Just stoppin' by to say I have been really impressed with DMo these last couple games, however, he is still one of those players who plays big against mediocre/crap teams (ie Lin, TJones) then disappears against elite teams. Let's see him keep up a high level of play over a long stretch and against strong teams.
Its suprising that we're on the complete opposite ends of the Mchale spectrum yet we totally agree on DMO. I'm just curious, do you think asking DMo to stand out at the 3pt line and launch threes was a mistake? Maybe i can get you to admit one of Mcfail's faults
Disagree here. I think his post game will be his most valuable skill (in the future). But if they ask him to go back to just shooting threes then you'll be right. But only due to poor coaching.
If D-Mo can ever hit 35% of his threes his value would double around the league. And it would benefit the Rockets so very much. He would become the perfect PF - Center with that post game and defense. He could actually become an all star. So no I do not blame McHale for seeing if D-Mo's three could develop quickly. With Howard on the team, him and D-Mo would be the best starting 4 and 5 in the league. A like comparison is how after the acquisition of Harden, McHale attempted to convert Lin into a great spot up shooter. That did not work out. Perhaps D-Mo will. IMHO.
Lock down paint defense can never be over rated. And I pay a lot of attention statistically to defenses. In this category D-Mo certainly ranks in the top 10 in the NBA.
I understand the logic of having a stretch 4 next to howard and wanting DMo to develop that skill set. But IMO you're asking too much from a young player to basically develop a new skill in the limited mins he was getting. Again, IMO a better approach is to build his confidence by utilizing his strengths and allowing him to get his feet wet before asking him to do things outside of his comfort zone. Also, i've noticed many of the stretch 4s currently in the league didn't develop a 3 pt shoot until after a few years in the league. Channing Frye is the perfect example. He shot less than 100 3s combined his first 4 years in the league. Heck, Dmo shot more 3s in the few mins he played his rookie year than Channing Frye shot for his first four years combined. I'm just happy that we're finally giving DMo a real shot to work in the post.
True that. But we do not have access to practices. I would not be surprised if D-Mo was hitting 40%+ of his threes in practice. He has great form on his shot. I feel confident that D-Mo can get to 35% from three in the next couple of years. If that does happen then D-Mo will be looking at a Parsons size contract in the summer of 2016.
If his defense stays at a high level and his post scoring ability remains while developing a 35+% 3 point shot then he'll get that contract from the Rockets almost certainly in order to help them on championship runs.
We will see. That would certainly be the optimal case. He certainly would become a unique player in the NBA, to say the least. The interesting thing is that D-Mo's rookie contract is done at the same time as Howard's player option comes into play. Given that the cap will probably be above $85M in the summer of 2016, all hell is going to break loose.
So, I saw this posted on r/nba and wrote a long-ass refutation of it. Glad someone else vehemently disagrees with this guy's super lazy analysis. Really sorry for the long post, didn't mean to be this long... but I had more to say than I thought. I agree the article's good in that the author provides examples and info/charts to back up his claims on D-Mo's offense. That said, he's completely fumbled the point about his defense. His court awareness on D and better-timed rotations (along with injuries) ARE the reason he's able to polish his already developed post game. This writer completely misses the mark: he is no longer getting pulled for silly fouls and rotational miscues, so he can afford to work through offensive struggles now (also, injuries). "Motiejunas will never be a great defensive player. He fouls too much, and isn’t a great mover... opponents are shooting 12.4 percent worse than normal when guarded by Motiejunas, and that percentage goes up to 21.5 percent on shots at the rim." This statement is lazily rehearsed from past seasons (as so many commentators seem intent on doing) and doesn't reflect close examination of how he's actually playing. He has good potential as a mobile 7-footer on defense as evidenced by his overall drastic improvement: fouls per 36 (4.4 compared to 5 in the prior 2 years) and DEF rating especially (96.5 compared to 100.4 and 104.3) have gotten better. I couldn't find the stats for charges, but those have surely gone up. Oh, and the numbers the authors himself quotes are unmistakably elite (Marc Gasol is -4.5% and -5.4% on an elite defensive team, and Bogut is -13.7% and -18.4% on the best defensive team). Why all this improvement? He's just a step quicker (for an already fleet-footed 270-pounder) to his spot and as a 7-footer, standing in the right place, maintaining versatility and simply holding your hands straight up stymies other 4s and 5s. He's converting what would have blocking fouls in the past into charges. He can better hold post positioning in part because he's got more sand in his pants, and his rebounding has benefited from this, too. He finally leverages his athleticism to show and recover on PnR coverage, and he's playing competent perimeter D (aggressive closing out passes too, which the Rockets are doing like the Heat of years past) and moving his feet well. Remember when he was getting the open looks but missing the bunnies earlier this season? He's a confidence guy, so being able to stay on the court thanks to defensive competence has helped him work through that, but he was getting those same looks on those same crafty post moves his rookie season. Coming back stronger this season doesn't hurt his post positioning ability, he's even drawing some offensive fouls on that end. I think he's heard some of the criticism, knows he's got to produce for Houston this season and feels he's nothing to lose by putting it all out there. But, we also forget he's pretty young and bigs take time to develop in this league. He's a microcosm of the Rocket's success despite the injuries, I think: our defense-first mentality has helped us become a tougher, better team overall, and D-Mo is exemplary of the transformation. With still much room to grow, I'm pretty excited about his future. He's realizing his potential, and he could be really, really good soon. I'll be following him long after Morey trades him for a more established 4 (he might tried T-Jones instead, who probably has higher trade value atm).
ERK. Brain misfire. But there are no better stats on defensive performance than the SportsVU generated data. D-Mo is a great defensive big.
You have to see with players. Parsons his first year and Raptor Tmac were defensive minded players and went on to become Offense only players. It is not often that you come across players whose pedigree is Defense throughout their entire career. (defensive specialist type)
Yeah, he is. Once they let him into the Marc Gasol of respected bigs status those petty touches will no longer be called. Let's hope also hope Dwight gets into that status someday. But the main issue is they play for the Houston Rockets.
Might take me a little while. Never been on reddit before, and my daughter (a big reddit fan) is attending her Calc 3 class.
Love DMo, but he doesn't fit with Dwight on the offensive end (as things stand today). Why? Because when Dwight is on the floor, he is your primary PnR target, and we aren't going to take postups from Dwight and give them to DMo. This reduces DMo to a spot-up shooter and garbage man. TJones is the better garbage man, equal (maybe even better) shooter, and he's a better ball handler that can take his man off the dribble. DMo would be great next to somebody like Ibaka.....a shotblocker that can stretch the floor on the offensive end.
