With Greg Smith & Asik out, this seems like a strange time to start finding a place for D-Mo and demoting him to the D-league..we could use right now, it's not like Camby, or Deke for that matter, is walking through that door anytime soon.
If there is no team in NBA who would take a real shot on Donuts then i'm PENGUIN! [youtube]pOEHjN4hm1A[/youtube] [youtube]2UH9R2Z1YbE[/youtube] [youtube]ej8iBI5dUmI[/youtube] [youtube]5REIAdTkIp4[/youtube]
You people criticizing McHale are unbelievable. DMo got all the chances in the world. Let's review the timeline: Morey trades Morris and PPat. DMo gets first crack at the starting line-up. DMo and Jones fail miserably, clearing the way for Greg Smith to win the job. DMo gets to work out with Hakeem over the summer, and gets run during pre-season. Gets outplayed by Jones. MEANWHILE THE COACHES ARE WATCHING HIM IN PRACTICE EVERY DAY.
Just to clarify, when you say: Do you mean you hate that he doesn't take risks? Or do you hate that he might be gone next year? I'm guessing the former, in which case I'll have to quote Clyde Drexler at his most brilliant: "I agree." (Translation of Clyde's "I agree": I have neither the acumen nor the vocabulary to come up with anything as insightful as what you just said, but it sounded correct and I need to say something because by all rights it should be Calvin Murphy sitting in this chair and I need to feign intelligence.) But since you placed "I hate that" right after "he might be gone next year", I had to ask. Because if it's the latter, I gotta tell you, I'm gonna shed tears of joy while dancing through my neighborhood should McHale suddenly find himself back in broadcasting. Sure, the neighbors will stare; they might even call an ambulance: "Yes, operator. My wife thinks he's dancing, I think he's having a seizure." But it will be worth it.
But any offense looks good when there is no defense being played. With Smith and Parsons out, and no real backup center, will D-Mo play minutes tonight? We should blow out the Lakers which would give him plenty of minutes in garbage time. Did he get called up from the D-League?
Show me the game where he was making major mistakes on defense and didn't tryd hard. A lot changed since last year....I mean, A LOT. He was not send-down, and if they want to sell Donuts - he should play today I guess.
Is D-Mo for sure with the RGV? Cause if he is, he hasn't played yet which could mean a trade is in the works (don't want him to get injured)?
I don't know exactly what everyone else thinks, but... 1. I don't think DMo is a no-hope scrub. There is a reason why Houston drafted him in the first place. 2. Just because a player has the potential to be useful, it doesn't mean that the team is making a mistake playing other players over him. The other guys on the team also have abilities and potential. Jones has been productive so far and is helping the team-- he has been good at rebounding, ball-handling, finishing and passing. Smith also has had productive runs when healthy. He isn't a rim protector (neither is DMo) but has been an excellent finisher at the rim (60%+) and an above-average rebounder. Both of these guys are also younger than DMo. Casspi has also shown interesting attributes as a small-ball PF-- shooting at a decent clip, competes hard on defense, can drive and either make layups/floaters or pass pretty well. And he's also only 25 years old and got to play PF for the first time in his career. I don't know see an obvious reason that DMo deserves opportunities more than these other guys. 3. Given the recent addition of Howard and the injury issues this season so far, even the top 7 guys on the roster are still trying to get familiar with each other. Sure, it's worth investing some minutes on bench groups, but I don't see anything wrong with a coach investing these minutes on helping the top 7 guys develop better on-court chemistry instead.
Do you really think the 2Pat/Morris trade & D-Mo thrust into the starting lineup for 14 games last year during a playoff run had anything to do with what McHale wanted??? How about last year when McHale was finally given the ok to pull the plug on T-Rob and D-Mo's minutes and he stated in an interview that they were for "development"...?? Also what coach in the NBA besides maybe... Brad Stevens, and Brett Brown (even then its debatable) aren't looking out for their own jobs by trying to win as many games as they can however they can. Coaches care very much about their all-time records, winning percentages, etc. as a coach not just for the team they are on, but for future job opportunities. Taking away the comfort blankets year after year (trading Battier for Budinger minutes, trading 2Pat for D-Mo minutes) are about as ballsy of a move a GM can make without actually telling McHale exactly what to do or he gets fired(which pretty much makes Morey the coach). Morey does this pretty much every year, and I'm pretty sure Morey is dieing to find a way to trade one of his PG's to give minutes to Canaan even though that would come with quite a bit of risk. Your statement about McHale is true, but true about every coach & player in the league who are looking out for numero uno, but I believe your wrong about Morey.... this guy does everything he can to develop his pet projects beyond coaching the team himself which is something I dont believe in and obviously he doesn't either.
I think Feigen said the other day that the report was premature and he was with the team. With the Greg Smith injury yesterday it sounded like they pulled D-Mo back before he went down there just in case Smith couldn't go tonight.
If that is all they can get they should keep him and send him to the RGV until they are ready to play him. DD
I don't get it. When someone's favorited players that he feels is unfairly treated turn out to be scrubs or at best ordinary over and over again for many years, he somehow still believes that the current guy that he feels this way about has to be different than all the Bokis, ABs and Jordan Hills. This time, he must be right.
When someone with raw athletic ability doesn't pan out, why would it be the coach's fault? Some guys have the body for it, but don't have the IQ for how they can get advantage from their physical advantage. Stromile Swift was like that, T-Will too. Being tall and fast, even having a good jump shot, isn't going to make you a good player, and there's only so much a coach can do to help a player figure it out. Parsons apparently figured things out very quickly. Jones seems to have figured it out in an average amount of time. If Motie can't, I think that's on him. How many examples are there, really, of players who sucked as sophomores but later became great? There's a couple. Zach Randolph wasn't notable until his 3rd season. Steve Nash took 5 and seemingly took another step forward in his 9th season. Who else? There aren't many. Even guys who come in very young seem to set a trajectory by their second season. I'll leave the superstars like McGrady out -- he wasn't great second season, but firmly in the rotation and rapidly improving. Andris Biedrins had a pedestrian start to a pedestrian career, but he still made the rotation and played 68 games at 15 minutes per in his second season. Amir Johnson didn't get to play until his 3rd season and he's become an adequate player. So, there's a couple, but success stories are few and far between, and it doesn't seem like changing coaches or teams changes much.
I don't think we can fairly judge Motiejunas after 700 minutes played in the NBA, mostly as a stretch four which doesn't suit his skillset. Casspi was awful last two seasons with the Cavs and well on his way back to Europe, but now he's doing ok here because this is a good fit for him and McHale plays to his strengths.
