You talked about his "softness" and I think that does have a lot to do with his age but I also think it has to do with his SIZE. He just turned 21 and I'm not just going to label him a mediocre talent based on a style of play he's been used to playing with because he can't PHYSICAL handle post play. look at the body transformation from him at 19 to him now. He's gained weight but that doesn't mean he feel like a big man yet. I think 1 year to grow and practice his outside shooting won't hurt him. He will come into camp in 2012 and McHale will do his thing.
he's a giant child! I'm holding out hope that he can mature enough in a year that when he comes over he will be ready for the hardest work of his career.
You have not watched him play. Yes, his age is very young for a 7 footer. And that could be part of it. However, I'm going by what I see when he plays. From actually watching him play...not from PR department comments from a snake oil GM, or from youtube highlights, or from meaningless stats on a horrible Euroleague team (he would play maybe 10 minutes on a good Euroleague club)....... from actually watching him play, it is very obvious that he has the Rasheed Wallace disease of standing at the 3 point line, and simply wanting to play that way. Thus I guess why some compare him to Dirk, even though Dirk is way, way, way better of a shooter. Maybe I am wrong, but the fact that he prefers to play that way, without even being a good 3 point shooter (he is below average really) tells me that this guy has the Rasheed syndrome big time. And you can see him playing, he will get a couple of scores in the low post then spend the next 10 minutes standing at the 3 point line. I think people here have a big misconception, based on say David Andersen. David Andersen prefers to play in the low post, but the Rockets asked him to shoot 3s for some bizarre reason. Well, Motiejunas prefers to shoot 3 pointers and now the Rockets are talking like he is going to be a low post force. Same with Andersen being a power forward that the Rockets insisted play center, or Sergio Llull being a shooting guard that Morey insists is a point guard. Now he is talking about another power forward being a center in Motiejunas. The fact of the matter is that he is a power forward and he stands at the 3 point line. Morey can say whatever the hell he wants to, as I have seen him constantly flat out lie about all the Rockets overseas players. I am just ignoring that BS. I'm going by watching the guy play..........HUGE talent (#1 draft pick level) that has an incredibly soft mental approach to the game. And that is why he fell in the draft. I guess some people here drink the kool aid. "Morey is a genius and McHale will turn him into a great low post player". Well, reality is Morey flat out lies every time he talks about Motiejunas and McHale never turned Garnett into anything remotely resembling a good low post player, despite working at it for years. The simple fact is that IF Motiejunas was willing to play as he should, he would have been drafted #1. So either "Morey is a genius" (extremely unlikely based on his actual knowledge) or the Rockets got what everyone else saw. Hugely skilled and talented 7 footer that want to play as a shooting guard, but unlike Dirk, actually isn't a good shooter from mid-long to long range. So yeah, Morey can say whatever he wants, McHale can do whatever he wants. It will mean NOTHING. It is 100% on Motiejunas' own self to start playing as he should. He does not even need McHale. He could be an excellent low post scorer IF he wanted to, without McHale showing him anything. It's all, 100% on whether or not Motiejunas is soft mentally or not. So far, this year he has improved his defensive rebounding a lot. But I really see no improvements in anything else.
If Prokom loses this game then they are IMHO the worst Euroleague team of all time in ULEB era. They are playing at home, against a very weak Olimpija team that is playing without 2/3's of its rotation. They are basically playing against mostly the third unit of Olimpija. If Prokom can't win this game then they are an absolutely hopelessly bad team.
It's a shame that the genius of Ohmss goes so unappreciated by professional basketball management across the globe. You would think that he would be in hot demand for some form of management position on any number of teams worldwide due to his superior talent evaluation.
D-Mo is playing well again, crashing the glass on offense, keeping his man off the board on defense, making proper zone reads, rotating well on defense (for the most part), moving the ball, picking his spots on offense, playing decent post d (granted the guys he's guarding aren't all that). Pretty awful game though... there's a 16 year old playing for crying out loud. Lots of bricks. Little ball movement. D-Mo not getting touches due to inability of his team to make an entry pass & Prokom using D-Mo as their zone decoy.
If he would play in low post he would have 12-14 rebounds already. But unfortunately he's standing near 3 point line. Dumb couch descision.
He's really improves his rebounding a lot. However let's be truthful here please. The fact is he is playing against second, third unit, even some youth squad players of Olimpija. And while he rebounding is looking great his defense is absolutely atrocious. They tried him guarding Rothbart at center. Rothbart is considered the weakest and softest center in the entire Euroleague. Against the guy that is considered the weakest and softest center of Euroleague, Motiejunas was absolutely abused on defense. Rothbart was getting lay ups and dunks with total and complete ease. Then they tried switching Motiejunas to Thompson at power forward and he just left him wide open for mid range jump shots most of the time. On offense, he still basically just stands at the 3 point line and jacks up ugly looking 3 point shots. Considering the level of competition he is playing against (Olimpija is barely even a Eurocup level team with all their missing players)........ Although his rebounding is looking very good, if he plays like this on offense and defense, I give it 2 weeks after he is with the Rockets before the forum is calling him a bust and demanding he be traded.
It's not the coach's decision. He has been criticized by the coach for standing at the 3 point line. It's nothing to do with a coaching decision. It's just Motiejunas taking it upon himself to play like that.
If you think that this guy is the 10th best player in Europe (Morey's own words) then you are either incompetent or a liar. The forum claims Morey is not a liar and really believes this. That means he is incompetent then.
OHMSS I have to ask you a question? Have you heard of this European Teenage Basketball Player named Mario Hezonja (I think he is 16 years old now) Is he as good as advertised, and who in the NBA does he remind you of? He has drawn comparisons to Brandon Roy and Manu Ginobili( Is he really that good) Here is Mario Hezonja's Draft Profile http://www.nbadraft.net/players/mario-hezonja
