Could Motiejunas and Jones both move out of the rotation?

Do you really think it's that easy to be a 40% 3 point shooter? It's not, why do you think that the Rockets didn't have any 40% 3 point shooters last year? You think that a pf rookie coming to the league in a new country, trying to play under a different set of rules should have been shooting 40% in his rookie year from the 3. That's just crazy, Dirk was the only pf to shoot over 40% last year.

 

I do not see any relevance in that statement. If he achieves top 10 power forward status the Rockets simply pick up his option and then match any offers. And the free agency still will not happen for another 30 or so months. Parsons yet again. A great situation.

 

2012-13: $1,361,400
2013-14: $1,422,720
2014-15: $1,483,920 {Team Option}
2015-16: $2,288,205 {Team Option}
2016-17: $3,278,997 {Qualifying Offer}

 

He will be a free agent for the 16-17 season.

 

That looks like a nice contract to have him on.

 

Never said anything was easy. What I said was in 18 months DMo could make himself a 40% shooter. He has that level of talent that if he put in the right work, shooting with the right form, that he could get to 40% in 18 months.

Never said he should have been shooting 40% his rookie year either. What I said was he isn't even a 30% 3-point shooter. What I said was he wasn't a 30% 3-point shooter last year. He didn't shoot any better at RGV playing with much inferior competition, he didn't shoot any better in Europe before that, and he hasn't shot any better this training camp. What I said was his shooting ISN'T IMPROVING and it HASN'T IMPROVED!

He had all summer to improve his jump shot. It's the same shot, same form, same results. He'll knock down one miss 3 or 4 and those misses bang out long most of the time. Same flat trajectory, same everything. No improvement. Could he improve it? Sure. Will he? The longer he goes without improving it the more unlikely it becomes that he will become an adequate 3-point shooter.

 

Indeed. I think in 16-17 he may well be worth 8-9 million per year.

 

He had seasons shooting 36%, 71%, and 43% in the past in Europe. If you are going to keep spouting off, it would be best if you knew what you were talking about.

 

Every announcer that has seen him has commented about his skills and size - those are RARE items.

You don't trade those away - unless you get something major back...I suspect Morey knows that he has a chance to be a special player....and will hold on to him.

They will probably give him some minutes here and there, and if and when they trade Asik, he will move into the full rotation.

DD

 

Not spouting off. I do know what I'm talking about. LOL 71% eh? LOL 5 for 7 20 1/2 feet. 4 games.

Now you're doing your best to come up with some stuff. But it just ain't there mate. I've already studied it.

Like I originally said. He hasn't improved his shooting.

 

No, he's just improved every other aspect of his game.....As to his shooting you misrepresented what his shooting was like in Europe, I pointed that out. Sure the 71% was an outlier, but the 36% wasn't. Also, you inadvertently pointed out the reason why it takes Euro shooters so long to adapt to the NBA game, they are used to a 20 1/2 feet 3 point line not a 22-23.75 feet 3 point line. Getting used to that doesn't happen overnight.

 

LOL


DMo was a 32% 3-point shooter from 20 1/2 feet in Europe. His shooting got progressively worse over there....not better.

His 3-point shot has not improved over here either. Shot is further away, he's shooting it the same way. Once again, there hasn't been improvement. Slice it any way you want to. Accuse me of misrepresenting. His shot hasn't improved. And it isn't good enough today to even get him in the top 8 rotation, much less starting at the 4. His shooting is bad and his defense is worse. Those are the facts. They are staring us in the face.

Now we can dicker and dicker and yack and yack about what he's going to be in a year and a half, 3 years, 5 years, or for a career. Doesn't matter. What matters for this team is today. We are playing in an open championship window. He's not a second round draft pick on a minimum salary contract making pennys that we can sock away at RGV and not have to be concerned about his trade value. He's a second year guy on a rookie deal. He's basically the same thing as a 4-year college senior who has been in the NBA already. He has basically the equivalent basketball experience as Patrick Patterson. He's a big load of a man. He's got great offensive post moves. Yack yack yack.

But.....he isn't doing what we need done from our bigs. He isn't D'ing up and he isn't shooting the ball even remotely close to acceptable. In a year and a half he'll be 24 years old and almost 25. Will he break out at some point? Probably. To what degree??? Well, his own history and player history in the NBA says probably not to greatness.

 

LOL, no, he isn't doing what you want him to. His D, rebounding, and post game is remarkably better than it was last year, but you think that the only thing that a PF needs to do is shoot 3 pointers, so to you he's not doing well. If the Rockets thought like you did, they wouldn't have DMo working with Olajuwon on his post game.

 

No, that's not what I think.

What I think is you have to understand this team and who else is on it and how we need to fill out the team around them.

At this point in time, the weakest link on our team is the power forward position. We don't have the ideal guy. The ideal guy would be a 7 footer with shooting range and the ability to play defense and rebound in the middle when we sit Dwight down. Right now we have a stud defender who can handle the defense and rebounding when Dwight sits down...but he's a poor offensive player (Asik). And then we've got a couple cats who are strictly 3-4s, guys that can shoot the 3-ball but there's no way they can defend the paint because they aren't 5's (Garcia and Casspi). But they could be somewhat adequate defending the power forward position or flipping out with Parsons defending the 4. Not great but adequate. And then we've got a couple guys who are very gifted, have great physiques and great athleticism who are on rookie deals who have proven that they aren't ready. They can't give us the shooting we need at the 4. And they can't defend effectively at the 5 to backup Dwight. And they're too big to play the 3. And then we've got another guy who is essentially an undersized 5 (Smith). He can't defend in the paint and he durn sure can't defend on the perimeter. About the only thing he does exceptionally well is finish with power.

Those last 3 guys...they're not doing anything good that this team really needs and they are doing a lot of things bad that this team needs done good.

Now if DMo were on a team that didn't have an offensive post player but it had an awesome defensive 4/5 who was a great paint defender and could spot up and shoot the dickens out of either the 3-ball or the top of the key 2 (think someone like KG or Marc Gasol)....then DMo would probably be a great fit. He could bring the offensive post game and continue to improve and his defense wouldn't be a huge liability.

But that's not us. We've got 2 top-notch defenders at the 4/5 spots. The other rotation guy at the 4/5 position needs to be a guy that can flat-out shoot the basketball. And if you take away Asik....then we need a guy in the rotation that can provide a high level of paint defense behind Dwight and we need a guy that can shoot the 3-ball to fill out the rotation. DMo is neither.

 

no need for the LOL. he isn't doing what the coaches want. that's why he'll be fighting with Smith & Jones for garbage minutes.

 

Haha. Buddy, come on. You actually think he can be a top 10 power forward. Im not even trying to go back and forth. You're really high on this kid. Best case situation he will be a decent back up Pf

 

If working on his post game wasn't what the coaches wanted, they wouldn't have him working on his post game with Olajuwon.

 

that's because they want to trade him, not make him a poor fit for what we need.

 

SMH. Sure.

 

easy assumption.