As soon as Morey said Beverly, his first player was Montiejunas, first one that popped into his head...it wasn't Jones, it wasn't Beasley, it wasn't Howard.....it was DMo, if you have studied human nature, you can learn a lot about body language and thought, he wants DMo. Doesn't mean he stays, DM will may decline to match a big number...but I am sure D'Antoni wants him. DD
I do like him, but he is not my man, I just like that he brings a rare skillset that gives our team an advantage every single game. DD
Ah, I just watched, I wouldn't say he went out of his way, he was just one of the people he mentioned after he was prodded to add Brewer to the list of those he mentioned by name.
DMo may work for D'Antoni, but it also seems like D'Antoni will marginalize DMo's greatest skill - posting up.
I love dmo as much as anyone, if not moreso, but MDA definitely did not single him out more than anyone else
Look at what D'Antoni did with guys like Diaw. Elite passers, great post players, SMART players. D Mo would be PERFECT for a D'Antoni offense.
Actually, it probably shouldn't have been bumped all last year as D Mo was not an X factor, or any kind of factor. In 14-15, he was our 2nd best player in the regular season. And in 16-17, he has a coach who has used players like him to great effect. So if there's any time to keep this thing going it's now!
Didn't know MDA uses low post scorers out of the block, thought he mainly wanted an up and down game with fours that can rebound and stretch the floor. Houston's roster currently doesn't have a four that can do both those things.
He mixed things up when he had Diaw on the court - Diaw I think is one of the closest correlates to D Mo's game. He would use Diaw from the high post as a passing big or a pop/roll man, but he wasn't averse to using him in the low post as a change of pace on possessions where the pick and roll options didn't materialize. He will get a lot out of D Mo's versatility.
We shall see. Hopefully the Rockets feel his back will be ok in the future and a lot will depend on who they sign as free agents I'm sure. Beasley fits MDA like a glove especially with his ability to stretch the floor from mid range, 3pt shooting and scoring in transition. Also Beasley as well as Harrell both have cheap price tags.
I think you can conceivably mix and match bigs between Capela (our best roll man), D Mo (our best passer and post scorer), Beasley (our best pure scorer), and Harrell (our best rebounder/hustle guy) depending on what the defense is doing. It's more versatility than people are recognizing currently. But the flip is that you would really like a guy like Horford to be your primary option at the 4 or 5 (I think Horford and Capela could co-exist much better than Capela and Dwight, which was actually a decent combo).
Woops accidental quick post If his speech indicates/interviews indicate anything about the players Bev, Ariza came to his mind first, he praised Bev and Capela, praised 3 and D players.
