No you haven't. I've already determined that DMo could perhaps have significant value next season if he will work on his jumper and become an efficient 3-point shooter. However...if he continues to develop as a post player...in my opinion he will wind up being a middle-of-the-road center in this league. He'll become a worse Al Jefferson...all offense, not as good on the glass as Jefferson is..and almost as bad as Jefferson is defensively. DMo is never going to be an ace defender like you are projecting with advanced metrics. When he has to play the defensive 5 with a true power forward he fails. So in my opinion the best thing DMo could do for his game is become an efficient shot-maker. That will allow him to play the 4 alongside a true 5 and his defense will look a lot better playing with a defensive stopper behind him.
Seriously... Why go small (something every team does now) when you have the ultimate advantage to go super big while not having to sacrifice offensively? What team in the NBA has the ability to run out the best center in the NBA and a mobile 7 footer, AND play at a fast pace? I know D-Mo has struggled last season, and early this season, but I just laughed at all the idiots (some that love to spew non-sense in this thread) that advocated trading D-Mo back in October (when we all knew damn well that the best he would get is a good 2nd rounder). Sorry, but those people are idiots. Having a mobile 7 footer with a skilled low post game while having at least 2 more years after this one on a rookie scale contract is just plain dumb. If he doesn't work out, than he doesn't work out, but if you have the opportunity to develop a game changing player for next to nothing but a rookie contract salary, why the hell wouldn't you go for it?
Disaster???... arguable, but it was quite bad. Actually it was worse on the defensive end believe it or not. Both Howard and Asik struggle rotating out to the perimeter and I just dont see that changing. I'm not opposed to seeing it used in certain lineups where the Rockets aren't facing a team with strong perimeter players, and dominant low post players, but really we are talking about 2 or 3 teams max in the NBA that really have an advantage here. It sucks because Asik and Howard are so good defensively that you'd have to think the Rockets could just clog up the paint and win games 85 to 70 but modern basketball just doesn't work like that. You have to assume every team will have 4 guys on the court that can shoot the 3 at all times, and its just gonna be very hard to sustain a lineup like that against so many good perimeter oriented teams.
Casspi is a better defender in the post than Jones against most players. Casspi is a better positional defender than Jones. Casspi lost his minutes at PF because DMo is a better player. Casspi has been stupid on offense and has really sucked when played at SF. Casspi with a Lin, Harden, Parsons, and Dwight has 109 minutes and it is awesome as well. Heck, the only lineup with Casspi at the PF that did not have a positive +/- with a C, SF, SG, and a PG (2 PG lineups and Casspi at PF have sucked) was the Lin, Garcia, Parsons, Casspi, Howard lineup in 18 minutes. That is about 240 minutes with Rockets for Casspi at PF and about 18 against. I don't think Casspi can play PF in every matchup. He is not as versatile as he is played. He can't play SF. He is not a good enough small ball PF to have two PGs (at least 2 of the Rockets PGs). Jones is a better player in most situations as he is a better offensive weapon. I do think Jones will be less effective in the playoffs and there will probably be plenty of matchups that Casspi's defense will come in handy. I think DMo should start at PF and play as many minutes there as fouls and conditioning allow him. I am worried that teams are going to pick on Jones defensively in the postseason.
In an attempt to again put into context how really great D-Mo's defense has been over the last two months:
Well ... to be a glass half full kind of guy (kinda rare around here nowadays) I'd say that McHale has a nice little advantage than of being able to go with so many different looks depending on match-ups and who is performing better in certain areas. You have alot of different looks you can throw out there to throw the other team off. As for Casspi, there is an argument there from a stats perspective I get that, but man, I really just dont see a great fit with the eye test, and Jones has played really well this season despite some disappearing acts. While I think there is merit to giving Casspi a look, this late in the season I really dont see the coaching staff making a huge change like that, and suddenly handing the keys over to a player who really hasn't been much more than a garbage minutes player for very good reasons. However I'd say my concerns going into the playoffs are alot less about the PF situation as they are about the health & play of Howard and the health of Beverley, but those are conversations for a different thread.
I don't consider playing DMo more going small. I want DMo playing 30+ mpg. If DMo plays 30+ mpg, Jones will have to play less. On Casspi at PF, I am not too sold on it. I think his defense at the PF is really underrated and could be used situationally. Edit: I should say I generally live in the gray area except when it comes to defense (I tend to like defensive guys like Asik, Beverley, and Casspi more than most). I apologize when I come off as black and white. Generally, I feel I come off as too black and white when responding to a statement that I consider too absolute or wrong in most instances in my opinion.
This is more reflective of how well the Rockets played defense with Motiejunas on the floor in the past two months. Motiejunas always had Howard, Asik, or Casspi on the court with him for every lineup used at least 10 minutes. Howard and Asik had to play a lot of minutes with Jones at the PF making their numbers worse than DMo's on defense. DMo would even be better if he cut down his fouls by just a little bit more.
Why are people tagged with the idiot label for expressing their opinions. Everybody on this boards plays the guessing game when it comes to trades and other facets involving this team. So what if they are wrong, who is 100% right. I don't believe nobody actually works in the Rockets front office. We do not know their future plans period. DMo snd Jones could be traded this off season , who knows.
