He was getting abused on the boards. He is the tallest joker on our team weighs around 250+ and gets pushed around like a rag doll. Yes he did some things ok but when your coach takes you out and Harden has to play PF in crunch time. Says a lot. Dmo needs to hit that weight room hard this off season.
Dmo's honeymoon is definitely over. He's getting exposed more and more as the games get more and more important. Once Dwight gets back healthy enough, Dmo may hardly get playing time. He is shooting better on his threes which is good, but he is a total nothing down low as far as getting pushed around and not being able to box out or get consistent rebounds. The ball has to bounce directly too him. Freaking PGs are out battling him for boards. Some players simply don't have the heart to bang down low and it appears Dmo may be that type of player which will lead to a limited NBA career.
The funny thing is I saw TJ checking Lopez last night for stretches and DMO on LMA, I've always thought that Lopez was the Blazers 5 and LMA was their 4 but I could be wrong and it may be the other way around.
For everyone making excuses for Dmo playing out of position, Dmo is not playing big enough right now for a PF or a C. He's playing softer than most SFs right now.
I've never played basketball at any level, so I don't know if rebounding is a Thing you either have or you don't -- or if it's a matter of effort. But yes, the thing about DMo that continues to frustrate me is what at least APPEARS to be a lack of effort on the boards. It doesn't make sense to me that Bev (and guards his size on other teams) can go up and battle guys 7-8 inches taller than they are for rebounds AND SECURE THEM -- but DMo can't manage to do it. I honestly just don't get it. If it's an either-you-have-it-or-you-don't thing, then he clearly doesn't have it.
I have always said and I continue to believe that the primary issue with D-Mo is he has no balls (aggression). He is simply too passive out there on both ends of the court. He doesn't ever challenge opponents. This really shows itself in rebounding. He doesn't challenge for position or for the board. He just gives up really easily, both positioning and the rebound.
I can't tell if he isn't good at boxing out or if he just doesn't know where the ball is half the time. A rebound will come down right next to him and he acts like he has know idea that it is there. Blows my mind.
Rebounding is a thing you have or you don't. From my personal experience in amateur play no matter how good you are at basketball, no matter how great you compete and how big of a passion you have for the game, rebounding is not something you can really become good at if you don't have it in you. Most of my life I've been way better at most things in basketball than my friends, even taller than most, lately even stronger than most, but I always was a horrible rebounder. And believe me, I tried to improve, it's just not given to some people, that reaction, that sense for where the ball go, quick hands.
It's either you have it or you don't. And it's clear to me that Dmo doesn't have a nose for the ball.
In Europe he went from being one of the worst rebounders to one of the best simply from the Rockets telling him that was the area he would need to improve in order to get brought over and get minutes. There is a natural "nose for the ball" and tracking abilities, but its besides the point. The point is the guy has shown before he can improve when he's focused on it. There are basic fundamentals that can at least help you improve to a respectable level. What he's showing lately is a lack of disciple in imploring those fundamentals. Rebounding against LMA and Lopez is no joke so I don't want folks to overreact to that one game and give DMo all the blame. Jones deserves to get called out for last night as well. But this season DMo has just shown that more than anything he needs to have a come to Jesus moment and get focused on boxing out like he should. I don't expect him to rebound like Ben Wallace but when I see the basic fundamentals being simple ignored, it's time to call him out. Good news is he has shown before he can get better. We will see if he improves more here in the next few games. If not it makes the other great parts of his game fruitless without a big like Dwight making up for his lack of desire to block out and get a damn rebound.
A combination of things when it comes to... Donatask MetoRebound. First of all he doesn't have natural instincts for tracking the ball. By that I mean the ability to read the shots and anticipate when and where the ball is lijley to end up. Thats a natural gift few have so not a big deal. But besides that.... He does not have proper boxing techniques. He is usually beat to the spot and does not use his body to box out effectively. He has weak base and high center of gravity. If he gets to the spot first, he gets uprooted by the opposition. He has weak upper body strength. Watch him lose battle of the upper body and arms. I was LOLing when I watched him get thrown like a rag doll the other night He is afraid of physical contact. You live never be a good rebounder if you are unwilling to get physical down low. You can somewhat compensate for the above shortcomings simply by having the desire to go an get the ball. Unfortunately I dont see that in him either. I dont know if that is all desire or also because of his lack of conditioning. Unless I see otherwise, I am not going to change my stance on him, which I have held onto from the very beginning. He is going to get killed on the boards in the playoffs. Playoffs are approaching. Lord have mercy on this team and Kevin McHale.
