and hold his position. Mentally and physically weak.
