Could Motiejunas and Jones both move out of the rotation?

-"Busty Twin" actually carved out a nice little niche for himself last year in the offseason when he re-branded himself as a stretch 4 as opposed to "The next Melo with Defense." Morris is going to have a long career in the NBA if he's ever able to get out of Phoenix and get on a team that gives him that role back that he had with the Rockets last year where he can flourish. Phoenix is a terrible place for him because he's going to most likely play alongside his brother as a 3, and could fall back into the bad habits that led him to be useless his rookie season to the Rockets.

-D-Mo & Jones have yet to really find that niche, but I think once/if they do, I think they could be even more valuable accross the league.... D-Mo especially has the ability to be a real solid backup scoring center off the bench.

I've really liked the moments he's had as a 5 off the bench so far during the preseason. He doesn't really seems to be out-sized by most backups, and I like how he's able to use his size to plus up the driving lanes rather than having to chase around smaller players on the perimeter. In a year or so, I think D-Mo is at least going to carve himself out a role as a very nice backup 5.

Jones, on the other hand.... I just have a hard time really seeing what his NBA future is going to look like. Maybe somewhere between Thadeaus Young and Jeff Green if he develops offensively, but right now I just dont see what his niche is going to be moving forward.

 

Exactly, if you have no idea of what a PF is supposed to do, then you could think that they were "failing". Apparently there are people around here who don't know the difference between a 3 and a 4. You can't really hold an intelligent conversation about basketball if the other party doesn't know much about it.

Tim Duncan is an 18% career 3 point shooter, he must have been a terrible PF....

 

Tim Duncan is a pivot. He has played the pivot for YEARS!!! He's not a stretch 4!!

If we need pivot play we have Dwight and Asik. Why can't you get that???

If we need a stretch 4, we need a dude out there that can fire the rock from 3. It's really quite simple.

We can talk about DMo being a great backup offensive center and TJones potential to be a cross between Thad Young and Jeff Green until the cows come home. But guess what??? We wouldn't trade for either of those guys because THEY DON'T FIT HERE!!!

With Harden and Dwight....SHOOTERS are at a premium!! Not backup pivots with moves in the post. Not athletic guys that have potential to be something..whatever that something is. Not undersized 5's. We need SHOOTERS at the 4!! We've already got 2 premier paint bigs. We don't need another one until and if we trade Asik. We don't need piss poor midrange shooters clogging up the spacing on the floor. We need dead eye guys spreading out the floor so Harden and Howard can do their thing.

Wake up dude.

 

The #1 requirement of a PF playing next to Dwight or Asik is the ability to spread the floor and shoot the rock! And it's the #1 requirement by miles.

 

Just because it is the #1 requirement doesn't mean it is the only one. Apparently , by doing everything else that is required, they were able to overcome such with both of them starting at different times.
What people should wrap their minds around is the fact that McHale has had a different starting line-up in pretty much every game..........and they are still winning.

 

Between Harden, Lin, Bev, Parsons, Garcia, and Casspi we have shooters, we even have Dwight as a center playing power forward occasionally, why not have a real power forward?

You don't have to be a "tweener" all the time. What's referred to as a "stretch 4" is really a tweener forward a guy with the game of a small forward who plays power forward. What you are calling a "pivot" is also a tweener, it's a player with the game of a center who plays power forward. NOT EVERYONE IS A TWEENER!

DMo has a power forward game, sure he's tall for a power forward, but that's the position he plays. He's not a pivot, he's not a stretch, he's a traditional power forward.

Now who knows, maybe you guys are right, maybe the Rockets don't play a power forward at all this year and get destroyed on the defensive side of the pall when they have a 3 playing 4 and just accept it hoping that they hit enough 3's to make up for it but personally I'd rather a legit power forward take that spot. The only legit power forwards on the team are DMo and Jones and that's who I'd have playing the majority of the time at the position. The 3 is a wing position, not the 4.

 

I completely disagree unless you are just hoping to create the Houston Magic.

 

Well it's preseason, that's the time to try crazy lineups like running two 3's out there with two ones and a center. Right now it's all experimentation, I think the rotations will get more regular once the real season gets here.

 

False. Providing spacing for Dwight and the attacking guards is important, but it doesn't necessarily have to be done just by shooting alone. Also, you're leaving out on of the most important aspects of this argument.... playing defense next to Dwight (or Dwight playing defense next to another center).

