Yeah, exactly. Dekker might get spot minutes at the 4, maybe more on nights where Ryan is bricking, but for the most part Ryan and DMo are just better talents than Dekker. But Dekker is not a guy you can take off the floor completely either. I'd say DMo could just get more minutes at the 5, but you have a lot of depth there as well. Truly a glut at the 4/5 with 6 guys worthy of minutes. (Ryno, Dekker, DMo, Capela, Nene, Harrell) Unfortunately Harrell and Dekker are the two most likely to get big minute cuts and they are the two who bring so much energy to the team.
I'm with you that Nene just don't do it for me. If I were the coach he'd be getting spot minutes only. I don't think they feel that way though.
I think everyone would agree DMo's best season was 14-15. He was urt most of 15-16 last year and a no show this year so far. 14-15 was when Dwight was out so much. According to 82games.com prior season info, DMo played 13% of the teams PF minutes that year and 37% of the teams C minutes. So he played meaningfully more time at the C. I theorize its partly why he was better that year. Better spacing offensively (with DMo at center alongside Smith, Jones, Ariza, Papanikolaou... all guys who also contributed more than 10% of the teams minutes that year at PF), and capable enough defensively because there are no dominant centers anyway. Given MDA is classically a small-ball guy, I expect to see a lot of lineups with DMo at center (to the extent we see lot of DMo at all).
Yeah, he's too much of a veteran to be completely glued to the bench. Same with Brewer, of course. Great "veterans", just not good on the court. Also it's harder to gauge with Nene because much of it seems to be secondary and tertiary impacts of him being on the court, be it offensive spacing with James, or him just being enough slower in defensive rotations and boxing out. With Brewer its like, ok, you just missed your 50th three in a row, what's the point?
The way I see it: 1st Unit: Beard/Wolverine/A3za/Ryno/ACapela 2nd Unit: (Woverine or Beard)/Gordon/Triple Dekker/DMO/(Trez or Nene) Brew gets minutes here and there and as much as I wanted him gone...we need him. He provides that burst of energy that we sometime need injected into our team and he's been playing pretty good.
Nene turning around in the paint to watch a layup is just as frustrating for me as Brewer bricking a 3.
D-Mo is not much of a rebounder and is a poor shotblocker. I don't think he can be your center if Anderson and Dekker are playing PF. To me, he gets his minutes at PF, with Dekker eating into Brewer's minutes at SF.
ooohh..cleverly disguised new DMO thread is clever. Bringing up the only player on clutchfans that can raise the ire of the masses more than DMO at the moment is genius. Of course DMO should take all of Brewer's minutes, his lunch money, his locker, and his girl. Keep Brewer off the court!
If you need a rough reference on how DMo's game can translate in the MDA offense you have to go back to the Amare days in Phoenix. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PLAYERS, I get that, but D'Antonio/Nash allowed Amare to operate in the mid-range within the confines of the 7 seconds or less offense. DMo, with the 2nd unit, can have the same opportunities if his mid range game is good this year. I can't see how he can be an Anderson clone (3point camper) or a Capela duplicate (PnR finisher around the rim).
I'll defer that question to one of our resident insiders. But if you're a subscriber to said insider's newsletter, it's in there somewhere.
It'll be a few games before DMo gets any minutes, certainly any 'to speak of'. What's the practice sked?
Let's hope Dmo at this point is better than Brewer. I personally don't believe he'd be worse, but it would have been nice if Dmo would have had some videos of him training and/or playing basketball in Vancouver. As long as he can run & lift his arms I say he takes Brewer's minutes.
i'd say a few weeks actually to be an actual meaningful contributor assuming he's healthy and to actually establish himself in the rotation. Disrupting the rhythm of a team finding their stride is never a good thing
I don't think Brewer will be out of the rotation. D'Antoni loves the small lineups and also likes the advantages of Dekker at the 4, especially as an athlete. Yes D-Mo is a PF, but so is Harrell, but you don't see him playing at PF during meaningful minutes. Expecting many minutes of D-Mo at C. Harrell shouldn't be out of the rotation, but he most likely will. Nene is out in my eyes.
