A coach that chooses to play Amare at the 5 isn't someone who cares about rebounding. DMo is a guy who can play the 4 and the 5 and he stretches the floor. He actually works pretty well for D'Antoni despite DMo's good defense and post game that are 2 thinks D'Antoni doesn't care about. Personally though, I don't think DMo will want to stay so I think he signs an offer sheet early in FA in order to get away. The Rockets won't hurt their cap space by matching before they sign other FA targets so he'll be able to go play elsewhere where he'd be better used.
As bad as our rebounding is, Harrell is still not close to our best rebounder. People got it in their head that Harrell was Faried v2. That's not the case, as Harrell was very poor at rebounding in his limited action last year.
Yes you're absolutely right. Capela is probably our 2nd best rebounder by rebound rate after Howard, who did it on an elite level. Harrell actually needs to work on that. He was worse than D Mo. But he has room to improve.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Work in progress! Best wishes! <a href="https://t.co/E7EtHBtL5o">pic.twitter.com/E7EtHBtL5o</a></p>— Donatas Motiejunas (@DonatasMot) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonatasMot/status/740217855069818880">June 7, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
MDA's offense wants you to score in the paint. As he has said he just wanted a way to get easier layups.
He is a very nice complimentary piece as a PF/C combo player - just needs consistent minutes, we saw what he can do 2 years ago when he plays more than 20mpg. He is healthy, and has a unique skillset, someone is going to get a good quality NBA player if it is not us. DD
He's not the same player he was two years ago. His outside shot was never consistent. Did you see him try to post up Green in the playoffs? He got manhandled. Even back then, he was a horrible rebounder and he's even worse now. His positional defense is worse and he's also more turnover prone. How is his play for half a season from two years ago more indicative of his worth than this past year?
He is the same player once he gets the minutes, he has always been a player that gets better with more time. If you are constantly in and out of the lineup production wanes. What he does in the Olympics this summer will probably net him a large contract. I do find it funny that people were ok with signing Dwight coming off of the same injury after his year in LA, and are not willing to consider DMo. Lots of guys have come back from his procedure - it takes about a year to get FULLY back, it has been a year. DD
Dwight had his surgery in April, came back for training camp, and put up 17/12 in 76 games in LA. DMo put up 6/3 in half a season. Had Dwight put up DMo's numbers, people would not have wanted to sign him. The opposite is also true. If DMo performed even close to what he was before, he'd be a favorite to re-sign. Recovery is what matters, not the injury. Dominique Wilkins put up 29ppg the year after his achilles tear, albeit clearly declined. Meanwhile, Kobe could barely play with the same injury. Some people bounce back well, some never do.
He didn't get the minutes either.....you know, why he didn't get the numbers. It's funny how people point to per game numbers when there is a drastic difference in minutes and think it means something. Sure his per game numbers were down from the previous season but his per 36 numbers were pretty close to the same, meaning that he was still doing things at the same rate, he just wasn't on the court as much.
Yes, Dwight played, DMo didn't get his consistent minutes. Please name one player that had this procedure and did not come back. DD
I'm not scared off by the injury. I'm potentially scared of by the contract. It's not hard to see him getting $10 million plus... But it is hard to justify that number given the totality of his performance to date and last year. I do think he can excel offensively in an MDA system
10m is nothing, easily flipped if necessary. You can't be afraid to pay people what they are worth, that is what losing franchises do - got to gamble and take risks. Look at all the good players we let go because we did not want to pay them, that would have helped this year? Got to go with it and stop jettising player for lessor ones. DD
First off the D-Mo excuses aren't necessary. We all can stop messing around, and own up to the FACT that D-Mo has had only 1/2 of a productive NBA season where he has lived up to his potential in 4 seasons. Let's just own up to that first please. There are excuses.... oh yes there are, but the fact is that the sample size now is so large that the evidence bears weight over the excuses. I do want the Rockets to bring D-Mo back.... I'm a HUGE fan. Probably my favorite player to root for on the team. However there is a significant risk in bringing him back on a large contract if he commands it. And there is also the fact that the Rockets will likely want to aim higher for a proven all-star caliber player, and will view D-Mo as a player/asset they are willing to walk away from JUST FOR THE CHANCE at signing a better player. That's been Morey's way the past 4 years, and there is no reason to think he's all the sudden changed. Im not going to say that I will like it, but I can put myself in Morey's shoes and understand why he made the decision to NOT resign D-Mo back if he chooses not to. That being said, if AGAIN, Morey loses a quality player in free agency and completely strikes out when the "better than D-Mo" player goes elsewhere, I'm going to say that its time for Morey to give up his Free Agency principles, and dramatically change as a GM. -You got owned in the Dwight negotiations which led to you losing Parsons in FA when Bosh went elsewhere -You missed out on signing Lowry in FA because you wanted to wait on Carmelo Strike 3 would be a huge blow in my opinion of Morey if he AGAIN loses out on retaining or signing a quality player (like I think D-Mo can be/although unlikely) because he's waiting in vain for a better player who was never coming to Houston to begin with. Again... the data shows that D-Mo PROBABLY won't be that good (on Parsons/Lowry level), but if he turns out to be and Morey lets him go, that's a huge deal.
