What , how many big men can actually defend the perimeter. See this what im talking about, you are nick picking. Again they are young players who are finding their way. Give them time to learn bro. Don't nobody expect us to win it all this year. Next season both players will be better.
No, I'm not nitpicking. We either need a stud defender at the 4 or a guy that can shoot the 3-ball to be a championship team. A guy that can neither defend the perimeter nor shoot the 3-ball doesn't help us. Dirk can't defend the perimeter either. But he can shoot the living daylights out of the ball. As far as don't nobody expect us to win it all this year, that doesn't matter. What matters is what Morey, the Rockets, and us fans want. We all (at least most of us) want to try to win a championship this year. My comments are based on that fact.
Of course everybody wants to win a championship now but realistically speaking we are not. We are building towards that as we speak. I am pretty sure that those two will continue to work on their three point shooting and defensive assignments. They have grown tremendously since their rookie campaign. That is facts pimpn. Next season expectations will be higher for them as well as the team.
Just stop arguing with him, that dude is a broken record and rarely has informative non biased posts.
you are way Way over thinking this. and Jones putting up 30 points against Utah is not meaningless. do you think a player will be consistent the first year they play?? maybe Jones is in Morey's future plans and he wants to get him playing time now on a good team, to either keep him or up his trade value to get a substantial upgrade at the position in the future. you couldnt get Love this year probably, nor lamarcus aldrich, who else would be available that would help the team a lot?? so what happens you get someone like milsap that is better then jones, but really how much better? and then you relegate jones to the bench and dmo to not play at all for someone like milsap? plus whatever you had to trade for him. you cant have everything, and other teams and things like portland having a great season and can affect the availability of players like aldrich
I couldn`t really watch the games in the last couple of weeks - how does DMos defense look? Does he still get pushed around easily. How is his rebounding? I knew his post game should be great - and I believe he will get a consistent 3pt shot with time. But he really needs to be able to hold his own on defense and on the boards.
I always liked D-Mo. His offensive post skills are a joy to watch. Last year he sometimes seemed lost, especially on defense. His defense has improved a lot, there are even times now that I want him in the game for his defensive. His length gives a lot of players trouble. I think his main weakness is that he fouls to much. But I love him as a rotation player, who can give us the inside offensive power we need in our second unit. The Asik/dmo bigs of the bench are amazing.
D-Mo's defense has been excellent. The only type of player he still has trouble guarding is the big on the wing. D-Mo still plays half a step to far away to contest the shot out there. He has even cut out the silly fouls. He somehow has become a plus defender. He has NBA center stamped all over him. It has been a while since anyone pushed D-Mo around. He is setting a wider defensive base. He boxes out every time for defensive rebound, and right now a case could be made that he is rebounding every bit as well as Jones.
Since he has been getting regular minutes, which has been 29 games now, he is shooting a very respectable 36% from 3. Of all the annoying things Clyde does, his constant dismissal of D-Mo's shooting is probably the most irritating. I still can't for the life of me figure out why they don't go to him down low more often. He seems to make something good happen almost all the time.
D-Mo seems to have completely turned his game around. I believe the reason they don't go to him in the post more often is just a function of D-Mo's limited playing time. Last night D-Mo put on a clinic on how to score from the low post. A beautiful thing to watch. And most were assisted. D-Mo is one of those interesting players that can function as the backup at two positions on a championship team. PF and center. Why is Lin a valuable (though expensive) bench player? Because he could actually start at either the PG or SG positions in case of injury. And probably fill in more than adequately. D-Mo will probably be there next season, if he is not already.
TJones and DMo have both made the kind of progress I was hoping for this year. I've said all along that DMo is a center, and that's where he does his best work. However, DMo is still not strong enough to play well in the paint against the more physical big men. DMo still needs to add an additional 20 pounds of muscle to reach his full potential. When I saw TJones play in those D-Leage games last year, I said once he figures out what he's really capable of, and what he's good at, that he would be a fine player. It's been fun watching TJones grow as a player this year. We keep seeing flashes of everything he can do. Low post game, perimeter game, putting the ball on the floor, playing above the rim. He can do almost everything you could possibly want in a power forward offensively. Defensively he struggles, but he is making progress. Both Tjones and DMo have greatly increased their value this year. I'm sure Morey is very pleased with this as one of these guys would probably be leaving if we trade for another star player.
