What is with the delusional attitude with Donatas Motiejunas. He is the Rockets best power forward and he has a solid skill set but he isn't anything special. Defensively he has gone from terrible to decent, and would be solid in the right system; but he isn't a defensive stud. He positions himself well but he misses switches, he does not keep the lane empty and he can be pushed around inside by good players. Offensively he is a very good post player, if he gets position. He has become a good three point shooter but he does not shoot very many. He isn't a good middle range shooter and he is a poor free throw shooter and doesn't draw many fouls. He is a poor rebounder and mediocre shot blocker. This is his 4th year in the league and is 25 years old, he isn't likely to suddenly see his overall game improve drastically. Overall he is the Rockets best post player and best power forward, but that has as much to do with the Rockets lack of a good power forward as him being a good player. There are easily 20 or more power forwards I would rather have over Donatas.
He's a good post player regardless of where he gets it. He isn't Dwight, he doesn't have to 4 ft from the rim with perfect position, he can actually work his way into a good shot. Unfortunately we never give him the damn ball, he gets maybe 2 or 3 a game, and the results are usually positive. I have yet to hear a good reason why he doesn't get 5 to 10 post touches every game. If we do it and fail OK, but we don't even try. Defensively he does get over hyped by some, but calling him decent is underselling what he was doing for most of last season. The longer he had to play center the less effective he became, but he was really good, great at times. I have no reason to believe he can't get back to that level regularly playing the 4 next to actual centers. A 4 that can score in the post, stretch the floor and play good defense is very valuable, even taking into account his bad rebounding. Unfortunately we refuse to utilize one of those skills. I really want to see how good he would be if we actually made his post game a major part of the offense.
He doesn't get the ball more often because he gets pushed out of the post before establishing position too often. He isn't effective defensively playing the 5. He is a solid defender playing the 4 next to a 5 that can block shots and erase his mistakes. He a good man defender, and in the right system (covering his flaws) could be quite effective defensively. He is what he is....... his career best is 12/6. He is a very good post scorer that can hit open 3's. However he is also a poor mid range shooter, a poor free throw shooter and he does not draw fouls. He is a productive role player, he isn't an all star and he never will be. He isn't the first, second or third best player on a very good team.
Where did I say anything about him being an all star? I do think he can be a starting PF on a championship level team. He played 30 MPG on a very good team last year, a team that didn't have a center (which we both agree he needs)for most of the year, yet we still managed to win a lot of games with him anchoring the frontline. From the time he started getting regular minutes he basically averaged 13 and 6, which is about what you said. With a few more touches and an actual center I think he could be a 15/7 type player, on a great team. I guess we disagree as to how much value that carries.
20 more PF's you'd rather have than DMo? I can only name 12 in no particular order. Bosh Favors Griffin Davis Gasol Randolph Aldridge Ibaka(maybe) Love Millsap Green Jabari the other 8...?
everything considered, i'd only pick griffin, davis, green, jabari, aldridge and maybe love over dmo.
Bosh $22,192,730 Blake $18,907,725 Favors $11,933,333 Davis $7,070,730(next season $21,000,000) Pau $7,448,760 ZBo $9,638,555 LA $19,500,000 Ibaka $12,350,000 Love $19,500,000(Not worth) Green $14,300,000 Jabary $5,152,440 Milsap $19,000,000 Worth to mention Thomson $14,260,870 Big Al $13,833,333 Dirk $8,333,334 PPat $6,268,675 --- Enough with max worth contract! Morey gonna get great deal if Sixers or Blazers or .. waist such money on DMo(which they wont). Its gonna be about 60M/4yr. +- 2M depends on DMo finishing as starter and have good PO vs. Have same normal season from the bench.. p.s always remember someone spend $16,400,000 Kanter..
Yes. DMo will more than likely get a deal worth 12m per + and I'm fine with giving him that. His 3 point shot has improved tremendously, and his post game is rock solid. He's the kind of player who's game will age like bourbon in a barrel. Look at all the other PF's who relied on skill throughout their career ala David West, Zach Randolph, Pau Gasol, Tim Duncan etc... they all age wonderfully.
Yeah, we can get him into a commercial where Mila Kunis pats him on the ass and says, "In three years I'll be back for this one." Oh, wait, that's whiskey..........
All things considered (including contract and age) I would pick the following players Cousins (he plays pf a lot this year) Green Griffin Aldridge Ibaka Horford Millsap Favors Bosh (will age very well) AD Love And for potential in the near future I would also pick the following: KAT!!! Porzingod Jabari Randle (21 y.o rookie) Noel Aaron Gordon I wouldn't pick ZBO, No Pau no Taj Gibson no Mirotic no Dirk no Kanter No Thad Young no Leonard no Rhyno no Faried no Sully/zeller/olynyk and no Tristan Thompson no Thobias Harris. And probably no Portis until I see more. I would not pick tim Duncan over Dmo because ...TD will retire in next year or in two years. I know it's sacriledge lol. Unless I was a championship contender who aims to win right NOW. There are also some combo forwards I would pick over DMO, Like Gallinari, PG13 (with the new small ball), Durant ,GA etc LOL !!!!! always remember that this year there are multiple teams that will have double the money they had the year that Kanter and TT became the albatross contracts they are. Philly? Portland? Who cares. Boston and Lakers and Indiana and Pistons with so big pf or c holes and noone to sign. Enough with your talk about comparing players that are either in good will vet contracts or signed years and years ago.
To be fair we discuss natural 4's. KAT plays at C, same as Horford. Cousins, Noel(naturally more C than PF), Gordon(more SF) even know they play at 4 half of time.
Dmo = combo big. Kat , Horford, Cousins = combo big. Gordon = combo forward Noel = C who is starting to play pf. I don't see any problem? The only one I would concede is maybe Noel. But Noel is also 21 and sophomore. I am waiting to determine if he can play pf defensively. The upgrade in rim protection and defence is remarkable tho.
And to be fair the only reason I am picking Jabari over DMO is because I have faith in him and his work ethic and his talent. If I was only a Rockets fan who didn't watch every Bucks game, I wouldn't pick Jabari. He has a loooong way to go to be part of this list.
Not only he's not an elite defender he is quite possibly one of the worst starter pfs in the whole wide league. Doesn't know hwo to properly defend the pnr , ball watches, he is just lost. And that is an improvement over the first 25 games of last season before he got injured.
DMo is an elite defender - of that there is no question, mere mortal statistics can not fathom the eliteness, which is why small minded folks like Malakas simply can't see it, they don't have the depth of basketball awareness to see the truth. And sadly, they probably never will. DD
Did I miss something? Since when have we considered DMo an ELITE defender or is there a level of trolling that I have missed? He has good defensive IQ which results in him being a good team/positional defender but he is not elite.
