Could Motiejunas and Jones both move out of the rotation?

We produced better results and stats with Dmo, Jones and Casspi in the rotation

2 of the 3 are in

 

Dmo is looking like the Rockets best option at the 4.

 

Dmo played well tonight and jones was hurt with a shoulder injury . I think there is definitely room for one of them in the rotation . Tonight was about getting a lot of minutes with Asik and Howard together. Casspi is a streak shooter and I'm completely sold on him yet . I think that there will be opportunities for both of these guys throughout the season to grab playing time / solidify a rotation spot.

 

D-Mo and Jones will never play because:

1) Coaches should never experiment with young players in the regular season. There's no example of that ever working out.

2) There's no need to build extra depth since NBA players never get injured.

3) It doesn't make sense to showcase your young and talented players since they aren't considered valuable trade assets and can't be packaged with other pieces to acquire a superstar.

(that was all in sarcasm font if you didn't catch it)

 

Unlikely, I think they were giving Casspi a chance at PF tonight, and he failed. He was a total liability on D and wasn't hitting the 3. When he can't hit from 3 there is literally no reason to have him on the court at all. It took him 8 shots and 4 free throws to get 10 points tonight. I'd be shocked to see him on the court as much as he was tonight in the next game.

 

Too bad that describes pretty much all our PFs

 

Not really, they all have their faults but DMo has a post game that Casspi doesn't which gives him value even when his 3 point shot is off. On the defensive side of things, DMo has length and size that Casspi simply doesn't. DMo isn't as easy to shoot over or to push around as Casspi is.

As to Jones, he's a better rebounder and defender than Casspi.

Either way both Jones and DMo are real 4's and I prefer them playing that role most of the time. I don't want a 3 playing the 4 unless it is to exploit a specific matchup.

 

Neither Jones nor Dmo are good defenders. I don't agree with your assessment at all.

 

I never said that they were "good defenders" I said that they were better than Casspi at defending 4's. Casspi isn't even good at defending 3's and he's totally physically outmatched by every 4 in the NBA. Putting Casspi at the 4 is like putting Lin at SF.

I like the novelty of "Jewish Jordan" and I think he'll make a pretty decent role player on the team, but unless the matchup allows it (which is really rare) he shouldn't get on the court at all unless it's at the 3 and he's hitting his 3's.

 

Fortunately, I have more faith in the coaching staff not to hurt their team like that. The Casspi PF experiment failed, he'll go back to the backup SF role and I think he'll strive in it.

 

That's two games straight. I keep saying that Casspi is not a PF. They should stick to playing him at the 3. He is so-so as a PF. He was beasting as a SF.

 

IMO they are setting him up for failure trotting him out there pretending he's a PF, he's a 3 point specialist SF and nothing more, I think they learned that tonight. Also Garcia is the first off the bench at the 3, so Casspi lost significant playing time tonight.

 

Casspi looked fine to me. Made some nice drives at the basket. Did a credible job overall defending. 10 points and 4 rebounds in just 18 minutes, the Rockets were +9 during his time on the court so it sure didn't look like he caused things to go south. Probably could have played more but the team was trying out both Dwight at the 4 and Parsons at the 4.

 

Guys, think about it. D-Mo is the worst choice to start at PF. D-Mo needs shots to be effective. He won't be able to get those in the starting line-up.

 

What? No he doesn't he is a great passer and moves off the ball really well.

DD

 

Preseason is saying nothing. That can change over the course of a season.
Casspi, Jones and Moti may not even be here after the trade deadline.

While it looks that way, Dmo or Jones could hit a stretch of regular games where one or both excel.

Casspi has been playing well so far but the jury is still out who is going to play the most minutes.
Casspi hitting a slump could very well happen.

Preseason is saying nothing really except that Casspi has made the final roster quite safely and will play a larger role.

 

I think he is a serviceable passer for his height and moves relatively well at his position.

Still he is mostly ineffective against starters of opposing teams and fouls out too much.