Ok, let's watch all offensive rebounds on NBA.com and analyse: Afflalo missed shot, Ariza swated away ball when it was an easy rebound with no Blazers players around. LMA 3 pointer - good. Lillard missed lay-up, Beverley somewhere behind, Lillard gets offensive rebound and scores (Harden and TJones under the rim). Lillard miss 3-point attempt, Kaman long offensive rebound with Dorsey on him, Kaman missed mid-range. Batum miss 3-point attempt, Kaman long offensive rebound - Dorsey didn't catched the ball, Smith was on Kaman, did nothing but stand around. Kaman easy lay-up for 2 more points. Wright miss 3-point attempt on a fast break, whole team was not set defensivelly and Blazers end up with the ball swated by Motiejunas fighting for his spot under the rim with much stronger Lopez. Lopez ended up with jump shot that he made (Motiejunas switched to help out Beverley on Lillard, TJones late on Lopez). Lillard miss 3-point attempt, Lopez tips the ball to his teammate. Motiejunas bad positioning and couldn't box out properly because of that. Lillard makes field-goal. Lillard goes by Beverley with ease, Motiejunas helps, Lillard misses and no one box-out Lopez (Harden and Beverley were there), Lopez miss tip-shot and Beverley takes the rebound. Afflalo miss 3-point attempt, Motiejunas does great job at boxing out Lopez, but Harden cut sleaping and Wright sneaks in tips the rebound to Afflalo and easy lay-up. Afflalo miss 3-point attempt, Motiejunas on LMA and TJones was just litteraly eaten by Lopez, easy tip shot. Batum miss 3-point attempt, NBA.com credited Lopez for off-rebound (and Beverley a block), but there was none of this action (especially that 3pt tip shot by Lopez, wtf?). Motiejunas get away with defensive rebound on poor boxing-out against LMA. Afflalo missed fadeaway, Smith does not box-out LMA, Jones was eaten by Lopez under the rim, LMA tip shot missed and Smith got away with no call fouling LMA. Blake miss 3-point attempt, Smith once again does not box-out LMA and LMA tip-shot good at the buzzer. McCollum missed jump-shot, TJones does not box-out Kaman and he gets offensive rebound, Wright miss 3-point attempt, TJones is out of position and Motiejunas left alone with both Kaman and LMA under the rim, LMA gets long offensive rebound. Kaman hits fadeaway as a result. LMA missed jump-shot, TJones can't handle Kaman under the rim and Kaman gets offensive rebound, but misses tip-shot. Lillard miss 3-point attempt, smh Brewer was on LMA (bad switch by TJones) and Brewer had no chance, LMA offensive rebound. Lillard miss 3-point attempt, LMA credited with offensive rebound, but there was none really. Yet, TJones was poor at boxing-out LMA and he had a try to tip it in. 24 seconds left, Lopez and LMA are both in for Blazers and theres only TJones on the court, easy offensive rebound by Blazers after Afflalo missed 3-point attempt. Blame on coaching staff, how can you sit-out your best shooter from behind the arc (since All-Star break) while Blazers are playing two bigs? Motiejunas should've been there. So, you're telling me Motiejunas was bad at boxing-out and fighting for rebounds?
Good news folks need to be reminded of again is Dwight is more than capable of making up for D-Mo & Jones' shortcomings on the glass. The bad news is D-Mo and Jones really are the future of this team's front-line. The effects of their development on the boards & in protecting the paint wont be seen this year, but its something that is going to be incredibly important moving forward. The Rockets have a special front line in those two young guys. If Horford & Millsap can be an above average defensive front line than so can D-Mo and Jones with a dedication to improving this off-season. This postseason will largely be dependent on Dwight Howard. Let's not draw too many conclusions about D-Mo and Jones' future together just yet.
Normalus, I know he's your guy -- but it is an issue. And it isn't something that just popped up last night.
(huge D-Mo fan FYI) Yes he was, and has been HORRIFIC on the glass as of the past few weeks. At least that's my initial reaction what I saw. But to be fair so was Jones, and I noticed many more mistakes from guys like Harden, and Ariza not doing their job to help out. But yes... I actually did watch the game. D-Mo's fundamentals being in position and boxing out looked horrific to me. Maybe I'll go back and actually do a play by play, but I have a newborn baby and lack of sleep might have had me seeing things. So no need to be a jackass please. I saw what I saw, but I will go back and look further since I feel like a masochist today and want to torture myself watching more Rockets losses to the Blazers where they get destroyed in the paint by the front line of LMA and Lopez.
