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Donatas Motiejunas - X Factor

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by DudeWah, Nov 23, 2014.

  1. Rox>Mavs

    Rox>Mavs Member

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    I don't think star FA's like howard come to a team like the philly with a history of being terribly bad. A team would need a history of being "one piece" away from top 4 in order to get a guy like him in FA.

    Gaining assets to trade for a guy like Harden is difficult....being good enough to attract stars like D12 at the same time....that's a different level of difficulty.
     
  2. Zbed

    Zbed Member

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    Dmo's confidence is definitely up and I think he's genuinely happy with his situation right now because he's starting, playing a lot, and is playing well. He's tweeting after every game too
     
  3. Precision340

    Precision340 Member

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    Is Dream working with DMo? His low post skills have literally skyrocketed the past couple of games.. didn't realize he could be that GOOD!!
     
  4. CisBuds4U

    CisBuds4U Member

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    In the last 8-10 games DMO has literally replaced Chandler Parson's contributions (albeit at a different position) averaging around 17 pts 7 rebounds per game (actually bit better than parson's averages here) and on top of that he is providing solid defense.

    I think it is apt to say that DMO has filled CPs void admirably not to mention the Ariza acquisition at a minimum cancels out the loss + improves the whole team due to his defense.

    There was a lot of talk that Harden-Dwigh-CP might be a good enough core to build around... now with the emergence of DMO, is he possibly that third + piece? Harden-Dwight-DMO with an above average supporting cast in Ariza, Bev, Terry, Pappa, and Jones??

    We aren't there yet but I think the next 10 games or so where DMO plays with Dwight will be really telling about what his potential really is--specifically what his VALUE to the Rockets is (Asik's value declined relative to his role with the Rockets because the Twin Towers experiment failed and he was grumpy on the bench--so he was unfortunately expendable, but not because he sucks--because he didn't fit the system with Dwight).

    If DMO can play the part of post-up threat/occassional stretch 4 like he did against the Nuggets and average around 17 pts 7 rbds over the next 10 games, I think we can really start to get excited about him as a legitimate starter that other teams have to game plan for and who makes a major difference on the floor--not quite on par with Harden (who can) or Dwight, but be a legit 3rd wheel (near star) with excellent D.

    I get that a lot of players have strung together a few dominant stretches and games only to lose their mojo (cough *Lin*) but DMOs game is not flukey where he has to get hot from long range and rack up points. His unique and crafty post game put him in the Scola school of basketball where as long as he can get close to the basket (which his big body allows him to), he is a threat to score--no matter whether he is hot or cold from outside. I think this is a huge difference when comparing his hot streak to other players that would then fade away into oblivion--and is the main reason why I think he can be a steady, borderline 3rd star for the Rockets. (again, pending how things go with Dwight).

    Morey may have just struck gold. Again.
     
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  5. cbk41

    cbk41 Member

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    Nah dude, we got worse, Chandsome is wrecking the league, murray sucks , we are just gonna get "bosh'd" this summer, dwight's career is done, our bench is the worst in the league, we still have mcfail, and we are just gonna get bumped in the first round again.
     
  6. CisBuds4U

    CisBuds4U Member

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    don't forget nobody wants to come to Houston because the city sucks and ESPN and the National Media ignore us .

    I think we should just fold the team...its contraction time.
     
  7. omgTHEpotential

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    Or better yet, move the team to Dallas. That city deserves a second team. Such a clean city.
     
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  8. treeman

    treeman Member

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    Dmo has grown a beard lately. He has also been producing as we always wanted him to, and as many of us thought he could. The difference? He's got a beard now. Just sayin'.
     
  9. Aleron

    Aleron Member

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    It kind of brings light to his draft strategy, if drafting mid/low first round, shoot for enough low star/high bust potential players and sooner or later the numbers roll in your favour. There were like 7 or 8 guys that mostly sucked that we went through, Patterson, Morris (damn thee for not picking Kawhi!), Lamb, Jones, White, Squid reclamation, Dmo, Capela(?), anyone else?
     