Since several of you are wanting me to comment I figured I'd reference the post that I agree with most following the Minnesota game. I wouldn't go as far as to say DMo's defense has been excellent but I will say it is much improved in the paint area. And as I have previously noted he does have trouble defending the big on the wing. I don't think that's going to change a whole lot. He's a big man and he's filled out. He's just not going to have the quicks on the perimeter to defend small-ball spread lineups. jtr's comments about him cutting down on the silly reach fouls...totally agree. And I agree with him regarding DMo being an NBA center. That's what it looks like to me. DMo has absolutely shone in the 2 games where he played substantial minutes in the middle...Memphis and now Minnesota. And again I agree that DMo's rebounding has surpassed TJones. However...DMo with the 3-ball?? Sorry...he's not effective out there. Now...I do like his shot mechanics BETTER than I like Jones' shot mechanics. However, he still needs to redo his 3-point shot before he will ever be an effective shooter. His shot is too flat, too much arm, not enough leg. If he could fix just this one little thing I think his 3-point shot would turn into a plus. The most effective part of his games is his post moves down low. He's got it going on. No doubt about that. His post up offensive game is top-notch NBA quality. And it will continue to improve. Now....I've said all the good things I can say here about DMo. But the bottom line is....he's essentially a center at this point. And as such he's not going to get a lot of opportunities to showcase that aspect of his game with Dwight and Asik taking up 48 minutes in the post. I was not surprised at all by his offensive output last night. Kinda figured he'd probably go off because I knew he'd be in the middle for significant minutes of the game. What is DMo going to do and what is McHale going to do with him when Dwight gets healthy? Well....is he playing a good enough combination of offense, defense, and rebounding to start taking minutes away from Asik in the middle??? I don't know about that. Can't really answer that question. My gut tells me against the top-notch playoff contenders that DMo will still be exposed in the middle and we need Omer in there. If that is the case then DMo's minutes have to come from the 4 spot. So is he playing well enough to take minutes away from Jones? Well....there's no question in my mind about that. If I were coaching this team I'd have DMo rolling in the starting lineup right now over Jones. I think DMo has surpassed Jones even at the 4 spot. I think DMo is the superior offensive player in the paint, the superior shooter from midrange and essentially the same from the 3-point line. And we simply have no one else to put in there unless we are going to go small. But I'm not McHale. And I seriously doubt he changes the rotation at this stage of the season. (Gotta preserve Jones' trade value. Benching him would kill his trade value. Yes, that is a factor.) As far as Jones goes.....not impressed. Simply not impressed. Once again, couldn't even slow Love down last night. Got lost in the game. Wasn't effective on the glass. After a once-a-month decent shooting game from the outside he shows up this game with 0 for 4 out there. I still say if we are going to win a championship we're going to have to see a lot less of Jones. Contrary to what some of you all believe here..I actually do believe we could win a championship this year. I think we've got enough juice in the tank to get it done. But the rotation has to be right maximizing the minutes of Beverley, Harden, Lin, Parsons, Dwight, and Asik....our 6 best players...and supplementing those 6 players with 1 or 2 other plays that fit the occasion. IF we need shooting and D then that player has to be Hamilton or Garcia. If we need extra paint defense that player has to be either Jones or DMo. But our big 6, our best 6 players are Bev, Lin, Harden, Parsons, Dwight, and Asik.
Honestly, I never even hoped for this much progress from Jones and D-Mo this season. Other than Howard and Harden I believe D-Mo is the least likely to be traded on the Rockets. In a year Asik is leaving. I am growing much more comfortable with D-Mo being Howard's backup. Many people seem to be campaigning for Morey to send major assets out for a "star" like Rondo or Melo. I honestly do not understand it. With a bench of Asik, D-Mo, Lin and Hamilton the Rockets are perhaps the deepest and most "injury proof" team in the NBA. And no, Asik, D-Mo and Lin cannot be replaced by rookies or vet minimum players. To even suggest as much hovers on the brink of stupidity. Just look at D-Mo's game last night. Probably the first this season where he has been consistently fed in the post. 20/6 in 29 minutes. Playing both the PF and center positions. And Jones stepped up against Utah with a 30. I characterize that debate as a 3 star versus 2 star and a great supporting cast. A philosophical discussion. Subject to many already discussed arguments. My math based brain breaks down the problem easily. Just look at RAPM (or preferably xRAPM at seasons end or ASPM) and add up the numbers. These analytical techniques are probably as close to the data that Morey digests as fans can get. If a team is sending out more wins by those metrics than it receives, then they made a bad trade. And the metrics say that either of those two trades would be phenomenally foolish. And that is why I could say to people raving at the trade deadline and after that those trades would never be made.
@basketballaholic. A good take. I do agree that my characterization of D-Mo's defense as excellent was a serious reach. Can I have a mulligan and use the word good instead?
Been saying Dmo Should play more all along. And I've backed Tjones and He both as the PF's for this team. I like them both and I hope we can keep both.
