We can call him whatever we want, but for that two and a half month stretch last year, it was pretty obvious that D-Mo was our 2nd most important player (healthy player at the time w/ Dwight out), and the obvious 2nd go to option on offense. We also saw firsthand how great Harden can play when you have a big that can operate enough on offense to get pressure off of the perimeter. I would say that for that short period of time, he showed that he can be more than just a role player. That being said with his back injury, and the smallish sample size, there is risk in putting that much weight on him to carry moving forward, but what we have now is POTENTIAL that might or might not be worth taking a gamble on moving forward. I think its worth it, but I don't think we will see that potential realized till next year, but I hope I'm wrong. Super role player.... not sure. I think he's a legit POTENTIAL #2 option to play off of Harden though as the primary 5 in a small starting lineup. Just gotta get the big guy healthy at the right speed, and get a solid contract in place this Summer. In the meantime we need guys like TJ, Harrell, and Capela to FREAKING SHOW UP for games and carry the load if we want any chance of making a late season run and playoff campaign. Can't put it all on D-Mo.
All I'm saying is I need more data. Yes he played great during that stretch. I'm on record of saying if he could build on what he did last season and Jones return back to what we've seen before those injuries, we would be dynamic at the 4 position. Unfortunately that's not the case so we need Capela (who actually played solid at the 4 position ), Jones of old and Smith to hold down the fort. But imo the entire team needs to get back on the right track. Nobody is playing solid defense on a consistent basis.
Most overrated player to play for the rockets ? Dmo or lin ?? I'm thinking Dmo this guy had a good stretch when Howard was out only & has never played not even one playoff game in his life, you would think this guy was Paul millsapp the way people talk about his D & floor spacing around here
Agree totally brotha. Last season gave us a teaser, but we've needed everyone else that haven't brought it consistently, and you're right that we need more data to make proclamations about who D-Mo is or isn't going to be for the rest of his career. I also think that the issues on this team are systemic and not player specific in alot of cases. I don't know what it is, but every player has suffered for the most part. Even Dwight's stats & effectiveness is down from where it was before this year. Let's be honest... There is no reason to think that D-Mo would have been immune to being affected by the piss poor play from a team perspective. If you are a Rockets player in the history of the franchise and you had to pick a season to miss, I would have to think this one would be pretty high up there. I think the team would have been better with him healthy, but its not crazy to think that whatever happened to turn this team upside down and sideways, wouldn't have also impacted him as well.
Wait wah?? DMo was the most consistent post presence we had during the time that the Rockets were missing Dwight.. Now in terms of his rebounding, and ability to box out...He stinks. He tries individually on defense and is a very underrated TEAM defender. He has shown to always rotate correctly and contest shots. His length alone bothers some players. But yes as everyone else should. The team has been in a season long funk. Mixed with some decent play, the Rockets as a whole have been really bad...ESPECIALLY defensively. DMo's presence alone wont account for this.
DMO's presence alone wont account for a drastic change. He will however, help with lags in our team's offense.
I think it'll give us a stretch 4 so that we don't have to go small to get spacing while also giving us a legit post option if things get stagnant while also giving us solid defense for the most part. It won't make everything better, but it should help if he's playing on a decent level.
I am evaluating based upon his skillset - not the games played. All we can do is assume full health. Here are his highlights, please look at these - it is so obvious that he brings what this team needs.....SHOT making, ball movement, solid picks, and straight up 7 footer with great positional defense. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ib2EAyYEUpo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> DD
I've watched every game. Looking at these highlights only show the positive, they never highlight the negative things. And again I need to see more footage, at least 2 consistent years.
LOL - everyone has negatives, but his negatives are far less than TJones or Capella for instance. DMo is a heady player who is very good at playing the off the ball game. Something this team needs a lot more of.....Harden is going to dominate the ball, we need players that fit with him. DMO does - probably better than anyone else on the entire roster. Which is why I am so keen on seeing him get back - he makes the ENTIRE team better, simply by playing his game....and getting like 12-6 with 40% 3pt and good positional D. DD
His skill set is not the question. For him to come back and help the team he needs to recover athletically . There is a minimum level of strength and quickness needed to play in the NBA . For a big guy who is expected to be able to compete for rebounds this is doubly important . With how the Rockets guard by showing on the pick and roll this is doubly important. A clip of Dmo making threes and nice passes isn't going to impress me . What will show me that he is back is when he can body up guys be an excellent post defender and not get blown by . Dmo flirted with this minimum level last year ( for the center position due to his strength disadvantage). He was able to make up for it with skills and speed. Now his skills are still fine , well above average , and I don't doubt that he is a fantastic team player . But if he isn't able to stick with a 4 or 5 defensively then he won't be helping us . He's got to get some quickness back and get back to his strength levels of last year so he can effectively guard the 4 spot. Hopefully in time by playing more it will return and he can get back up to NBA speed . But a 3 game stint in the deleague won't do it . He needs a couple more games down there . I wouldn't bring him up until he can dominate both sides of the floor.
