Hopefully he is more consistent from the corner 3, plus we can still fit in his post ups. I'd say 18 points a game is to high, I'm happy with 14 ppg and higher shooting percentages.
Put me in the minority of fans who aren't completely sold on DMo. He's definitely improved more than I had expected, but I'm not sure he'd be able to put up the same numbers when games matter more. I hope they'll prove me wrong, but DMo and Jones as key rotational bigs could be our undoing next postseason.
Not could be. Will be. Going to war in a Western Conference playofs with those two as your option 1A and 1B at PF is asking for trouble. You can get by during the regular season but in a seven game series.... LMA, Zbo, or Griffin will destroy them on offense and the boards. Green will destroy them on the boards and physically assault them in the paint. Josh Smith made us respectable but with him gone, PF is the Rockets biggest weakness now.
So lets bring in Blake Griffin to play PF. But then SF will be our biggest problem Then we'll trade Ariza for LeBron. But then PG will be our biggest problem Then we'll trade Lawson and Beverley for Steph Curry. But then C will be our biggest problem, because Dwight will be old. We'll bring in Deandre Jordan, but then coach will be our biggest problem WE ARE DOOMED! Sell the team! Abandon the ship!
Faulty logic. Ariza is not a star but he is someone you can rely on in the playoffs. He is tough and he fights. There is a difference between holding your ground and getting destroyed. Neither of those two can rebound and both play the PF spot. That is simply pathetic. The team is trying to contend, which means they will have to go through some combination of LMA, Duncan, Zbo, Griffin, and Green. No sane Rockets fan wants to watch those two defend any of these names in a 7 game series. You are either a fan of these two players or drinking some high quality Kool Aid if you do. There is a reason this team is looking at Chuck Hayes. With Josh Smith gone, they will steamroll all over our PF lineup. Get me a proven rebounder and a defender over two soft projects. Any and every day especially when it comes to playoffs.
Our undoing? Hah. Dmo is more than solid at PF and C. How do you think we won those last two games vs the Clippers in the reg season?.. Like that would change in the playoffs? DMo can shoot the three ball and I'm sure after this summer it'll be automatic, he has incredible length for D, and he has one of the best post games in the league, and he also knows how to make smart plays. Sure he doesn't rebound so well but if he's in there with Howard Capela or Jones they'll gobble them up anyway.. All our PFs got to do is stay healthy. We should be the team to beat this year.
I think this is more likely. Maybe even only 12ppg. I think DMo has the skill to put up 17 or 18 but I don't think he has the mentality to take that many shots a game when there are so many other dominate offensive players on the team. I saw him defer to someone else many times last season when he had a mismatch or great post position. I love DMo's post game and wish he was more selfish taking his own shot but DMo is the ultimate team player and just not built that way in my opinion.
DMO was second best and most consistent Rocket last season. 2nd best and most consistent on the 2nd best team in the NBA. But haters gonna hate. Not everyone can be like bballholic and switch from hating to loving DMO.
Yeah, I agree with most of that. What I am saying is that DMo's ability to create his own shot and draw double teams makes him a guy you can build around and not just a role player. He's just not featured that way here. I do agree that his demeanor might be holding back his ascension to greatness.
For people that just don't get why many people are excited about DMo here is a quote from article posted by alethios: http://www.nationaljournal.com/2016-elections/donald-trump-president-run-2016-announcement-20150616
Griffin didn't play in one of those games, and the other was his first game back after being out a long time.
Griffin can't guard DMo in the post - neither can Anthony Davis.....not that DMo can guard them either, but the point is that DMo is a helluva player who is up and coming - you don't find SUPER SKILLED left handed bigs, who are this quick and this skilled. Morey would be a FOOL to trade him unless we are getting a SUPERSTAR back. DD
The problem with your typical fan/investor/etc is that we tend to extrapolate the recent past infinitely into the future. For TJones and DMo, this means we take both their strengths and weaknesses as they were at the end of the season and expect that to be who they are next year. I'm not saying it's all wrong, just that it's an over generalization of who they are. For DMo, I expect him to continue to improve as a defender, especially in the post. Perhaps this is one reason for bringing in Hayes.....to teach these young guys how to handle LMA and Griffin. I also anticipate that he will add a pick and pop jumper to his game. DMo was taking about three 3-pointers per game at the end of the season with very little hesitation. The vast majority of his attempts were drive and kicks. If he wants to take the next step as a shooter, a reliable pick and pop shot would get him there. For TJones, I see growth as a rebounder. He has the athletic ability to be good at it, and has shown flashes on the offensive end. I also expect him to add a little volume to his 3 point attempts. Here's how his first 3 seasons have gone from 3: 12-13: 1.0 attempts, 26% 13-14: 1.3 attempts, 31% 14-15: 1.1 attempts, 35% The attempts have stayed down, but the % has gone up. TJones problem is that he gets 3-5 good opportunities from 3 per game, but only takes 1. This is part mechanics and part confidence. If he can get up to 2 attempts per game while staying around 35%, I'd consider that significant improvement.
The thing is, nobody can guard players like Harden, Griffin or AD, you can only slow them down. Surprisingly DMo cant be guarded either, you can only slow him down. If rockets wants to win it all, Dwight needs to give up his post ups to DMo (Just like Bogut and Lee lost given up there stats for the team in GS). Everybody knows DMo is better post up than Dwight, there is no reason to post up Dwight over DMo when they both are on the floor, unless Dwight have mismatch.
Hey like I said, I'd be happy to be proven wrong. DMo may turn out to be a cornerstone type of player that many of the posters here believe him to be. Me, I see a young guy who's shown he can be a solid contributor when put in the right position, but still shows inconsistency and has yet to be tested in more competitive situations. Which is farther along than I'd expected him to be, to be honest. If our rotation of bigs is Howard / DMo / Jones / Capela with Hayes and filler, we'll be relying on some dominating performance by our backcourt to take us far into the postseason IMO.
You got it. Offense is built around Harden. Once the defense commits to stopping him with some form of help the counters start with D-mo on the block. DH just needs to rebound like he always does and roll to the bucket when his man sleeps on him. When you add Lawson's ability to find the open man without turning the ball over now teams must play Lawson one on one and he is very tough to stop one on one with his quicks. Plus when you add our fast-break element this crew is going to roll off some amazing runs. GG no RE.
