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The Curious Case of Donatas Motiejunas

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by donatas, Nov 20, 2013.

  1. RoxBeliever

    RoxBeliever Member

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    If we had a season to give away ... like TOR did during Valenciunas' rookie year, they just played him heavy minutes despite his mistakes, and he developed. He developed big time.

    The disparity last FIBA between him and DMo was so glaring.

    Here in the NBA though it's up to the player to improve. The organization gives them all the resources; it's up to the player to get it. Be aggressive and be consistent. Spanoulis' advice to Papa: "you have to fight to get on the court, you have to fight to stay on the court"

    DMo doesn't have that fire or that irrational confidence.
     
  2. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
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    I said it in the other thread. DMo doesn't have the kind of mindset to freelance, pick his spot, and collect garbage on his own. (Jones can do that pretty well.) He needs a defined role. The Rockets didn't give him that and aren't going to. I predict that he is going to struggle until perhaps he's gone to a crappy team and be one of the top offensive players there.

    You can see that he does pretty well on defense because there is a defined role for him.
     
  3. daytripper

    daytripper Member

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    I like DMo but he's still not a long term "fit" or deserving of big money from the Rox after his rookie deal expires. He has potential to be a starter on a mid/lower tier team and can obviously put up numbers if the offense is geared around him which obviously can't happen here. On most nights he's not going to get enough touches in the post as Dwight's backup.
     
  4. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    How are we going to? We had a READ AND REACT OFFENSE since Adelman days.

    The only way he get a defined role if he is joing a JVG, SVG or Thibs' led team.
     
  5. Z-Ro&Trae

    Z-Ro&Trae Member

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    Bogut's 18 boards make D-mo's 8 boards look like crap. Somebody sucks at boxing out.
     
  6. Z-Ro&Trae

    Z-Ro&Trae Member

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    I said for the longest that Thomas Robinson was better than D-Mo. Rockets got rid of a player that could potentially get 10 boards easily off the bench in limited minutes, and could also finish around the rim if given an opportunity.
     
  7. jtr

    jtr Member

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    D-Mo is a truly excellent NBA big. for instance

    My eye test for the last year has told me that D-Mos defensive rotations are near flawless, and he closes out on shooters as quickly as any seven footer in the game. Today I was running some queries into players and stumbled onto this from NBA.com. It is called a defensive dashboard. Just for kicks and grins I ran some comparison's between big mens defensive performance. The last column, DFG% is the most important. Using SportsVU it measures the defensive performance against specific offensive players. Thus if D-Mo played defense against Bogut it measures D-Mo's performance against Bogut and compares it to how every other player performed against Bogut. Negative numbers in this column are very very good. While comparing D-Mo to great defensive players may not be completely apples to apples, it gives us an idea about D-Mo's defensive play.

    Dwight Howard
    [​IMG]

    Marc Gasol
    [​IMG]
    D-Mo
    [​IMG]

    Also, DoMo is averaging 9.9 poits, 8.8 rebounds, 1 TO, and 1 assist per 36 minutes. Defensive players who are seven feet, quick and 270 pounds that can average 14 and 10 per 36 can look forward to an eight figure contract. Best comparison at the beginning of their third contract year? Omer Asik. By the way, here are his defensive ratings for this year.

    [​IMG]
     
    1 person likes this.
  8. T_Man

    T_Man Member

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    I've said it before and i'll say it again.. stats are BS and they never tell the entire story..

    D-Mo sucks, he can't box out my 14 yr old... He's a shooting guard with a center's body...

    D-Mo is not ready for the physical, fast pace of the NBA as a center... His mind set is that of a shooting guard or small forward and unfortunately we need a Big..

    T_Man

     
  9. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    So JTR is officially back?
     
  10. jtr

    jtr Member

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    I believe you are confusing Blacks, Papa's and other players lack of rebounding for D-Mo's. There were 18 minutes D-Mo did not play and Bogut just ran wild.
     
  11. T_Man

    T_Man Member

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    If D-Mo, was as good as you are trying to make him out to be than the Rockets would have won that game against gs with the DMo low post presence...

    But the fact is there was no low post presence on offensive or defensive end, so really not understanding what you are trying to prove with your post.

    T_Man
     
  12. jtr

    jtr Member

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    Couldn't read and understand the confusing tables? So sorry. Those are actual game events tracked by SportsVU, tabled so that the actual fan can actually understand what is happening. Each event listed in this table was caught at several angles, analyzed and tabulated for human consumption. This data is much more akin to raw data that statistical analysis. The raw data says you are wrong.
     
  13. jtr

    jtr Member

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    16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and one TO. And a heck of an offensive and defensive job for 25 of his 30 minutes that he was in there. Then he was gassed. Great defense when he played. Learn to watch defense, don't follow the bouncing ball. If those are not great stats for a player making $1.3M a year I don't want to know what is. Those are almost like Asik's stats two years ago.
     
  14. basketballholic

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    DMo had a good game on both ends of the floor. No doubt about it. It's unfortunate it's one game and it's unfortunate he most likely won't get a longer run of games to see how he looks beside Dwight.
     
  15. DudeWah

    DudeWah Member

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    I'll say it again. When your next biggest guy available is 6'8, 220 you're not gonna win ****. The Rockets were severely undermanned and lacking size.

    It had nothing to do with Motiejunas, who actually played very well.
     
  16. jtr

    jtr Member

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    That certainly could be true, but the Rockets have 3 serviceable big men on their roster. Howard, Jones and D-Mo. Morey's staff will sit back and crunch the SoprtsVU data. I would not be surprised if D-Mo did not start to get 25 or so minutes of burn a game backing up Howard and Jones. He is turning into a heck of a defensive big. But there is a lot that goes into rotations and playing time, so I am just guessing.
     
  17. nobie

    nobie Member

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    hey... everyone knows (expect ppl with blind hate) DMo played well last game, but the problem is, now hes gonna play another 5 bad games, until he can repeat his performance.
     
  18. jtr

    jtr Member

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    That certainly could be true, but D-Mo's defensive acumen is there every game and very hard to ignore. His shot has been slow to develop, but at seven feet and 270 pounds or better he is a very big man even for the NBA. Big men do take longer to develop. I doubt very seriously he is going anywhere this season, or probably not even next season. We shall see.
     
  19. xtruroyaltyx

    xtruroyaltyx Member
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    I've always liked dmo, but he's not strong enough around the rim. He's always on the ground. He has some ability, but he's not good enough yet, and frankly I'd have thought he would have fixed that issue by now.

    That bothers me more than anything, because even if you're a streaky or poor shooter, there should be something you can fall back on to help the team. For dmo, in this team it needs to be being strong around the rim.....defense, rebounding, getting garbage buckets there.

    If he was a consistent offensive player that's be one thing. But there's is nothing he can be depended on to do on a nightly basis.

    And that's hard for me to say since I've been a huge fan of his since before we even drafted him.

    I don't know. Maybe it suddenly clicks for him. I wouldn't count I it though and I'd look to move him for a real back up big man or package him for an upgrade somewhere on the team.
     
  20. jtr

    jtr Member

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    Haven't watched much D-mo recently? The guy is huge.Seven feet and 270 pounds. He is not the skinny 220 pounder he was 2 years ago. If D-Mo hits the ground these days there is often a foul called. And D-Mo defends inside of six feet better than Asik, P Gasol or Howard at this early point of the season. Players within six feet of the basket shoot at a -23.4% clip against D-Mo than they do against other centers. D-Mo has always had a mean streak, now is is also just plain tough.
     

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