Thank you sir for not correcting me over $100K here and there. I was functioning only from memory, and as we all know my memory is at times unreliable. There was some draft day discussion about the wisdom of trading away perhaps the best Euro PF since Dirk for D-Mo. Not here, but on advanced stats sites. At that point in time I did not have a firm grasp on Mirotic's Real Madrid contract. In hindsight I would say that Morey made the correct decision. In HMMMMM's D-Mo thread, when we were watching D-Mo play for Prokom over really bad feeds, I mentioned that D-Mo would perhaps be the ideal NBA center. The Euro fans really gave me **** for that remark. Their opinion was that D-Mo would lose his agility and quickness bulking up to play center in the NBA. But on the lighter side there was Carl's "alligator arms" gifs. Absolutely hilarious. A good time. And so where does D-Mo sit today? Well, since he has "learned" to play NBA defense well, becoming a plus defender, he sits in a really good place. His body reminds me of Asik's. Heck, D-Mo gained 42 pounds of muscle last year. And he has a level of athleticism that Asik will never obtain. He has a low post game that few in the NBA can rival and I still have hopes that he could develop into a 35% shooter from beyond the arc. Holy crap! Are we looking at one of the next great centers in the NBA? Maybe. I do not know. Possibly not. But perhaps a top 5 center in today's NBA. In retrospect Morey made the right call. There can be little doubt about that.
Howard and D-Mo are completely unlike. Howard is all about strength and power and quickness and IQ. D-Mo is all about skill and shot making and low post and IQ. D-Mo may be developing into an Asik with a serious offensive game. Plus athleticism that Asik can only dream about. We will see.
There are currently 684 posts concerning the game in the thread about the game. It seems you are the only one that wants to knee jerk about that game in this thread.
In a season where we have been lucky to have a lot of bright spots, the emergence of both DMo and TJones has definitely ranked up there for me. From the promise they showed in their first summer league outing, to their rough year last year, and the hard work they both put in to improve from that. It's been great to watch
Absolutely. The Rockets went from not having a PF to two serviceable power forwards in 3 months. Are they a top 10 rotation? Absolutely not. But they are costing about $2.6M this season. Great production for the dollar. Almost Parsons like. And under today's CBA you have to find serviceable rookie contract players if you want to compete. In Bev, Jones, Parsons and D-Mo the rockets have 4. Amazing work by Morey.
I do think Mirotic could be one of the best PF's in the NBA one day here pretty soon IF.... and thats a big if, he comes over. He'd be the ideal stretch 4 this team wants, and he's got the potential to be a very good player.... not an All-Star IMO, but a really good serviceable player somewhere between Ryan Anderson, and Toni Kukoc. If you are judging by cant miss talent, there is no doubt in my mind that Mirotic is the better player to take a gamble on the front end of his tenure in the NBA and D-Mo was and still might be more of a high upside/high bust rate big. However, circumstance is everything in the NBA, and if you consider the circumstance, Morey made the right pick, and D-Mo's progression only validates it even further. Had Mirotic been picked over D-Mo, there is not only a good likelihood that he wouldn't have come over these past two years, and in the future, but given the Rockets cap situation, I would have to think that similar to Scola and the Spurs, they would have had to trade him for next to nothing to potentially a rival team. As for D-Mo being a top 5 center?.. I'll be happy if he continues on the path that he's on now which is leading to him being a versatile big who can really plug in the gaps where you need on a good team. Top 5 center might be a bit over zealous given the talent coming up and how some really good players at the 5 will be around for awhile. What will be interesting to see if that if D-Mo keeps getting better, I would bet that like Harden with OKC, and Asik with Chicago, a GM like Morey on another team will try and pluck some of these players like D-Mo and Jones in free agency in a couple of years thinking that if they were in situations where they had more PT, and touches, they would take a next step into being a building block piece. Unfortunately, if D-Mo is going to really take that next step to be more than a role player, its probably going to be on another team. Good news though is that D-Mo still has TWO more full years left on his deal with the Rockets as does Jones. There is a potential there that if Howard is to sunset a bit over the next two years, that Jones and/or D-Mo could be coming into their own around the same time making the next three years very, very interesting for the Rockets big rotation.
I agree with this, but lately I have been less sure. He has really improved his defensive positioning and he has been closing the gap with Jones (who has the offensive advantage) in my opinion. I did not expect Jones would be the more effective offensive player. Granted, I didn't expect him to be able to take over 50% of his shots at the rim and make over 70% of those shots.
The ONLY offensive advantage Jones has over DMo is the ability to dribble the ball the length of the court. He does nothing else better than DMo.
Excellent thoughts. I too foresee D-Mo leaving in two years. And I will not be happy about it. But the CBA is all about cost versus production and Morey seems to have very good rookie talent coming up. Mirotic. What a gamble. Certainly the most talented Euro PF since Dirk. But one must always wonder how Euro League talent translates into the NBA. I feel sure that Morey is somewhat relieved not to be making that decision. ~$30M over 4 years. Christ. In retrospect Morey did the right thing. What a surprise. LOL.
The Rockets do not need points from the PF position. They need defense. I will leave you with that thought.
If playing above the rim is a criteria then James White does something better than Jones. There's no way to really determine that. And the vast majority of the time playing above the rim does not factor into winning. DMo is a seven footer. He may not jump as high. Doesn't mean Jones is better at a basketball skill than DMo. Finishing through contact??? DMo draws way more fouls on his touches than Jones does. That's a plus for DMo.
Didn't you not see Jones move his feet against Walker last night. Plus Jones is good with help defense. Dmo take charges better and that's pretty much it. Like I stated before both players brings something different on both ends of the court. They are pretty much equal IMHO.
Jones is pretty darn crafty around the rim. Dmo has the better low post moves but come on, playing soft doesn't win you anything either. It is good to have players who plays above the rim.
