I agree that you can't list rebounding as one of his strengths yet, however he has demonstrated he is very capable, I think it is just a matter of focus on him and on what the coaches demand. Looking at our team, I'd say he is a better rebounder than Patterson and the Scola we've seen this season. At worse I think he will be an ok rebounder next to a quality one, the good thing is, this has ceased to be a concern.
I think he got the message loud and clear when he dropped from a top 5 projection all the way to 20. Over the summer he bulked up at 7' tall from 220 to 237. He came in and put some real effort into rebounding. I think everyone believes that he will be putting a lot of time over his career at the 5. But he is only 21 and could use another 20 pounds of muscle along with the tutoring an organization like the Rockets can offer.
Lets slow down a little bit there. Patterson is a proven player. Motiejunas along with Llul have yet to play in the NBA yet.. ( we dont know for sure if they will sure things) The NBA figures you out quicker than any other league other than NFL.
So, what do his rebounding stats look like if you remove that game? Maybe its just an outlier. I wouldn't automatically conclude a guy is a great rebounder just off of one game.
Yes, that's a good point. He is averaging 7.9 rebounds in Euroleague in 10 games. Take that one game away and he is averaging 6.4 rebounds. He drops by 1.5 rebounds. At 7.9 rebounds per game he is second in Euroleague in rebounding averages. At 6.4 he would be tied for 7th.
I guess so but then again how many mins that does he play? His most recent game he only averaged 29 mins.
That's not exactly a fair assessment. If you're going to remove an outlier from Moniejunas, you have to remove his competition's as well. I'm assuming many other players in the top 10 have had a really good game as well. They probably wouldn't be brought down by 1.5 because they probably didn't have a 21 a night game, but there could be some high teens in there.
The average Euroleague starter only plays 28 minutes. Motiejunas averaged 31.4 in the Euroleague this season. When he set the Euroleague record for defensive rebounding he played 37 of 40 minutes. Again, he has improved his rebounding, but he sure isn't the best rebounder who played in the Euroleague this season, as the raw stats might indicate. Among all Euroleague players playing 15 minutes or more, Motiejunas ranks 21th in pace adjusted rebounding/28minutes. To put that number in perspective, Zaza Pachulia ranks 8th, Kevin Seraphin 10th & Nenad Kristic 20th.
Motiejunas average 10.2 rebounds per 40 in Euro League pace adjusted this year. In the VTB United League (16 games), he averaged 11.2 rebounds per 40. These are pretty decent numbers, better than the averages that Scola (typically a bit over 9 per 40), Splitter (typically 9 per 40) and Pekovic (typically 8-9 per 40) racked up in Europe. It is below those what real rebounding beasts like Ilyasova (13+ per 40) and Valunciunas (13+ per 40) got in Europe. However, he's at least no slouch like what his numbers last season had people worried he might be (6.8 per 40 in Italian League and 8.1 per 40 in Euro Cup) last season. Frankly, people didn't have Motiejunas ranked as a top prospect because of his potential as as a Ben Wallace level beast rebounder, they liked his refined skills and good athleticism for his size and just wanted him to rebound at an acceptable rate. Now it looks like that rebounding will at least not be a weakness in the NBA.
The people he would be compared to based on his size, athleticism, and overall skill level would be an unfair comparison due to their accomplishments. IMO, I see alot of Toni Kukoc in Donatas. However, he has a much, much better post game which should be maximized under McHale's wing. Lets just say this much talent should never have falled out of the top 10. Usually a player like this would be in the top 10 if not top 6 or 7 in any draft. If I had to compare him to anyone it would be Toni Kukoc.
Well put. I don't disagree with that notion at all, nor was it my intention to make D-Mo's rebounding numbers look bad. All I'm saying is that he's not suddendly gonna be this beast of a rebounder, just because he set the Euroleague record for defensive rebounding or some of the other raw stats that are out that might make him look like somebody he's not.
Motiejunas on fire today after 2Q 16 pts 2 reb 3 assist 3/4 2 pt 2/3 3pt 4/4 1pt http://live.basket.iskiereczka.pl/mecz.html?game_id=8268 live score here in polish language (sorry cant find the stream i will try found it
Here's a link: http://ro.lshunter.tv/streams/pl/tvp06.html Also you can find lots of streams online of of basketball and other sports: http://www.lshunter.tv/basketball-live-streaming-video.html So far Motiejūnas is having a good game agains a the second team in Poland. Competition is not really at the high level, but it's still decent
I think for someone like Motiejunas, his raw stats probably matter less than how he's developing. I do wonder what Rockets scouts think of him and his development at this point. I can't imagine they're anything but ecstatic, but really 2nd tier Euroleague is hard to translate to the NBA directly. Here's hoping he really does have star potential. Since IMO he should have the highest ceiling of any player on the team right now.
