There were so many positives in tonight's game... Chandler Parson's career night Jeremy Lin playing almost flawless at PG Thomas Robinson contributing solidly Sergio Garcia showing he can contribute Destroying Dallas Watching Nowitzki cry But what probably satisfied me most was DMo playing much improved D and playing backup center. Yeah that's right and it's because. It does so much for this team. DMO played solid defense tonight which means he has earned the right to stay on the floor longer. And he also showed he can play back up center and play it better than Aldrich or Greg smith so that gives us an upgrade at that spot and gives him even more minutes on the court. Yes when Asik goes to the bench we lose defense but with DMo we gain offense and his defense is improving imensely in just 1 game. I expect him to only get better on D and on O he is the best low post player we have had since Yao. Also tonight I actually think our PF tandem was better than PPat and Morris. Of course it is just one game and surely they will have bad games a head of them but I expect overall Trob and DMo will only get better and that stupid reporter who said that the trade will hurt us down the stretch will have to eat crow. The stretch is not here yet and they are already a better tandem or at least equal with a bright future. The other thing that has happened with this team is we now have a very tight rotation of Lin, Harden, Dmo, Asik, Parsons, Delfino, Beverly and TRob. We can probably work in Brooks if he comes aboard and if we get in foul trouble Smith and Garcia can help but really those first 8 guys we can go to war with. I expect us to only get better. Sure there will be a few bumps on the road. But come playoff time would should be better than we are now with a tighter rotation and an even better backup center and starting PF than we have now.
What's great about adding D-mo to our lineup is that he is 7'0. That gives our frontcourt pretty good height with asik-dmo-parsons.
Yes, and i like the addition(huge D-Mo fan).. but can this be a good game for D-mo on boards/D because Dirk and Mavs are old?
The reason why Robinson looked so terrible his first two games, in addition to the whole rookie being traded to a new team thing, was that the spacing with him and Greg Smith was an issue. Plugging him next to Donatas solves this. Ideally our rebounding won't drop off as much with Asik off the floor now if Robinson can play to his strengths. So yeah, the guy that benefits the most with DMo at backup center is TRob.
Nah I like that we have 2 7footers but still being a stretch 4? Also I like that we're the whitest lineup in the NBA (no racism liking the diversity and all)
The thing is this causes defensive matchup problems against some teams. D-Mo just isn't strong enough to defend many centers, and T-Rob isn't tall enough that you can rotate them so D-Mo is defending the 4.
Any body pick up 'Sergio' Garcia from the Old Man ... :grin: I kid. Old Man Rock rocks! If we only drafted Larry Sanders ...
It wasn't just the spacing, but also being paired up with Smith in general was a recipe for disaster, blind leading the blind stuff there. Robinson looked like he was trying to direct Smith at times. That's why I'm not even counting the first two games as he had long stretches with Smith that amounted to nothing.
Who are some of these offensive backup center we should be worried about? The issue with DMo at backup center is rebounding and rim protection. Rebounding, that is what Robinson is for. Rim protection, we weren't getting any of that with Greg Smith anyways.
I think Greg Smith is probably still a step up from D-Mo in defending centers. He's hard to back down. He makes mental errors, but so does D-Mo. I don't really like our backup center situation generally speaking. I'd rather see D-Mo play with the starters and find a better backup center than Smith in free agency... unless Morey is convinced Smith can continue to improve.
Okay I give you that for now. But Luis had problems scoring down the stretch and I think DMo's size might allow him to shoot over people more. We'll see but for now I will give you Luis as a step above DMo.
Yes, Scola was/is a better low post player than Dmo - for now. Also, we shouldn't forget how Greg played Dwight earlier this year. Dwight would love to have Dmo defending him. That would just be ugly.
Smith is strong, but his foul rate on post defense has got to be astronomically high. He just has not learned to keep his hands straight up. I don't think the OP is suggesting we should bench DMo as the back up center. He still gets to play with the starters, but also gets additional playing time as the backup center. This does 2 things: 1. Opens up time at the 4 for our small lineups with Delfino or Parsons. As much as CF hates this, it is our most effective lineup in stretches. 2. Allows Robinson to play at all. Robinson completely screws up the floor balance playing next to either Smith or Asik. Kelvin Sampson said as much immediately following the trade. Until he acquires a reliable midrange jumper, the only way to get Robinson on the floor is putting him next to Donatas. Playing DMo at backup center may not be ideal, and might not be the long term solution, but for now it serves our purposes IMO.