The main reason why basketball people are hesitant to think that Asik/Howard will work is that neither players are used to rotating out to the perimeter shooters on defense (which we saw the other night when Dirk got wide open even though he missed & Calderon was having a field day).

To play next to Dwight in the starting lineup there are three things very important things to think about-

-Spacing
-Team defense
-Passing (underrated aspect)

Asik & Howard cannot provide great team defense at the 4 (yet), the spacing they provide is projected to be low, and their passing while its shown flashes, isn't something they are known for.

There are plenty of bigs out there that do all 3 of these things pretty well without being able to shoot 3's consistently. Scola for one is a big that can space the floor, and find seems in the offense to make the defense pay for clogging the paint, Horford would be able to do this well, West can do this well, etc. etc.

I agree that it is a requirement that the other big playing alongside Howard be able to keep the defense honest enough by shooting, but it's not necessarily the most important factor, and it doesn't have to be 3 point shots either. If Asik and/or Howard get better at their defensive rotations at the pf spot, and Asik can help move the ball well enough on the offensive end to find open shots, I think McHale will be able to work with 2 out of 3.

 

The rotations will get regular once the real season starts and that is when you are going to discover that DMo and TJones are AT BEST #9 and #10 in the rotation. That is if they aren't traded between now and then. Do you understand what that means?????? Scraps, Bobby, scraps. That's what it means.

 

Spacing - that is paramount with being able to shoot the 3 ball. You're trying to come off as extremely intelligent by using that word. Break it down dobro. Spacing means SHOOTING!!! Dude has got to be able to shoot or he can't space.

Team D - Now obviously we can't throw out a guy that doesn't play any team D. That's a given. But...it's not really an issue here because Casspi, DMo, and TJones are in the same category when it comes to team D. None of them are standout defenders. Our team D consists of defending the 3-point line and forcing guys to dribble and pull up with the long 2s. It's not Rocket science (pardon the pun).

Passing - Have it your way. Casspi is probably the best passer of the 3 players. There's no question he's the most intelligent of all 3 guys.





In the finality of it all, if the regular season started tonight, DMo and TJones would be, AT BEST, #9 and #10 in the rotation, AT BEST. They're just not fitting in with this team. BECAUSE THEY CAN'T SHOOT THE BALL FROM DISTANCE!! Which is what we need from them since ONE OF DWIGHT or ASIK IS GOING TO BE ON THE FLOOR AT ALL TIMES!!!!

 

The most "real" PF in the whole league is a dude that can shoot the 3 ball (Love).

 

Once again....

If you want defense and rebounding at the 4....you're gonna play Asik alongside Dwight over TJones/DMo/Casspi/anybody else.

If you want shooting and passing and an offensive threat at the 4...you're gonna play Casspi alongside Dwight and then alongside Asik.

There's 96 big man minutes guys. Dwight gets 32-35 minutes at the 5. Asik gets 13-16 minutes at the 5 and another 10-15 minutes at the 4 depending on matchups. If we are playing power bigs like Gasol/Randolph...Asik and Dwight are likely to see more minutes to provide the D and boards. And when one of them rests...the best chance we have to be successful is to spread the floor with a stretch - 4. The third big in our rotation, as long as Asik is here, has got to be a dude that can shoot the 3.

Your 3 rotation bigs at this point are Dwight, Asik, and Casspi. Unless there's a trade of Asik before the season starts or Casspi loses a wheel or an arm...this is going to be your big man rotation. DMo and TJones are going to get scraps. They haven't elevated their games enough to surpass Casspi in fit with Dwight and Asik.

 

Fair enough, you'll learn.

 

There is no guarantee that I get to Contributing member status.
I already 'tipped' the jar half a year ago. No change

So you are saying I should do that again?

 

If you tip and contribute via posting, then wtf else would you have to do to get contributing member status? I see no point of tipping if there are tangible benefits, at least not when there are other places on the Internet you can discuss the rockets with other ppl

 

If there are no tangible benefits I meant

 

1. Easy for you to say that you obtained that status.
Well, it is one thing to do it because I want to do it.
Another way because I got annoyed into a bet that is ridiculous.

How does it benefit the team when a SF is logging more minutes than two PF prospects long term? It is all about winning. There is nothing wrong to give them minutes in the rotation.

2. Because you know somebody from a internet forum that well?
Just let it go, you trigger happy poster.

 

No need to bet on everything that you seem fit.

I get that you like Casspi to get a lot of minutes.
That does not take away from the fact that both PF prospects need to be developed to be traded or get better.