Reasonable people might disagree but he isn't just another player. He's already very good and he's very young and I imagine he's more likely to be a star ultimately than a bench guy. Before he got hurt he was playing out of his mind every other night and he's 22 or 23 and has shown tremendous improvement each year. Plus, and we all know this but it's pretty darn rare for a big, he has PG handles because he played at the point for a long time. He's a rare player and, barring long(er)term injury, he will only get better and better and better. If there's one guy on our team besides H&H I'm not trading, it's T. Jones. I know that's a radical position to take but I think that, all things considered, there's a good case to be made he's our third most valuable player.
I don't see eye-to-eye with you on TJo. I hope you're right and I'm wrong. However, any, as in a-n-y, discussion of trading TJo is ridiculous IMO until he is cleared, on the court, and performing as an NBA player.
DMo is a better fit on this team. It's not smoke and mirrors that we've been able to keep winning with Dwight out. It's DMo. Look at Black and Dorsey, they certainly don't provide anything close to what Dwight was giving us. Not the defense nor the offense. But DMo has been able to do it; his already good team defense from last year has amped up to a level of greatness this year on par with what Asik used to give us, and his man-up post D is also moving in that direction. On the offensive end, what can I say. The game is slowing down for him; even Zach Lowe has said that his array of moves is making other people look silly at times. The efficiency numbers are not there yet, but put him back in his role alongside a guy like Dwight, and watch out. How about we keep both T. Jones and DMo? I would want them to switch starting spots, however, with T. Jones looking to occupy more of a Josh Smith-type face-up, ball-handling, bench scoring role.
They learned from past mistakes? The Utes are 5.5 games behind PHX for 8th seed with Sac, NOLA, Nugs and OKC ahead of them. They're also .5 games from the worst WC record. Should they not be working towards better tomorrows?
How about we DO? D-Mo has been a revelation. I think both guys have an almost unlimited potential. And D-Mo finding his way has really been a silver lining to our injury crisis. I disagree a little about Black though. I think you undervalue him a little as the board generally seems to do. I love me a Tarik Black type player. But I can't disagree with you at all about Motiejunas. He's been tremendous and he seems to get better every game.
Guys like Jones aren't easy to find. He isn't perfect, but he isn't even 23 yet either. He has shown a lot of progress and he has talents that you can't just develop. You don't just let go of guys like that easy. At this point he isn't just another player.
The thing is I don't know if he's able to play defense well with more time. He gets blocks, but every time I watch him play D it feels like guys are either overpowering him or getting around him. This may be bias, but I can't see him as a plus defender ever. On offense I definitely agree with you. I hate the his slow shot but I feel he can improve on that. But defense I'm less certain about.
You're great Batman. I respect your opinion. But we're just on opposite sides of this argument and I suspect Morey sees it more my way than yours even though you do get to eat lunch with him. Of course, he has Jones on his roster so he's gonna do his best to sell everybody on how good he is. But I don't think Morey really believes Jones is going to be great or even very good. He's probably HOPING Jones will be great while he is still a Rocket. I'm with Doc Rocket on Terrence. And I think Morey knows Doc is right. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/dmorey">@dmorey</a> eyes R in left field: T Harris, A Bennett, G Dragic, etc...I sell the farm 4 Harris. Can't keep Capella & TJ..they're too dumb.</p>— Doc Rocket (@Thedocrocket) <a href="https://twitter.com/Thedocrocket/status/538738863460474882">November 29, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So you just made an argument about how Dmo held the fort without Dwight, and then said that Dmo should be playing his minutes with Dwight?
and you seem to be coming to the conclusion that if a guy can back Dwight up then he can't play alongside Dwight....so
I never said they couldn't, but the overlap will take away from the strengths. And we need to stagger minutes more too, since Dwight probably isn't playing more than 32mpg regular season ever again, and Dmo's energy game is probably a 30mpg at best before he goes all zombie. They both need to sit after about 6 minutes (that's when Mchale has been sitting either of them), so ideally we'd want one for the other in the 1st and 3rd, the key point here is "in place of Dwight". I just said I found it odd that someone would argue for what Dmo did without Dwight and then make an argument that leads to them both being on the bench at the same time.