If Dwight let go of his ego and stopped demanding touches in the post then DMo might be a better fit, but as of right now T-Jones is better suited for that garbageman/hustle role. DMo is a good scoring punch coming off the bench.
D-Mo's time has come. Mark it down: October 8th, 2014 Donatas Motiejunas is an ELITE LEVEL low post offensive scorer. Charlie V, Shmarlie V. It doesn't matter who you have guarding D-Mo. What are you going to do against a 7 footer who is solid cash money with ambidextrous baby hooks? His footwork was already excellent. These euro guys that have been playing ball since 14 tend to have an aptitude for footwork. Maybe it's the euro futbol environment they grow up in also...like Hakeem's soccer background that gave him an advantage. He had the aptitude to pick up what Coach Olajuwon was putting down, and it is really shining now. He is dominant, slick and confident. If opponents want to be physical on him and bump him around, that's fine. He isn't trying to get right under the hoop for a lay in or dunk. He'll spin off that contact left or right for the 4-6ft baby hook. He's showing an array of counter and counter counter moves. Last night hey got an offensive board and caught it just outside the paint. He held it a brief second, understood he was outside the paint, then took the remaining 12 seconds or so to gather himself, set up his own low post move, spun into the middle of the paint and executed his money shot. Also about one foul on him last night: He was falling back away from Iminu and made no contact. Then as Iminu was getting around him, Iminu reaches out and grabs aholt of D-Mo's shorts and takes D-Mo with him as he drives. It was a cheap dirty move by Iminu, and it was bush league for the refs to not see the obvious, schoolyard trick. D-Mo needs 20 minutes a night. He needs to be one of the 1st 2 scoring options off the bench. He's played alot of helter skelter minutes where the guards and wing guys don't respect him like they should. So we got guards and wing guys dribbling and passing with out purpose free lance style as the clock wastes away. If they would just feed D-Mo, we'd have no problem with bench production. Last year Daryl Morey said hands down that D-Mo was their most talented post up guy. Yep and duh. He is even more so this year. He's ready.
I still think it's worth it to experiment with Motiejunas at the starting 4 this preseason to see how things play out. It could be a disaster reminiscent of the Asik/Dwight front court from last season or he may end up being a better fit than Jones after all. I just think DMo appears to be the more skilled player right now of the two, and they owe it to themselves to try and get the best guys on the floor as much as possible.
The thing about DMo starting though is that you really can't do that if you need him to be the primary backup at the 5 as well. Unless gorilla dunk Dorsey can prove to be competent on some level, you may have to bite the bullet and stick with Jones starting at the 4 by default.
D-Mo, is better coming off the bench as the backup... His offense is not the problem.. His problem is on the defensive end and rebounding... D-Mo still has a long way to go, but he is getting better... I like D-Mo playing with Adrien.. Like yin and yang.. T_Man
Well he's still a much better defensive player than Jones, the problem is that he can't both start and come off the bench so unless a competent backup 5 is found, he has to come off the bench.
Ehh... not sure what some of you guys saw. He's still a weak link on D and while his low-post game no doubt is good, he still lacks the strength to establish good post position against bigger guys. Not reliable from 3 either, so not really a good fit next to Dwight. Adrien might not provide quite enough spacing/offense at the 4, but I'd give him a hard look as the backup PF over D-Mo. Either way, I think D-Mo is a goner, sooner or later.
That's a pretty bold statement. What makes you think that? Even if Motiejunas isn't a great fit at the starting 4, he's still easily the most skilled offensive big man on the roster and probably their best bet as the backup 5. It's pretty obvious to me that the Rockets like this guy. Morey coveted him for years and then traded for him on draft day and now the Rockets are giving him every possible chance this offseason to shine. And he hasn't disappointed. But you're suggesting that the Rockets are just going to cut him or let him walk. Why?
I don't know, man. I think he very well could start at the 4 and still be the primary backup 5. With the depth the Rockets have in the front court now with the additions of the Adrien and Dorsey, I could see a scenario where D-Mo gets 10-12 minutes as the starting 4 with Dwight and then 10-15 minutes backing Dwight up when he goes to the bench. Jones could still get his 20-25 minutes a game in different lineups and Adrien and Dorsey could fill in the gaps where necessary.
I must say that Dmo was the big bright spot in an otherwise atrocious game to watch. I really wish Dmo can show some consistency on both ends of the floor and nail down the starters role so they can have a real post presence. The game turned when the Rox started going to Dmo down low.
rubbish, you need both to really mix it up the Rockets showed great variety in their offence today and what i liked was the quick ball movement
As I remember, when Dwight and DMo were on the court together our offense was virtually unstoppable. I'll admit that the sample size is small, but it seems they performed really well together. The defense also showed some potential, but DMo couldn't stop fouling. If Yao and Scola worked, I don't see why Dwight and DMo can't work. DMo needs to develop a mid-range game and/or get better at the corner 3. He doesn't need to be a stretch 4 in the same vien as Love......just needs to be able to launch a respectable J every once in a while (like Scola).
ANother thing is DMo's passing is under-rated. The guy can truly get you 3 assists a game if we had a competent coach with a system in play. His know how on the offensive end is solid. Tough to play to your full potential when the coach asks you to camp on the perimeter and be a spot up shooter
I feel like, D-Mo should be our sixth man. He could provide us with much needed offense off the bench, with his post up and passing skills. He's also pretty good at facing up and putting ball on the floor. Defensively I think he should play opposing backup fours, because he simply isn't the rim protector, nor defensive rebounder, to be the primary back up five. I'd like to see ....Terry/ Johnson/ K-Pap/ D-Mo/ Dorsey ... as the primary backups.
I hope DMo will toughen up more. He reminds me of the rookie Yao Ming. (I am not saying he's going to be like Yao!) He is very mobile for his size, and very skilled on offense. But he is weak, a bit clumsy, and does not like forcing his way to the basket. I don't know how many times I yelled at the young Yao, "Get to the rim and flush it down, big guy!" He gets pushed around and can't always get into low position and seal his man. Yao eventually bulked up his upper body. JVG made him a dominant low post player, force feeding him to a fault. I hope McHale will do similar thing with DMo. Oh... and I wish DMo could shoot FTs like Yao.
No doubt. The whole team is pretty awful at shooting FT's, it's something we REALLY need to work on, shooting 64% from the line as a team won't cut it.
Scola is about 100x more reliable in every single category on offense than Dmo, Scola knew how to seal his man in the low post with consistent post scoring, and a way more consistent mid range shot that was money.
