Wasn't his NBA comparison Pau Gasol? I wonder if that had anything to do with Morey trying to trade for Pau? The Rockets could have had an all star PF teaching someone who is compared to him.
I'm on the other side of this. One of the things I noticed was that he uses his right hand quite a bit. You can see it in a couple of the videos posted here, but go check out some of his other youtube videos.
Lol, well of course he would. I'm sure CD and Yao wouldn't mind helping out as well. I try to keep my hopes for Donatas in check, but he has so much potential that it's hard to not imagine him becoming a great Power Forward.
Could be, but Gasol is a pretty good rebounder and shotblocker. D-Mo has shown flashes but his overall rebounding numbers are below average.
Pau Gasol is not a good rebounder, above average at best Pau Gasol is not a great shot blocker either. You don't get labelled soft if you are a good shot blocker and rebounder. Hopefully, the rockets development thing does not screw up this 'sure thing" as usual
I agree. He's like a PF version of Kukoc. Which, understandably, doesn't make it a great comparison, but it still kind of works for me. They both have similar body movements, left handed, similar size and shots, and even though Motie doesn't seem as polished a ballhandler, his mechanisms here seem similar to Toni's. I will not rush to a judgement on his quickness. Sometimes it looks great. Othertimes it just looks ok, especially as I look at the overall quickness of the rest of the players. At a minimum he should have a role as a big who can shoot spot-up, or over smaller PF's from 8-15 feet out, while being a solid rebounder an ok defender. Offensively, if he can either dominate on the interior with a diverse post game or solid strength, or further develop a dribble drive game, he has Yao+ offensive potential. People forget that Pau Gasol, despite the occasional soft label, actually plays pretty strong on the interior. He's not just waiting for his teammates to set him up for lane jumpers. Too early for me to say if Motie is capable of that in the NBA. That's what he said... pretty good rebounder and shot-blocker. He didn't say Dennis Rodman light or anything. Pau IS a pretty good rebounder and shotblocker. Not great, but definitely above average. He average over 11 boards a game one year... he played a lot of minutes, but still. There's only 4 players in the league doing that so far this year. BTW, Pau's 9.5 rpg rank him 14th currently. He's dropped down on blocks, but is still 21st in the league.
I said he is a "pretty good" rebounder and shotblocker, not a "great" rebounder and shotblocker. Pau Gasol averages 9.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game over his career. Those numbers fit my description just fine. Right now I don't see Motiejunas being as good since he's barely blocking any shots in Euroleague and averaging less than 8 rebounds per game (only on 31 minutes though).
Averaging 7+ rebounds in Europe is no small feat. It's not the same game over there. As long as Motiejunas rebounds well relative to his competition, he should have no problem rebounding in the NBA. This is the one skill that seems to translate well from level to level. I'm actually more optimistic that Motiejunas can match Gasol's rebounding ability than his scoring ability.
We have to be careful getting excited about this guy. We're not seeing him play against NBA defenders, and NBA defensive schemes. Still, I want him over here, like yesterday, so we can see how he does in those situations.
lol, i bet you he will still win a jump ball vs scola and someone who can average that many rebounds on average.....either his teammates sucks at rebounding or he can jump when needed.
Pau Gasol has only surpassed 2 blocks per game/season twice in his career and both times, it was 2.1 Pau Gasol has only surpassed 10 rebounds per game/season twice in his career For a 7 ft all star, who is the number big man option on all his teams, thats not pretty good. At best, thats above average
^^His rebounding and shot blocking should translate to the NBA, or at worst, take -2 to -3 dive when given the same minutes. Grabbing the ball and blocking shots is in the same in every league. His confidence, and scoring is another story. However, I believe the rockets based on past experience alone will send him to the d-league or make him the 10th man, and diminish said confidence level and development
Stop mincing words. Above average is the same f***ing thing as "pretty good". It means "good but not great".
