If you think DMo played well, you just aren't being objective. It's akin to saying Harden sucked last night which I also believe to be true. Doesn't mean you hate either guy, it's just the truth. He defended Aldridge well at times and those possessions when he made him work were the highlights of his evening. His offense left a lot on the table and his rebounding left a complete buffet out there. I just don't know. I really am of the opinion that he will always be somewhat of a liability in that regard. Hopefully I'm wrong. Last night was even worse than I would have ever imagined. I keep seeing the he boxes out well argument. Sometimes he boxes out well...sometimes. What difference does it really make at the end of the day when your team doesn't secure the rebounds because you're incapable of boxing out as well as going for the rebound yourself? It doesn't have to be a mutually exclusive skill. I always thought they went hand in hand. Box out your man...go for the rebound. He is so busy being muscled around fighting off his man that he can't actually make any attempt to go after the rebound without being knocked to the ground.
It's kinda complicated, really. A big part of it is playing experience. The more you play, the more you kinda know where the ball is going to end up. The most classic is "2/3 of shots end up on the weakside", but it is much more complicated than that. There is definitely a significant natural prediction aspect of where the ball will go. You can't rely on this, because if you get burned, that's bad. The key is to box them out away from where your insight is telling you the ball is going. Asik is great at this. There is also a mental fortitude. Just one has to remember when to box out, and where to box him out. You don't always want to push the other player out. Sometimes it's better to push them towards the baseline, or under the bucket. Obviously, most of the highlight putbacks are when somebody doesn't box out. There is also a dirty aspect. Whenever people say basketball is a non-contact sport, I laugh at them. They say to use your butt, which is true, but people are pushing each other around there. The key is to use your butt while pushing them low with your hands. Rarely get called. Same with holds. Dmo doesn't do it. And yes, athleticism is nice. Of course. Dwight is good at this. Also, sometimes the bigs have a general area which they rebound. One has to decide when to box out and when to cover an "area", so to say. For what it's worth, Harden is excellent at the "dirty" aspect Probably from all those strip clubs. But seriously, if you look closely, when he goes down, he holds the crap out of people. I love it. Debatable. He is unable to get himself removed from the other guy. His position is not established enough so that he can go get the ball. Thus, he is still trying to boxing them out. When the opposing player "swims" or even jumps for the ball, this is when he stumbles or falls. He is leaning all his weight against them instead of pushing them out. Can he actually get better? So far, this issue is been a while now, and being the best in Europe is much different than the NBA. It is hard to fix getting bullied that much. Going back to the PF position should help; some. Really, what we are banking on is Dwight making up for his weakness, basically. It is not so much fundamentals than he is just getting worked. It's a soft issue. There is a significant difference between Jones' and DMo's rebounding abilities. One of these things is not like the other.
Yes, but you guys act like we lost the game because of poor boxing out and rebounding by Motiejunas, while all the problems came from TJones and especially Smith - who basically was standing around and his men always went for an offensive rebound. Motiejunas would never be better rebounder, euros are not athletic enough to jump sky high and grab 10+ rebounds a game. Marc Gasol rebounds poor, nowitzki poor rebounder at same height, but both do everything else good and I don't think it's an issue if you box-out your player and teammates get rebounds. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv3vIYCmtAU[/youtube] 2:48! Every damn time Smith boxing-out like that.
The D-Mo lack of rebounding isn't something that is a knee jerk to last night FYI- -1/3 vs MIA - 2 rebounds in 27 minutes -1/7 vs CLE - 2 rebounds in 27 minutes -1/21 vs GWS- 3 rebounds in 24 minutes -2/20 vs Phoenix- 2 rebounds total in 17 minutes -2/23 vs Minn- 3 rebounds in 30 minutes -2.27 vs BKN - 3 rebounds in 23 minutes -3/01 vs CLE- 2 rebounds in 30 minutes -3/04 vs MEM- 4 rebounds in 21 minutes -3/11 vs POR - 4 rebounds in 29 min I love D-Mo and think he's the future but he's got to do better than this.
marc gasol is actually a solid rebounder. he's knows how to use his size to his advantage. not an elite one but still solid at it.
