[omgTHEpotential] D-Mo - Not Afraid of The Wolves

Regarding some of the talking points in this post:

1. Although he has stepped it up significantly of late, I feel like the stats are accurate in the case of D-Mo. You take him in the totality of his career, vs TJones in the totality of his...and every year Jones will be the more efficient offensive option. The difference is in defense, and it will always be in defense. Through consistent defense and becoming at least the scoring threat that he has been the past five games, D-Mo can become more valuable to the Rockets than TJones currently is. He's not yet, but he can be.

2. Dwight Howard's post game is not good right now; it wasn't good in the regular season last year too. But we have last year's playoffs--and every season's playoffs before that save his throwaway Lakers season--as definitive evidence that he can and WILL step it up when it matters most. Game by game in last year's playoffs, Dwight Howard was a top 5 if not a top 3 most valuable player out of any of the guys on any of the teams, period.

 

he should be our #1 post up option, even after dwight is back. He is better than dwight on the post, anyone feel the same?

 

Bingo. Dwight turns on the post game in the playoffs for some reason. It was honestly all we had last year.

(Doesn't mean we still can't get D-Mo effective touches down low)

 

That sounds good in a vacuum, but in order for DMo to operate in the post, Dwight will have to not be in there, which means we'll be playing offense 5 on 4. The only way this could work is if they implement some much more complex plays in which Dwight comes out, sets multiple screens and then rolls to the basket. D-Mo will have to make his move in a very specific timeframe and while he's good, I don't think he's good enough to execute a succesful post-up literally whenever he wants. It's not like the defense will sit there waiting for him to pivot.

 

it wouldnt matter if dwight was thier, Dwights man never leaves him, doublling always comes from either the entry passes man or the weakside

 

Dwight is pretty much always open when he's more than 8 feet from the basket.

 

It's a myth that you need a floor stretcher to operate in the post. Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson did some of their best work next to Otis Thorpe and Dennis Rodman.

You can't simply not guard Dwight Howard if he is around the rim.

 

Okay, he's got another test coming up--against the Grizzlies.

Potential is all and good, but he has to produce on the court. It has not clicked for him until recently. Confidence, playing time, Rockets have no other big man--whatever it is, he has emerged from the woods.

How much does he want it? Let him show it vs. the contending teams, and then we'll talk.

 

I have faith in him, but if DMo craps the bed against Memphis with Dwight, he only has his own confidence to blame.

I'm not even talking about posting up or hitting threes. Dude should bring the same level of defense and rebounding he has been.

 

This was when you could send Rodman to the opposite quadrant so his man couldn't sink legally into the post player's area.

 

That is accurate, his post game is bad. His defense is great, his rebounding superb, his finishing on the PnR wonderful, but yeah Dwight's post game is bad.

DD

 

I think Dmo has been getting PT for a while, I don't think you can blame McHale here as holding him back or anything. He's been part of the rotation for a long time now. He hasn't done a whole lot with it.

Dmo is getting better...at a very slow but steady rate. It's promising. But he still isn't great. 20-25 minutes a game seems right for him. If you can't develop with that much PT than you probably have confidence issues.

 

In my opinion Orlando Dwight at his peak was a superstar next to Lebron.

Now he is only a star among perhaps 15-18 other stars.

Some games he will show flashes of a former superstar but I think he isn't the best version of Dwight anymore.

 

I think that is because at Orlando the coaches would get him to do what he was good at, the PnR and rebound, but now he has been in the league he wants to try to do more, and he is just not good at that other stuff.

If he stuck to what he is good at, he would be much more effective, him posting up on the blocks is a 50/50 proposition at best.

While his PnR with Harden...ooooh man !

DD

 

The same with Tmac where we probably got 1 and a half years of superstardome
and couple other years of borderline allstar to allstar and then he was just another role player.

 

Yes, he lost his quickness, athleticism, his instinct to roll to the basket and slamming it home.

He can still impact the game on Defense, improved his post play to slightly above average against mediocre competition,

He is still more athletic than the average NBA stiff but yeah Orlando Dwight was 23 points and 16-20 boards and 5+ blocks almost every game.

The 18-20+ rebounds and more than 5 blocks a game is what he lost IMO that mattered the most

Now he is 18 pts 12-13 rpg guy with the 2-3 blocks per game

 

I actually am much more cautious about D-Mo's progress than most of you all. Which when you think about it, is quite remarkable.

 

We will see once he returns, the offense runs smoothly without him and he could average at least 6 or 7 dunks per game with PnR. It's disappointing to see him command the ball in the post and watch everyone else stand around as he either misses, makes, or gets fouled and misses.

I hope that D12 isn't that stubborn to know that his post ups may get him his but it doesn't help the team. We score like 28% of the time on his post ups.

D12 become a part of the solution and run the freeflowing offense, which you can see the potential by the many easy opportunities for Dmo, Black, and Joey. Point blank dunks and layups.