I really do not foresee either of them being traded. Jones can be a fireplug and go off for 24/11 if he is hot. D-Mo brings a steadier defense and post game to the table. They each have different strengths, and compliment each other. I feel sure McHale loves their diversity. It allows him to tailor the match ups each game.They both are developing rapidly as NBA players. It is impossible to forecast where they will peak. But it would not be a stretch to forecast that the Rockets will be getting 30/14 from the PF position next season. For about $3M. Cap space efficiency and the rookie contract.
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I do thing that term ''good rebounder'' on this team is overrated, especially as we speak about our young PF's. Because the main thing McHale wants guys to do is to box out! And when you do that you can see all the players grabbing a rebound and being able to break free on a fast break. So I wouldn't count much on rebounding stats here.
Rebounding from the PF position on the Rockets is problematic because both Asik and Howard are top 5 rebounder's in the NBA. It is not the power forwards main responsibility to rebound on this team. It is to defend and score efficiently.
After watching DMo extensively this season I am beginning to wonder if he could be Asik's replacement as well backing up Dwight. I am still dreaming about the possibility of DMo playing 4 for us though next year. Haven't given up on that idea. I think if he could get the corner 3-ball down and up his percentage out there to 40%...I think he could be a very,very good 4 in this league. He has Dirk's size. If only he had Dirk's shooting touch. I am willing to give him this off season to get that figured out before I permanently label him a center though. IF...a big IF but IF he could nail that corner 3 he'd be a starting 4 that could rotate to the 5 and would give us a lot of flexibility on this roster. However...I think there's a good chance DMo (and TJones) gets caught in a time crunch. I think we could very well acquire a starting 4 before we are able to find out the extent of DMo's game. But as far as trading one of them....I'd trade Jones in a hot second and I'd hesitate to trade DMo unless I'm getting back a superstar. Once again...all those comments are in light of what DMo and Jones could become. Not what they are right now. What they are right now isn't good enough to help us be a championship team. We'll have to see significantly less of them in the playoffs/Finals if we are going to win a championship this year.
If D-Mo over the next couple of years can get his corner 3 point shot accuracy up to 40% he would become - dare I say it - a star. A true seven footer with serious accuracy from the corners and with the speed to drive to the basket around the close out defender is perhaps one of the rarest commodities in the NBA. Add in a possible top 5 post game and good defense and what does D-Mo become? A possible all star and near max contract level player? Lofty goals, and perhaps goals that D-Mo can obtain. His progress as a NBA player this season has been remarkable. And he is only in his second year of his rookie contract! Yeah Rockets.
Guys Kevin Love shoots the 3 at 36% over his career, and this year in a "hot" year, he's shooting the 3 at 38%. Hell Ryan Anderson has only shot 40% from 3 one of his 6 seasons in the NBA. Getting D-Mo or any other legit big to shoot 40% is simply not going to happen. Getting him to 33 to 35% is what will make him a "weapon" from 3. You just need the threat of him or someone in that stretch role in certain sets. Anything else is a bonus. However D-Mo's strength lies in the paint. His destiny on this team for longevity will be being able to thrive at the 5 when Howard is off the floor. Maybe D-Mo still starts at the 4 later on, or maybe he's just the backup, but one of these days Asik will be gone, and D-Mo has all the tools to add another dimension to the Rockets offense when Howard is off the floor and they go with D-Mo at the 5. -Just as a note- People thought I was crazy last year when I said D-Mo's natural position later in his career will most likely end up being the 5 spot. In 2 or 3 years he's going to not be able to run the floor in the same way, and will likely bulk up even more than he did this year. The 3 point shot is nice, but later in his career, its probably not going to be his bread & butter anyways. Lots of teams have schemes to guard against the 3, but as a backup 5 with that kind of post up skills, he's got a much more reliable weapon on a nightly basis that just being a 3 point shooter.
LOL. People thought I was crazy when watching D-Mo's Prokom games I suggested he was perhaps a great NBA center in the making.
You can't just look at what year of their contract. You have to consider their age also. The odds are very small that a player of his age and experience breaks out to stardom if they haven't already broke out.
Big men take longer to develop. I have no doubt that D-Mo will fix his defensive spacing out on the perimeter. I have no doubt that D-Mo will polish his post game, and his defense. And improve his 3 point %. How good will D-Mo eventually be? Impossible to project just because his improvement this season has been so dramatic. D-Mo seems to have the physical tools and the skill and the mindset to improve dramatically. Will he though? I have no clue.