He is a fraction of a second too slow reacting to the ball off the iron. That's day and night. Offensively, he does well against slow footed center, but can't do a thing against the ones that are quick and that can bother him. His athletic ability is just limited. Don't get your hopes too high. He will just be a fine role player.
I don't think a single person said or even suggested that DMo's poor rebounding was, in and of itself, the reason we lost. But this is a thread about him -- and the same way praise was generously heaped on him when he was having an outstanding run, people will point out his weaknesses when they become apparent. And it appears rebounding is a significant weakness. I think TJ and Josh aren't getting it as much because rebounding is not a consistent issue for them the way it is for DMo. In any event, I never thought our PF rotation being able to hang w/ other teams' front lines in terms of rebounding was sustainable. Dwight is sorely missed.
Rebounding in Europe against Brian Skinner is different than rebounding against Robin Lopez. That's a given. My point was that at a lower level he showed that he can focus and improve dramatically. I personally think and see mental, and discipline errors that make him a poor rebounder. He's never going to track the ball like Kevin Love or get up off the ground like Dwight, but with improved discipline and fundamentals I think he can be "adequate"... which might not be great, but given what he gives you in other areas, you'd see a huge value jump with just refocusing on the fundamentals. Yes... we are banking on Dwight making up for his weaknesses in the short term. But long term Dwight wont be Dwight for forever. I want to see this kid become a complete player in a year or two. I hope he finds that dedication again but at an NBA level. They both need improvement next year on the defensive end, but Terrence has been great lately on the glass. Terrence doesn't have 7 feet to work with so much like a Paul Millsap or Zach Randolph, he's just going to have to get even better technique and discipline to not let guys like Lopez get over the top of him which happened on several occasions last night.
So, you're saying 7.8 rebounds per 34 minutes is solid for a veteran? Motiejunas have 7.3 rebounds per same playing time. Sure, sometime it looks painfull and opp's get more rebounds over DMo, but it's his first year as a legit starter against best PF's and C's in the league. Stop crying how bad he is because it's BS.
How about those missed free throws. 4 in a row. He is proud of himself being tough minded, but hey when you start talking about it, that's when you lose me believing you are tough minded. The tough minded people I know don't talk about it but just do it.
Exactly, he needs to work on this. Honestly D-Mo will likely always have to have an elite rebounder playing next to him the way Marc Gasol does with z-bo or dirk does with chandler. There really are not many european big men who have rebounded well in the NBA in the last decade aside from Pau and maybe the big Z. That being said 2-3 rebound games are simply unacceptable.
Whether you are a good rebounder or not is not measure by the numbers. It whether you can block out the opponent and not letting them get the reb. D-Mo is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to soft to block out. He doesnt need to get the rebound himself, if he can block out the Blazers big and letting his teammate to get the rebound, that would help us win the game last night already! Still pissed at his softness
I don't think you guys understand what boxing out means. When you box out it doesn't always ensure that you get the rebound , rather it is an attempt to stop an opposing player from getting inside positioning and getting an easy rebound / putback . When one player boxes out it is imperative for others to go grab the board. This is why we see high rebound totals from pat and James and Trevor . When dmo actually goes up for boards he grabs them at an acceptable rate .
We must all not know how basketball works. It's the big boxing out, and the little grabs the board. Yeah, that's how it works. ???
Exactly. It's one thing for rebounding to not be his strength. It's another to be abjectly terrible at it. No excuses for such low rebounding totals
when you have zach randolph next to him who is btw a stud on the boards yes, thats pretty solid. btw that dmo reb stat is another example of why advanced stats doesn't apply to many players so please don't use it here.
It's not BS. D-Mo is an incredibly ****ty rebounder for his height and position. Marc is averaging 8 boards a game playing next to Z-Bo who averages 11 boards again. Here is a fun tidbit; Marc has more games with double digit rebounds in this season alone than D-Mo has in his 3 years in the NBA.
