Except he's not. He's falling all over the floor, like usual, on a lot of defensive post plays. Flopping in that classic new wave Euro style. Look, I'm not crazy - he's no "eurotrash" like the troll above suggested. I love his hook and footwork in the post (it's a shame we'll probably see less of that when DH comes back). We don't have enough PF/C in the league with anywhere near as deadly/accurate a hook as he has. Ability to stretch the floor with the 3-ball and shoot above-par free throws, wonderful, wonderful. BUT...he has a loooong, loooooooooooong way to go on the defensive end of the floor. He's usually nowhere to be seen on rebounds and, like I said earlier, has no idea that blocking a shot is a legal move in basketball. Unlike some of you, I don't see him making excellent decisions 100% of the time on switches and vs. complex offensive schemes, but he's absolutely improved on that over just the last several months. Professional basketball is a two-way game, so those of us "harping" on Motiejuejue do so because there has been *SO MUCH HYPE* at Cfans since he was playing 2 mins. per game. Take Harden - a joke and a steamroll last year on defense. This year he's the unquestionable MVP, not just because he's carrying a top-4 Western team, but because he plays aggressively well on both ends of the floor. He's #5 in steals per game and the #3 rebounding guard in the league now, for chrissakes. As it stands now, I feel safer when Smith is on the floor. Yeah, he still makes boneheaded decisions (not enough post play for such a smooth operator), but he rebounds like a champ and defends like a beast. He's got great basketball IQ and I see him utilizing that more now than in Atlanta. You can attribute his silly 3s to Moreyball. Hire Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman & Charles Oakley to toughen Motiejunas up with streetball action this next summer, then I'll be a happy camper.
He is what he is. More finesse than tough guy. Pair him up with a mop-up guy like Dorsey from the bench, and he'll consistently do well against mediocre backup bigs.
Guess we have to rely on him now with TJ out, damnit, if only he could live up to his own words about not being afraid. How many times does this guy miss a shot because he softly throws it up there instead of dunking it or hook it off the glass..you are 7 feet tall!!
It's a sign that he's really good that people troll this thread every time he doesn't have a really great game. The expectation now is that he'll do really well so that says a lot of good things to how far he's come.
But there's nothing wrong with this! We have 3 other starting quality bigs, the only reason people are complaining about DMo is because 2 of them have missed large chunks of the season, and we only got the 3rd halfway through
Agreed completely, he does a decent job filling in at the 5, but he's pretty clearly better as a 4 next to Howard. Hopefully Howard is back sooner rather than later so we can see more of our starting unit together before the playoffs.
meh, DMo destroyed Faried in last two games. Not surprising he made his home work and this time looked better..
You mean how TJones got punked last year? Yeah, we don't really have a big & strong front court with Dwight out but what do you suggest? You can pout like a little b&tch about it or you can support your players.
Last game 06:06 [HOU 97-103] Motiejunas Turnaround Hook Shot: Made (18 PTS) after that 0 post ups and instead 7 3pt were made(1/7) In PO with such strategy first round exit is really reachable goal.
I'm sorry, you lost me. What are you saying? Are you saying we should have gone to DMo instead? But that would have won us the game... I don't think that's what our coaching staff wanted to do there.
