McHale said he would play the 4 and some 5 and he is not a 3pt shooter now but he has good range from 15-18 feet and he is very effective around the elbow. He said in the last year his shot improved because he learned to arch his shot more.
Do we know that for sure? What if D-Mo adds 15 - 20 pounds of muscle? Watching the games in Europe (with you thanks for the timely updates) it looks to me like he loves to bang. I am not convinced that he will not be a Pau type center in the NBA in the next couple of years. We shall see.
I am sure it depends on the matchup how much he will play at the 5. They aren't going to stick him out there against Duncan or Bynum and let him get eaten alive. Don't be crazy.
15-20 pounds of pure muscle would take easily over a year to add. 15-20 pounds of mainly fat can be added fairly quickly.
Surely he'll get better at defending the post over time. I'd be very disappointed if he didn't. However, as of right now, he's quite bad at not only defending the post, but also protecting the rim. His post defense isn't good because he doesn't use his body or hands well (improper technique) and isn't strong enough yet. The poor help defense is due to limited shot-blocking instincts and physical limitations. One could argue that the matchup goes both ways, but as McHale rightfully said, as of right now D-Mo is a (much) better post player than shooter, so you don't want him spending too much time standing at the 3-point line.
