love dmo's attitude, at this point I rather give the backup center minutes to him then try to get Asik to get over his minutes slipping
I love DMo's competitive spirit and hope he starts getting some minutes as Dwight's back-up and a few minutes w/ Dwight. If he can start getting 15-20 mins a game, I think we'll see some of what we saw against the Nuggets. His offensive prowess is impressive and he's working harder on defense. He'll probably never be a dominant defender or rebounder, but he can certainly provide us some offensive firepower in the post with the ability to stretch to the 3PT line.
There are plenty of rotational 5's in the league who aren't great rim protectors. DMO's offensive ceiling is crazy high though. You can't let him go. They just need to make sure that they pair him on the floor with TJ or Dwight. At least one of your two bigs needs to be a rim protector. Our defense is ALWAYS going to take a hit when Dwight comes off the floor. Even if Asik is playing minutes there will still be some drop off. Some of that is just that the other team looks to be way more aggressive driving the lane when Dwight sits. TJ is the clear starter right now there's no question about that. But DMO should be seeing significant minutes.
I really like the combination of Lin and D-Mo off the bench. They could make one of the best one / two punches, off the bench, that we've seen in this league. They're both very offensively gifted offensively. All the team really needs is another rim protector to play next to D-Mo when Dwight is off the court. Sadly the other rim protector we have, Omer Asik, is being a complete little b**** right now.
I went back and watched every minute of the Denver game again. D-Mo is obviously going to be a force on the offensive end. He is so quick, skilled and has such great hands he is an offensive terror cutting to the basket or from the low block. Offensively the sky is the limit for D-Mo. Defensively D-Mo actually played a very good game. D-Mo never suffered an extended mental lapse like Jones did in the first 3 minutes of the game, losing Faried 3 times for easy buckets. He was constantly well positioned, but once his defensive rotation was slow or nonexistent on Mosgov in traffic. D-Mo's major problem on defense is on the high center P&R. He finds himself out at the 3 point line against starting NBA point guards several times a game, and that is a battle that no 7 footer is going to win. Correcting D-Mo's P&R defense is just going to take game time, but he worked very hard on the defensive end of the floor. D-Mo's other obvious flaw is the number of tick-tacky fowls he picks up a game. That is also something that is going to take game time to work out. All in all I feel sure he and the Rockets staff are satisfied with his performance in the Denver game.
We have seen DMo be an offensive force a number of times now. He without a doubt has a very high side on the offensive end, and he is a special talent. I think you have to play the guy every game, and give him a chance to develop and to stay in game shape. I know he has only played limited minutes, but he sure looks to have one of the top post up games in the NBA.
How great was Dream - honestly, a force all over the court.....Even Yao was better than Dwight as a two way player. DD
All you have to do is listen to McHale to know if DMo will get any future playing time. When asked about TJones he had high praise. When asked about DMo he said nothing. DMo is only playing because Greg Smith is injured. DMo and TJones both looked good and both deserved praise. Everyone gave it to them but McHale reserved his for TJones only. He is so stupid to not recognize. Clearly DMo has defensive issues but not as bad as many on here scream. The bottom line is DMo is a PF and not a center. He is better than Casspi defensively and is much better as a low post threat than anyone on the team. Morey tried to force McHale's hand in playing DMo but trading every other PF and McHale preferred Delfino over him. He has no interest in playing DMo and wants anyone that plays close to his level to play before him. DMo had a good preseason and gets nothing while Casspi has had bad games. Asik was a disaster starting with Howard but McHale would rather stick with that until everyone in the league realizes it's a blatant mistake and just starts every game stopping hi scoring offense and taking a lead. Yet McHale is the last idiot to see the obvious.
I am glad a 99er recognizes McHale's flaws and blatant bias. Even TJones ONLY got a chance because Garcia was injured or he would have been in the dog house like DMO. McHale is a poor overall coach and useless when ti comes to judging young players' talent or giving them playing time. DMO is our best offensive option in the low post. The 4 and 5 minutes need to be distributed between Howard, DMO and Jones with Casspi playing spot minutes
McHale should give him major minutes next game vs the Celtics. Our bench is better than their starting lineup.
Good post. I always wondered if Mchale had an issue with DMo. Then sometimes I wonder if Morey and or Les can step in and make him play certain players.
I feel sure that Morey had quite a hand in the TT experiment. The Rockets had to know quickly if the Howard/Asik combo would work. It didn't, Asik blew a fuse, and here we are with a big mess. If the TT experiment never happened in all probability Asik would have blown the first week of the season and the experiment might never have occurred.
Huh? From here. HOUSTON ROCKETS COACH KEVIN McHALE (On Donatas Motiejunas' play) “D-Mo was really good, I was happy for him. He hadn't had a chance to play much. He went out there and gave us a big lift. He scored in the post. He moved the ball really well. He was bodied up on those big bodies that they have which is hard to do. I thought that he and Terrance really did a nice job of bodying those guys.” (On Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas in the rotation) “I think Terrence and D-Mo running drags guards with them and opens up shots. It opens up some room for us, so that's been good for us.”
I seriously don't get McHales aversion to playing Dmo. Hes just simply not a center, he gives us so many options with the fact hes the only player on the team who actually has a post game.
People constantly make the mistake that because McHale is the head coach it is his team. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is Morey's team. Morey's ego requires control well past what most other GM's exercise. Adelman was let go because he resisted Morey. McHale was hired partly because he agreed to allow Morey considerable influence in decisions normally reserved for the coaching staff.
I believe that D-Mo is a center. 7 foot. 260 pounds and still with room to fill out. One of the best post up games in today's NBA. Young enough to improve immensely. Enough range on his shot to cause defensive monsters like Hibbert fits. Maybe it is just me but if I were building a center from the ground up those characteristics are about where I would start.
