DMo is playing like a carbon copy of Rasheed Wallace right now. Good defense, good post moves, some range from 3. Very impressive. Hopefully, he can develop even further. I had completely written him off earlier this season and I couldn't be more glad to be wrong.
I just went back to the beginning of this thread, and there is so many wrong observations about him...like he can't shoot, is uncoordinated, or good teams will force him out of the post. LOL - I know what it is like to be wrong sometimes - and glad on this one to be on the other side. DD
Dwight is not a skilled big he is a power big, he’s not in the Duncan/Dream mold he’s in the Moses and Shaq mold of big men where they rely on power and athleticism first to create space then finesse/footwork second. Usually these types of big men have a small repertoire of post moves but the ones they do have is so effective that they do not need a lot of moves to score anyway. Why am I talking about Dwight in a DMo thread? Well, what I’ve been keeping my eye on with DMo is his ability to productively coexist with Dwight. You see, IMHO, because power bigs have a small repertoire of skills it makes it difficult to just plug and play anyone into the other big position next to them. It was easier to plug in a random 4/5 next to Duncan than it was next to Shaq. So, of all the great and wonderful developments we’ve seen in DMo this season I believe his new found ability to harmonize with Dwight (the best 5 in the game) is perhaps the most important one yet. To me, the “other big” must be very self-aware, opportunistic, a great passer, a great feel for the game and high basketball IQ where they are cognizant of the other 9 players and where they are going to be. Everything I believe DMo is really growing into. I’ll tell y’all this, I hope that in the post season we just beat the pulp out of people with our 1-2 punches of Dwight and DMo. James can get his, that’s expected because he’s our star player. But for me, I want to see DMo and Dwight just tire out, wear down and foul out the other team’s bigs similar to the way Ali would wear down opponents by leaning on them and pounding on them at the same time.
DMo has improved a lot. He still hasn't demonstrated range past 16 feet on a statistically significant number of attempts and he was falling over a lot earlier in this season. For me, the best thing is that he's defending very well in backup center minutes. He's still the best PF the Rockets have. I haven't seen much of the recent games, but I do like the limited minutes I've seen with a DMo-Smith frontcourt...not counting garbage time. Very athletic, defensive line while Dwight works through whatever is causing him to be "meh" defensively. I am glad that I was wrong about DMo not fitting with the offense. Well, that may still be the case as the offense has been changing to fit him more instead of the other way around...which I think is a bigger compliment.
All good points. Just a nitpick - I think you are really underrating Shaq's post-game and overall offensive skill. He wasn't doing all that through his strength alone.
A lot of it was his strength though, if they called offensive fouls back then like they do now, Shaq would have never seen the end of the game on the court.
DMo has been great so far. My only concern is that if our champ hopes are for this year, having him as a number 2 option isnt the best sign. It isnt because he isn't capable but that the playoffs are such a different beast and it ll be a learning experience for him. Basically, I think if we want to win this year, we need to develop more from somewhere else and let him learn slowly (look at the bigs he ll prob have to go against in the playoffs). from a long term outlook though, i love it. him and harden are a potential offensive cornerstone
Only to make the point I was trying to make in my post. I mean, what percentage of his total points do you think came from his drop step and dunk or drop step and baby hook? Truth is, Shaq was a once in a lifetime player. Someone with that height and mass should not be able to move, dance and jump the way he did. That's why I don't understand his hate for Dwight. Dwight will never come close to him as a player. Fun fact, Shaq has the tallest block recorded in the NBA... The man was over 300lbs!
Well he has improved a lot, hasn't he? Everyone is saying that. As Morey said, the light turned on. He's not the white dream or better than Anthony Davis or boogie cousins though. I'm not going to get into bashing our own players like a lot of players do. I like all our players.
He had enough playing time and chances last year. Timing, footwork, balance, creativity, and shooting touch are all considered as skills. And he improved on all of them them significantly this year
We're just gonna have to agree to disagree about that. He sucked to start this season as well. He didn't turn it around until Jones and Howard were hurt and McHale was completely forced to give him minutes and touches. Once he got comfortable he started beasting. If McHale would have given him minutes and post touches instead of forcing him to hang around the 3 point line he would have been great last year. McHale was shortsighted and gave Jones the regular minutes, and we got burned in the playoffs because of it.
Yep blame Mchale for limiting dmo to a measly 8 2-point attempts and not playing him more inspite of his only 5 fouls per 36 minutes last year
