The final D-Mo preseason thread

1. Will your feelings about him change if he doesn't become a plus defender this year and doesn't improve his 3-point percentage by 6% this year?

2. If we keep DMo, and he does not accomplish one of the 2 things you mentioned (improve his 3 point percentage by 6% or become a plus defender) what do you think his trade value will be after this year?

 

-What the F does his trade value have to do with anything??? Why do you keep bringing this up? The Rockets aren't trying to trade for a franchise cornerstone at all costs anymore. They need to develop players, not sell them like commodities like in past years.

Yes, its important that the Rockets stay flexible financially but they have TEAM OPTIONS for him for the next two years, and a qualifying offer the year afterwards. He's on a very good team friendly contract whether he's productive or not.

Its time to give it up about trading D-Mo. Its the most ridiculous argument currently in the GARM. Right up there with firing McHale because he's a racist. I think you are a better poster(fan??) than that.


3 point percentage- He shot 29% last year as a rookie... why does he need to shoot 35% if thats not really his bread and butter???? Why does he even need to shoot 3 pointers as it is to prove anything to you????

He's more than likely going to be even more important to develop as a BIG MAN now more than ever that they are losing their insurance plan in Camby. He's improved drastically this Summer at being more of an inside presence, who gives a s%#% about his three point percentage if he's developing nicely as a backup C/PF? The 3 point shot is the icing on the cake... not the cake itself. Lets please get that straight.

 

Dobro - you are of course right, but you can not explain to people with an agenda.

DD

 

It's not the first year of Morey. How are trade scenarios ridiculous? He has made several trades each year.
You should have known by now that Morey will always be active seeking trades. More so with two established superstars and valuable contracts the sorts of Chandler and Beverley.

Donatas, Jones will certainly take longer to develop than Chandler and Beverley who came in and delivered.

It is just a matter of which direction they want to head.
If they value Dwight Howard's 5 years of prime (estimated) then they should start looking for a more established guy. Just my 2 cents.

 

Trading a young, cheap 7 footer under team control for several more years with the potential DMo has would be pants on head r****ded, what's why "trade scenarios" are ridiculous. The Rockets couldn't get anything anywhere near as valuable back in trade.

 

Dmo was never going to be a focal point in trades. He was regarded as a filler in a mid block buster trade... for a borderline allstar, allstar type.

 

Which would make trading him even more foolish. You just don't trade guys like that unless you have to. Give it a year or two and he could be a 20/10 kind of player, you don't add a guy like that on a rookie contract as "filler" if you are a competent GM. Fortunately Morey is very competent so I don't have to worry about him doing that no matter how many short sighted posters here suggest it.

 

Basically the only way it makes sense is if we could get Love or LMA for Lin and DMo

 

I am not here to prove you wrong it is just a personal sentiment.

It's not a video game where you can develop players within hours because there is no real time line.

 

I agree, it's not a video game, which is why you don't trade someone like DMo away unless you can get a Kevin Love or a LMA. Cheap young players with that kind of potential you develop and use them to get over the hump. IMO DMo is similar to Chandler Parsons in that their low salary and high talent level make them untradeable because you can't possibly get back equal value for them.

 

Seem like you have no idea what's going on. I would stay out of the way if I were you.

 

1. His trade value has to do with the possibility that he fails to improve on those 2 things. If he doesn't improve on those two things you've got a player that cannot shoot the 3, cannot D up, and has NO trade value. You've got dead weight.

While everybody is looking at "upside" a GM has to consider "downside" as well. And then he has to evaluate risk on a young player like DMo. Does he keep him and "hope" he achieves his upside? Or does he trade him and avoid the slippery downside slope?

Please stop with the stupid "What the F...." crap. It makes me think a lot less of you. This is not personal. It's about the team we both love.

2. Develop players???? Dude...we moved out of the "develop players" mode as soon as we signed Dwight. We are trying to win a ring. Don't have time to wait for guys to come around. It's about NOW! So if the right deal comes along to add another key piece I have no doubt Morey will do it. And I seriously doubt that more than 1 of DMo/Jones/GSmith stick around after the trade deadline. And I can see the possibility of all 3 guys being gone if the right trade comes along. There's nothing unreasonable or crazy or stupid about my rationale.

3. We don't need a backup center.

4. If Asik or Dwight goes down...DMo isn't ready to be the backup center. We're back to last year. Morey will undoubtedly go get a vet to anchor the paint behind the other big. As Bima mentioned, it would probably hasten Okafor being bought out and signing here.

5. DMo's defense is not going to drastically improve in the next week, 2 weeks, or month. And that is what his defense has to do...improve drastically...for him to get more than scrap minutes in the rotation. And once the season starts and he is playing scraps he's going to have even less opportunity to improve his D.