I believe what that chart is saying is that with D-Mo on the court with either Asik or Howard the Rockets effectively shut down the paint. Every game. And that is such a huge advantage I cannot believe that D-Mo's minutes are going to be less than fouls and conditioning allow, as you so elegantly stated. I watch a lot of D-Mo. On defense he is rapidly improving his perimeter defense. D-Mo lagged back half a step further than he should have on the perimeter in the past. He is in the process of improving that aspect of his game. This actually makes the TT obsolete (extinct?), since neither Howard or Asik seem to be able to cover the perimeter as a power forward. D-Mo seems to be patterning his defensive play on Asik's style, using great anticipation and positioning to undercut the opponents offense. Given that D-Mo does not have the hops of Howard or Jones, this is the correct direction for him. But even though Asik cannot jump he is almost the equal of Howard on the defensive end. D-Mo not only plays much better defense than either Jones or Casspi, he actually boxes out on defensive rebounds. Needless to say this has a large effect on the Rockets defense. D-Mo can now be classified as a huge man. It has been a long while since anyone has backed D-Mo down or put him on the floor. Except of course after hard fouls. Of course I imagine that Hibbert could back down D-Mo, but Hibbert could back down a Mack truck. Yes, D-Mo needs to cut down the fouls. I believe he has improved in this area, and gaining cred with the refs will help immensely. D-Mo gets a lot of tick-tacky and phantom calls on him.
I think motie has made great strides defensively. That being said his stats are getting inflated a bit playing alongside Asik. I do however think he is MUCH better defensively than Jones. I think eventually he will become a game changing impact player. I love watching him play alongside Howard. The offense flows so much better. I also think they should feed the ball down low to dmo when he's in with the second unit. Also I'm not sure why we're considering him a center. He's a 7 ft pf. And I think he will create mismatches all around after he fully develops. I really want to see him playing alongside Howard more.
I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. But yes there are some verbal idiots on this forum. The chances of D-Mo being traded this off season are practically nil. Unless he is involved in a trade that brings back a star. No team, least of all the Rockets, trade away a mobile, agile and fast 7 footer who is probably pushing 270 pounds. Especially one with a top 10 post game. It is not going to happen. There are ignorant fans, average fans, and fans who have a great understanding of the game. You personally are going to have to figure out who fits in what category. But ignorant verbal fans who post frequently do annoy me.
Where is the notion that motiejunas is going to be traded even coming from? Historically in the NBA, mobile/skilled 7 footers are always held by GM's. Meanwhile, once again, Morey has a history of trading NBA ready, but undersized pf's who have basically reached their ceiling and have a high stock. Terrence Jones fits all those qualities. All signs point towards jones being traded either this offseason or next trade deadline.
Sorry but trading Jones and D-Mo back in October for what they would have fetched in trades (maybe a 2nd rounder) because in October they weren't yet "championship caliber" would have been dumb. Not saying people that said this are dumb or idiots but that one opinion is pretty bad. Almost all perennial "championship caliber" organizations cultivate young talent while competing. There is and was very little upside to letting Jones and D-Mo go for nothing, and all the upside in the world both short and long term to keeping them and developing them UNLESS a clear upgrade was acquired. And no Jason Smith and Derrick Williams are not clear upgrades. Very few people on here are truly idiots, but people often come up with opinions that they feel like they need to keep through their tenure as fans just so they dont have to say they are wrong about something. The fact is trading D-Mo and Jones back in October would have been a bad move both short term and long term, and I still think that unless there is a CLEAR upgrade available, Morey and co. should continue to cultivate that talent as long as there is such little risk involved. In the meantime, they have shown that YES they can contribute to winning in the short term as the team has shown to be a top 3 team in the entire NBA in 2014 partly because of that contribution despite what folks here would lead you to believe just because they dont want to look like they are wrong about their opinions again.... IN OCTOBER.
Right now D-Mo is what I would call a center/power forward. He can more than adequately fill both positions. Centers in the NBA are classified as centers because their mobility and court speed suck. D-Mo is fast, agile, mobile and has good lateral quickness. If D-Mo can increase his 3 point % to 35% he will be an all star, if he continues improving. He is half way there. Very soon D-Mo will be the third most valuable Rocket in a trade.
I agree with this. I just don't want people to think DMo is the best defensive player on the team because he has the best defensive rating. The difference between Jones and Motiejunas is huge defensively.
For dmo to be most effective I don't think he'll ever be able to play the center spot alone without a tough, big shot blocker next to him to patrol the paint. In situations where he's had to do that this year the results haven't been that great. Luckily I don't think the coaching staff wants him to do that at this point. And overall I don't think it'll ever matter because he does best playing alongside Dwight who is not going anywhere anytime soon. So regardless of what he's classified as, he will be playing "pf" alongside Howard or Asik. Which is obviously best for him.
Probably just me being a homer but I think Jones and Motiejunas are going to be all stars at some point in the future. Considering the Rockets shopped both for first rounders, I think that both hold a higher value than that now. Asik is a solid player and a GIANT luxury off the bench but Howard, DMO, Jones is an awesome big rotation.
Absolutely true. If D-Mo is going to keep up that monster defensive rating he is going to have to be on the court with either Howard or Asik. Two huge defensive presences in the paint with the power forward able to guard the perimeter is of incalculable worth in the NBA.