Kevin love is a 40% plus shooter from 3 on wide open 3-point shots where he has enough time to plant his feet and square his shoulders. Those are the shots that Jones and DMo cannot hit consistently. Love is 36% for his career because he could not hit the 3 effectively his rookie season and because he is a volume 3 point shooter. He found his stroke his second season. Kevin Love is such a great shooter that he gets to take off balance 3's and fire up 3's with the shot clock running down and of course just take them for heat checks. That's a lot different than Jones standing out there not wanting to shoot the wide open shots he is begged to take by the defense. 33-35% on those wide open looks is not good enough. Sorry. Any comparison of Love and Jones/DMo shooting a basketball is a waste of time and misperception. I'm trying to be nice here.
I have never ever compared a player to Love. Especially D-Mo. I reserve the right to make that comparison in the future though. Other than LBJ (who perhaps is the best player in the NBA at every position) Love is the best PF in the NBA.
dmo's the true low-post presence, is the only big on the rockets that can shoot the 3 ball, runs the floor and performs in the fast break better than the other bigs, can play the 4 and 5, sets the best screens imo, and is slightly improving on his defense. He needs to do better on the boards and D tho.. but im tellin y'all, this boy is the best offensive big on the rockets. btw... DM > Casspi at the 4 spot.... why isn't this being said more??!
McHale has included rebounding as one of the three priorities of a PF towards end of last year. Morey has mentioned defensive rebounding is more important for team with Dwight out there as he contests a lot of shots. This doesn't mean they will put up huge rebounding numbers, but need to get boards when Dwight is out of position.
For the PF position Defense>Blocking Out>Scoring>Rebounding. Having perhaps 2 of the 5 best rebounding centers on the roster does skew things a bit.
To piggy back on this. Up until this last Summer, D-Mo was very much pre-mature physically due to the fact that he was still growing even when he was being playing Europe. I think I remember hearing controversy about them lying about his height, but then he eventually grew a couple inches after he was drafted. This is the first year D-Mo has been physically capable of playing in the post at the NBA level. So when someone adds the phrase "Big men take longer to develop" its actually true with D-Mo, but not in the way one would think. If anything, D-Mo's skill has yet to be highlighted fully because of physical development. He was skilled before he came to the NBA, but hadn't developed physically yet. Most bigs have developed physically, but haven't developed their skills yet. Last year, and even this year some, D-Mo has been a 5 playing the 4 because of this lack of physical maturity. If watching Yao for years in a Rockets jersey his first few years is any indication(came into the NBA around the same age of 21 & wasn't physically mature yet), D-Mo will probably hit his stride next year after two full years of allowing his body to fill out to a healthy size to be able to play in the post effectively. Yao always had the skill that he had coming into the league but every year he matured more physically, the better he was able to utilize those skills. Same can be expected with D-Mo in a lesser role, and we have no reason to believe that he would break down physically because of the nature of his size (knock on wood). D-Mo has always had the skills to play the 5 spot, but didn't have the physical maturity yet. Add to that, he's been playing out of position at the 4 spot, and has tried to change his game completely to be a floor spacing PF which has come with mixed results. Its a wonder that given the circumstances, anyone was surprised that D-Mo is looking like a late bloomer that will hit his stride in a year or two from now.
Who the hell is comparing Jones/D-Mo to Kevin Love as an all around player??? If anything, I was showing the wide ocean that separates a 28% three point shooter to a 33% three point shooter, and a wide ocean that separates a 35% three point shooter to a 39 or 40% shooter. I think you are totally misunderstanding the point. Nobody here is dumb enough to think D-Mo and Jones are going to be anywhere close to the talent that a superstar like Kevin Love is, or has been. The point I was trying to make is that 40% three point shooters from the PF position really don't exist unless you sample size out a deadly shooter like Love or Anderson in a hot season. Its something that is a gift from God and something D-Mo and Jones should NOT ever be expected to achieve. However getting up to 33 to 35% makes them a "threat" that creates better spacing for Howard in the middle, and for drivers. However, with D-Mo, his 3 point shooting isn't going to be the bread and butter of his game, or shouldn't be 3 years from now. If he's good at it than great, but whats more important is how he develops as someone that can backup Dwight, add offense to the bench unit as a 5 that can score, and be able to play alongside Dwight in spurts.