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That's why I asked how do you get him to improve his defense. We can look at all sorts of stats and claim that he's out of position, etc. But how do you get him to fix it? It's not like we haven't known his defense deficiencies until this training camp. They were there last year. They were there in RGV. Positioning?????? Not used to the NBA court yet????? That's laughable. I mean come on now. We're talking about professionals. Do you think for one second that the Rox don't have all this data and more? Do you think for one second that they don't have video of every defensive possession DMo has played on this team and on RGV. Do you think they don't know how to diagnose what's wrong with DMo's D???

Of course they do....and they already have.....and they've already told him about it. And ..... nothing has changed. Hence, my question...how do you get him to improve his D?????? Because telling him what he needs to HAS NOT WORKED!!!

So the next question is how does DMo get significant minutes and break into the rotation for this team???? Here...I'll answer it for you.


1. Wait for a big injury to Dwight or Asik knocks them out of the rotation for a couple months.

or

2. Improve his defense drastically to an acceptable level where he is not considered a huge defensive liability in the paint. (It will take drastic improvement just to get him to acceptability.)

or

3. Revamp his jump shot so he becomes a 36+% shooter from 3.

.............
............


I agree that DMo is a very intriguing prospect. I agree that he could "possibly" become an All-Star. I agree that he has All-Star "potential". And if this were a lottery team....I'd say keep him, run him out there 35 minutes a night and let him learn on the job. In fact........that's really what I think DMo needs to do. He needs to play major minutes and learn how to play at the NBA level. Sending him back to RGV will do nothing to improve his game. And sitting him on the bench does nothing to improve his game. Dude needs to play in the worst way.

The problem is.....playing DMo significant minutes at either the 4 or the 5 hurts this team right now. We have to sit down somebody else that is more effective in their role than how effective DMo is if plugged into that role. Same goes for TJones. Same goes for Greg Smith.

Once again...just trying to keep it real. Be realistic. After watching this team throughout preseason....if DMo gets more than scratch minutes on this squad without an injury occuring then I'll be shocked. And I have to believe that if we are giving him rotation minutes to start the season that it is because we are desperately trying to increase his trade value or we are desperately hoping that he shows us something to justify continuing to run him out there. I'll be shocked if DMo is getting more than scrap minutes to start this season. And that's no way to "develop".

So....you ask me about why I "want" to trade him, about why I keep bringing up his trade value????? I've told you again. He's not fitting in to this team. He needs to develop. He's not going to develop here playing scrap minutes. He's not good enough right now to get more than scrap minutes. So.....I think there is the possibility that we trade him. Trade him for something of value that could have more "potential" going forward than he does or at least allow us to reset our potential risk.

 

The 3 pter is much more than icing on the cake, it defines D-Mo's ceiling. Without the 3, his ceiling is Brook Lopez, with the 3, he's a Dirk.

 

Ummmmmmmm, DMo will have to go a ways to be as good a shooter as Lopez is. However DMo is much quicker and faster than Lopez and he is better in the post.

Of course some posters here have DMo pegged as a "backup center".

So I doubt they'd agree his ceiling is Lopez either.

 

1. Worst case scenario, you have a mil or two of dead weight.....that's not really much of a risk at all.

2. The Spurs were trying to win championships, they also developed Splitter. Smart teams win AND develop talent so that they can keep winning.

3. If the team was only going to play this season and no more afterwards then you'd be right, unfortunately Asik won't be around after this year so we very much do need a backup center.

4. I'm not going to speculate what would happen if Asik or Dwight went down, but in that scenario, DMo would be the most competent big man on the team and the most logical choice to fill in at the back up 5.

5. I don't consider you a very good judge of talent, so your opinion here is irrelevant IMO. DMo does have to improve his D, but pretty much every young big man needs to do that.

As to "how does DMo get significant minutes and break into the rotation for this team?" Simple, he will get time at PF as of right now once they realize that playing Casspi at PF is a bad idea.

 

Dmo is not like Parsons. Parsons played heavy minutes in his rookie season.
He was a starter in his rookie year.

Perhaps you are right about getting value back.
Or maybe you are just in the camp that does not want to see an established PF doing heavy damage next to Howard.

I have been to the Development stage before, and mediocrity does suck for me.

 

I'm in the camp that realizes that it's best to establish your own PF rather than paying one that has less left in the tank and will cost 8 or 9 times as much. The Rockets are already going to go into the luxury when they pay Parsons, why waste even more money on a guy who would be at best the 4th or 5th option in the starting lineup?

 

spacing, defense, rebound as a constant
there are people that sleep safe at night knowing that the 4 spot is secured by a vet.

 

basketballholic - You're wrong, a team should never get to the place where they stop developing young talent.