7ft tall, post game, hard work & hustle? In all seriousness, DMo needs to learn to pace himself and work on his stamina. I like what I'm seeing from him though. If he works hard enough and learns from his experiences he'll be a good weapon to have. The crazy part? He's only 21!
There's little doubt that he can score, he's game on that end of the court is quite amazing really, a fast 7 footer that can spin to the basket AND shoot 3s AND pass the ball well?? nobody not named Nowiztki does that. if he's Dirk lite that's awesome. the Defensive end may be more of a issue but I fail to see why he couldn't at least be average there.
I was at the game and DMo did a fantastic job covering sticking to his man and not jumping on pump fakes before he was subbed out in the first quarter. Ilyasova hit some tough shots in the second half and team rotations were bad but I came away very impressed with DMo ability to stay in front of his man and not foul. His defense is further along than I expected. I watched him very closely. He'll be a 20+ ppg 9 reb 3 assist guy in 2 years
It is all up to him, he has elite level attributes, size, quickness, skill, it will depend on his drive to get the most out of it. Someone like Robert Horry settled and never really got much better - whereas the superstar players always strive to get better. DMo has the package, whether he chooses to develop it is on him. DD
I have this unrealistic hope and dream that D-Mo will play like a young Arvydas Sabonis. But D-Mo is more finesse than banger, although Sabonis was not really lacking in finesse himself.
Luckily, everything he has said indicates he is willing to, and currently is, putting in the work required. Talk is cheap, but it sounds like McHale and other members of the coaching staff/team have taken note of his work ethic as well. His passion for the game is obvious on the court too, dude plays almost too hard, ha. For those saying stamina is an issue, yes he is not yet in "game shape", but that will develop as his minutes increase. You can work out all you want, but the only way to really get into basketball shape is to play basketball, which until recently he hasn't been able to do.
My feeling too. I think D-Mo is capable of putting up good numbers on the stat sheet. But his defense which does not show up on the box score worries me.
His main problem right now is his lack of recovery on his "help and recover" defense. When D-Mo "helps" he almost completely ignores his own man. The dude needs to take some lessons from Asik and Lin on how to help a fellow defender recover from a disadvantage, then recover himself to guard his own man. Asik is awesome at this. When D-Mo learns to do that, McHale is going to be very reluctant to rest him.
I have always really like Motiejunas, and always said he was way more talented and better player than Valanciunas. However, I've also always said he's too soft on offense and can't guard anyone. He's young and is a big, so it's always been a legit excuse and just seen as he needs more time. I am starting to have doubts though. I have not seen any improvement at all from where he was at last year in Prokom, playing in the worst team in the Euroleague, maybe of the last 12 years. The difference just comes in stats or playing time, from horrific Euroleague team, that was having to play high school kids from the junior club because of financial problems, to the NBA. He just gets less playing time and gets less stats because of it. The difference other than environment is really nothing. This disappoints me. Because last year he steadily was making improvements as the year went along. His defense was bad, his game was soft, he could not guard any big men in Europe because he was too weak, but he was at least improving slowly and steadily. Right now I don't see any improvement. I thought it was just from not playing and being benched by McHale. But really in seeing him play, he's suddenly not steadily improving. He seems to be at a plateau on defense and with his softness. If he still can't guard any pro level big man and he still wants to stand at the 3 point line already by this time in his career - he's probably never going to change. And you cannot just "bulk him up" as some people say. He already weighs 245 and if he goes to 260-265 he's losing his mobility and agility, because his body can't handle that weight. People that say it can are just wrong. Just go check out what the Jazz did to Kosta Koufos if you don't believe it. They made him go from 245 to 265 and almost destroyed his entire career. Took him years just to get back to being about 1/2 as good as he was before. So, the issue is, yes, Motiejunas can definitely put up some big numbers in NBA. He has all the tools and talent. That's why he was seen as a top draft prospect. The problem is he's just a naturally soft on offense mentality (stand at 3 point line too much) and a weak and bad on defense guy against big men in low post...... Which is why he went lower in the draft. I'm honestly not seeing any improvement from him at all in those areas. And he's not a guy you can just "bulk up". Besides that, he still wants to shoot 3 pointers, which is not how he should ideally be playing. So yeah, he can put up the numbers, but it won't be what it seems. Sort of like Kevin Love scoring 25, but giving up 26 a game.
How about signing Tony Allen or JJ Reddick for the bench and then signing another defensive low post guy? That would be great.
This. The rotation near the basket was terrible last night. The guy is obviously offensively talented but his defense needs a lot more attention to detail. I think Ilyiasova taking him away from the basket completely confused him.
I think he'll be better than Scola. Scola's best game was a 44 point outing against the lakers where he made 20+ field goals. Motiejunas will be better because he combines a post game that could improve to Scola's level with more size and range. He'll be our 2nd or 3rd option, eventually. He just needs to improve on defense, and I think he can do that. He already hustles. He just needs to get comfortable with the rotations and improve his strength.
Don't expect the everage go over 5-6 rebounds per game if he plays less than 30 minutes a game. No way. He had about 7.9 in Euroleague last year when plaid 31.3 minutes per game, and there is bigger dudes all around.
I would like to say that it has been a while since I read a post that sounded this intelligent but was so far from the facts. I did not answer specifically all of your paragraphs because you just sort of rehashed points repeatably. But that post was weak in both NBA knowledge and understanding.
Did you not read his second point? Renegotiate D-Mo's contract right now?????????? When I read something that unknowledgeable in a post I take the rest of it and dismiss it immediately.