  10. sealclubber1016

    Supporting Member

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    Morey has made a habit acquiring of 1st round picks, either as a draft pick or buy low. There were only a few outright misses. Most of them turned into good players, or he was able to flip them for another asset.

    Hits
    Donatas Motiejunas
    Terrence Jones
    Kyle Lowry
    Aaron Brooks
    Patrick Patterson

    Successfully flipped
    Jeremy Lamb (Harden)
    Thomas Robinson (Papa, and 2 2nds)
    Jordan Hill (1st Round Pick)
    Hasheem Thabeet (Marcus Camby, who was re-flipped for picks)

    Misses
    Royce White :mad:
    Terrence Williams
    Marcus Morris (ended up being a decent player, but we passed on Kawhi)
    Jonny Flynn (came over with D-mo mostly as salary, but his presence kickstarted the Lin fiasco)

    Really only Royce White and Squid could be clearly classified as major screw ups. Morey is really good at the positioning moves.
     
  11. Rox>Mavs

    Rox>Mavs Member

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    I feel like this should be a thread where morey's picks, trades, moves and acquisitions are categorized and evaluated. All the good and bad so people can see clearly what the guy has done. I'm not one to think the guy can never do wrong, but some of the criticism he gets is unwarranted.
     
  12. Zbed

    Zbed Member

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    On top of James' beard im beginning to fear Dmo's beard as well
     
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  13. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    Let's not forget Landry and Scola. We also got Dragic and a 1st round pick for Brooks.
     
  14. Aleron

    Aleron Member

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    Some of the guys he got from a different period, where he was just trying to get productivity to add to Yao/Tracy/Shane/Ron?/Luis etc, I'm not sure what Patterson was, but he started going full boom bust with that white/dmo draft. Dmo is an odd one, like there's very few players you look at and think, this guy has no chance of being just ok, he's either all in or all out.
     
  15. jump shooter

    jump shooter Member

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    Taking Marcus Morris over Kawhi Leonard still haunts me to this day. Ugggghhh
     
  16. bmd

    bmd Member

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    The problem with D-Mo was always his ability to finish. He'd make a great move and then blow the jump hook.

    Lately, he's been finishing.

    But it could still be a fluke... because even though he's making those little 2 foot hooks right now, he wasn't making them in the past.

    Hopefully he's turned the corner.
     
  17. jtr

    jtr Member

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    I agree. And after SA chose Leonard with the next pick it was obvious that Morey completely ****** up.
     
  18. jtr

    jtr Member

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    A very good point. It could happen. But his defense is there each and every game.
     
  19. omgTHEpotential

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    It seems like Kyle Anderson may also become a legit player for them. A possible Diaw replacement. Similar type of players.
     
  20. Key

    Key Member

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    Hi, it's my first post here.

    A lot of you guys are saying that Dmo's defence has improved a lot lately. So I tried browsing some stats looking for any numbers that would support this implication. Nothing fancy shows up at the regular stats, neither rebounding is impressive, nor defensive rating. He doesn't block shots either, so you won't see him in the highlights.

    But then a few figures actually surprised me. It's the shooting percentage change of a player, that is being defended by DMo as opposed to that player's regular shooting percentage. The difference that he makes contesting the shots is much bigger than I expected.

    You will find the screenshot of the stats below. DFG% here means the shooting % of the player defended by DMo. FG% is his normal shooting% and diff% is the difference, of course.

    [​IMG]

    Also, to put things in perspective, I went ahead and looked at a lot other respectable defenders, and put them in an album, which you can find down below.


    What is amazing that DMo defends very well everywhere on the floor. Other guys seem to have very different effect on different parts of the floor.

    So although it's early in the season, we can make an assumption, that DMo has become a very good 1 on 1 defender. This statistic might not represent the occasions when the player goes for help defence or rotates to stop a cutting/driving man after one has beaten his initial defender.

    Also, I was thinking that it might not be fair to compare him with other centers, because they usually have other assignments, but after all, DMo is in a lot of lineups when Rockets go small and he's the one playing C.
     
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