LOL. I remember it like it was yesterday. Popovich traded away George Hill for the Pacers 15th pick after Rockets had passed on Leonard, I knew then that it would come back and haunt us.
Quality post. D-mo is an exceptional defender in almost all respects. He doesn't put up flashy stats, but he is always in the right place. One on one he moves his feet well, but more importantly he's learned to just be tall. Even with short arms he's still a 7 footer, and therefore taller than virtually all PF's and equal to most C's.
Anyone remember if D-Mo had problems guarding LMA in last year's Playoffs? Wonder how he would fare now. I want to see D-Mo go against an elite big just to see where he stands.
The Rockets have already put him on Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, and DeMarcus Cousins and he fared very well against all 3 of them. D-mo will defend Aldridge as well as anyone in the league, I have no doubt. Unfortunately McHale never gave him a chance, he was glued to the bench
I don't think he played long enough to have a sufficient sample size in order to judge. But we'll have that chance soon. Tue, Dec 23 vs Trail Blazers Sat, Dec 27 @ Grizzlies Mon, Dec 29 @ Spurs
DMo wasn't nearly fast enough to recover to Aldridge. The distance between the Rockets bench and LMA was usually too great. Plus, you can't have 6 teammates on the court at the same time.
He never got a chance because for whatever crazy reason we kept rolling Jones out there to get slaughtered. In a perfect world, you use DMo on Lopez and Dwight on LMA. Had we used Dwight and Asik on LMA and DMO on Lopez in the playoffs last year, we make it past the first round. Hopefully we learn our lesson.
I agree with this..great observation. I think the fact that he wasn't finishing before--after doing all of the post-moves and getting off his shot--was more emblematic of the fact that he rushed his shot, never got into a groove or found his rhythm. We're seeing more consistent play out of him, not surprisingly, with the consistent minutes he's been getting enabling him to play up to his potential. I agree that if he goes back to chucking up those hook shots and missing, he might regress to where he was before, but what I take as a hopeful sign is that he has now played impressive for a string of 10+ games and is finishing his moves for the easy buckets--his track record is less mercurial and more consistent. If he can show the same consistency with Dwight on the floor over the next 10 games, we can start analyzing DMO the player (as a legit 3rd near-star), not just DMO the potential.
It looks like not only has the game slowed down for him But more importantly he has found the right shooting touch
One thing overlooked is that even if DMo misses first few shots (like Denver game), he will not be ignored anymore, which is crucial for confidence, as it definitely is morale shattering to miss first few shots and be ignored by teammates
You gotta think teams are going to start studying tape on DMOs strengths and weakness's because he's been pretty much a non factor on the court for the last several years. They will lock in on him I'm sure now that he's got it rolling.
I agree that some of the criticism is unwarranted. But I think most Morey's critics (myself included) aren't criticizing his overall work in terms of improving the team. They simply don't like his policy of keep flipping players like they are potato chips. We as fans are forced to root for a different set of rotation players and say goodbye to players we have invested emotionally EVERY season. If you care only about winning, Morey is a perfect GM. If you care more about the human side of being a sports fan, it's kind of demoralizing even when we are winning. So at the end of the day, it is a fan's preference how much they adore him. As to his draft history in the first round, I think the most successful cases , in terms of contributing to the Rockets, are Jones and Motiejunas. Those mid-first rounders are either bust (White, Morris) or flipped before they fully developed (Patterson, Lamb). He is much more successful in picking in the second round. I've been saying that Morey is a lot better at picking up what other people have missed than choosing among good players that are available.
Well said. Most fans turn into 'insensitive' bots when the team is winning. You got to feel for the players.
I'm pretty sure D-Mo did a solid job on Aldridge during the regular season. He didn't get any time in the Playoffs though and some CFmembers called for McHale's head because we had no one who could guard Aldridge effectively on the court and he still didn't give D-Mo a chance.
D-Mo did not play in last seasons playoffs. IMHO D-Mo is quicker than LMA. D-Mo is not quick enough to play against Durant, but I would imagine we will find out. D-Mo was however able to cover Blake in the last Clippers game.