This. Best option we have. Way better than Tjones (Trash) and Capela (For this year at least) and Harrell (Love his hustle).
If this is the case why did it take an injury for him to finally Crack the starting line up? I disagree, he does not make the entire team better. Was he apart of that great team chemistry last season, yes. But that team went as far Harden took them, plus they had role players like Dmo who didn't mind getting on the floor for loose balls. Even Joey Dorsey was very pivotal in a lot of wins when Dwight went down. Nobody will never admit to that. Dorsey was a monster on them boards and he played solid defense as well. Again don't just show me time fancy highlights thinking it's the be all to everything you're saying DD, show me every aspect and that includes the negatives. 12 points and 4 rebounds with less than 1 block a game doesn't do anything for me, especially from a 7 foot PF/C.
Anyone who watches the games can see D-Mo is a player. He's that guy. He's that guy who comes into a pickup game and makes the team look fluid and fills all the gaps. He's the guy who comes into the D-league and plays defense and yells at his teammates to play defense. He's that guy who shocks seniors as a younger player. He's that guy who steps up when the second superstar is down. He's that guy who can objectively score in the post, move well without the ball, pass it when it's in his hands and play positional defense. He's that guy. If you've played any sport regularly, you know who that guy is. That's who he is, wherever he is, whenever he has played since he was in Europe. Even prior to last season, he was that guy but couldn't string it together consistently. He came through last season under TREMENDOUS pressure. TREMENDOUS. Starting PF, second scoring option on a 2nd seed in one of the toughest conferences of all time. This guy is not changing the 8th seed into a 3rd seed in the 2016 Western conference with 29 games to play, but to say we need to see what he can do to determine if he's an excellent role player is primitive. 191 games is plenty of games to show what you're capable of in flashes, and 72 games is plenty of games to show that you can turn those flashes into a strong stretch of games. You only have 3 years to prove yourself as a rookie, he has shown enough to put himself in the western conference contender role player category. Even in his 14 games in 13 minutes this season, he has bested his performance from last season. I wish we could place bet on this, but that's like placing our bet on Shane Battier's impact on a team. He's going to hit over 35% of his 3's, play very good positional defense, score efficiently in the post (almost 60% inside), move the ball wonderfully when healthy and give this team an improved winning % during that stretch. But that won't be enough cause it's just 29 games right? Well, you just wait around for someone to prove they are consistently excellent for years before you give them their due. I'm sure other GM's will sit around and watch lol. In the NBA, you can kill it at one thing (like 3-pt shooting or one type of scoring) for 72 games and disappear but you can't kill it playing a multi-faceted role on both sides of the ball for a highly successful team for 72 games and just become below average overnight. Oh, and you're a gym rat, and a workhorse in practice. Doesn't happen. Never happens. This guy was going to have that 72 game stretch because the flashes he showed combined with his work ethic projected super well for his future. I guess if he's not a saviour then he bombed? I think a lot of people on this board have forgotten what life was like before Harden, what life is like for most NBA teams. How hard it is to come by a talented youngster. How much they were willing to pay for a Trevor Ariza or a Jeremy Lin. D-Mo is going to make $10m+ per year if he strings together 20 games similar to last season. That's not all, he's going to be better next season than this season. That's what you get when you have a work ethic like D-Mo's. I seriously wish we could make a statistical bet here. Any suggestions welcome.
Dunno, why didn't Harden start in OKC? Oh, but I will play along - because McHale sucks. BTW - I am involved in youth basketball here in Austin, our 7th grade team won nationals last year, and is pretty good this year too. Whenever we run tryouts, there are always kids that stand out and you go...oh yeah, that guy is a player....but the club makes a point of tracking wins and losses in the scrimmages to see if there are any kids that don't jump off the page, but just help the team win, and invariably there are always those players that just make their team better. THAT, is DMO. DD
