Finding D-Mo

[ChokeFasncists]

D-Mo is a gangster! His post moves are top notch, by far the best on the team and one of the best in the league. He still needs some refinement on finishing his shots, but his low-post game has a ton of potential. I thought he was a terrible rebounder, but this season he's averaging 9.7 boards per 36 minutes! That is very solid. I feel like his defense is much improved to the point where he is no longer a liability out there.

The biggest disappointment, in my opinion, is his lack of shooting ability. I was expecting him to be a respectable 3-point shooter and have a decent mid-range jumper but it hasn't been there at all this year. He needs to improve in that area to round out his game because he doesn't have superior strength, and isn't an elite leaper by any means so he can't expect to get all his baskets down low over stronger more athletic defenders.

But, I can definitely see the improvement, and his still young so I could potentially see him as our backup center for the future.

It's really disappointing so far for our young PFs in terms of three point shooting. I thought both DMo and TJ can shoot the three OK, or at least one of the them can. We really need to have one of them shoot well to spread the floor.

We don't necessarily need to have a 3 pt shooter at the 4. You can keep an defense honest if your 4 is aggressive on the boards and is a good cutter, which is why T Jones is doing well in our system. Jones also remains very effective as a outlet on PnRs due to his ball handling. I'm not overly concerned with his shooting as he doesn't, nor does he have to, shoot much.

D-Mo however isn't nearly as mobile and athletic as Jones and because of this his poor shooting is more of a problem. However D-Mo does have a pretty good post game, and if paired with Dwight or T Jones they can hit the glass while D-Mo posts up. They could even post up on opposite blocks. The problem though is the driving lanes will be clogged, plus I'm not sure his Dwight would feel about giving up some of his post touches.

Well, sure, we don't absolutely have to have a three point shooter at the four, but it would be really beneficial IMO, giving more room for Dwight's post ups and Harden/Lin's slashing. These two do camp out at the three point line sometimes and shoot when the opportunities arise, it's just that they aren't shooting a high percentage, and that's surely hurting the team.

[BaYBaller]

It's really disappointing so far for our young PFs in terms of three point shooting. I thought both DMo and TJ can shoot the three OK, or at least one of the them can. We really need to have one of them shoot well to spread the floor.

We don't necessarily need to have a 3 pt shooter at the 4. You can keep an defense honest if your 4 is aggressive on the boards and is a good cutter, which is why T Jones is doing well in our system. Jones also remains very effective as a outlet on PnRs due to his ball handling. I'm not overly concerned with his shooting as he doesn't, nor does he have to, shoot much.

D-Mo however isn't nearly as mobile and athletic as Jones and because of this his poor shooting is more of a problem. However D-Mo does have a pretty good post game, and if paired with Dwight or T Jones they can hit the glass while D-Mo posts up. They could even post up on opposite blocks. The problem though is the driving lanes will be clogged, plus I'm not sure his Dwight would feel about giving up some of his post touches.

Well, sure, we don't absolutely have to have a three point shooter at the four, but it would be really beneficial IMO, giving more room for Dwight's post ups and Harden/Lin's slashing. These two do camp out at the three point line sometimes and shoot when the opportunities arise, it's just that they aren't shooting a high percentage, and that's surely hurting the team.

You're basically saying it's good to have better players. Yes, of course it is. I'm just pointing out that TJones' skillset allows him to be very effective without having to shoot many 3's, whereas D-Mo's skillset is different where he isn't as mobile, isn't as big a threat crashing the offensive boards and not as good a ballhandler or finisher from the top of the key. Due to that D-Mo takes up 3's at a much higher clip than TJones does.

Because of that I was saying a better way to utilize D-Mo, rather than turn him into some stretch 4 which he clearly is not, would be to actually have him be a match-up based substitution to take advantage of mismatches in the post. But this is somewhat of a small gripe though and more of a look toward the future because we're still incorporating more important things into the team. I do not believe D-Mo is going to be in the rotation this year once Greg Smith gets healthy.

[ChokeFasncists]

We don't necessarily need to have a 3 pt shooter at the 4. You can keep an defense honest if your 4 is aggressive on the boards and is a good cutter, which is why T Jones is doing well in our system. Jones also remains very effective as a outlet on PnRs due to his ball handling. I'm not overly concerned with his shooting as he doesn't, nor does he have to, shoot much.

D-Mo however isn't nearly as mobile and athletic as Jones and because of this his poor shooting is more of a problem. However D-Mo does have a pretty good post game, and if paired with Dwight or T Jones they can hit the glass while D-Mo posts up. They could even post up on opposite blocks. The problem though is the driving lanes will be clogged, plus I'm not sure his Dwight would feel about giving up some of his post touches.

Well, sure, we don't absolutely have to have a three point shooter at the four, but it would be really beneficial IMO, giving more room for Dwight's post ups and Harden/Lin's slashing. These two do camp out at the three point line sometimes and shoot when the opportunities arise, it's just that they aren't shooting a high percentage, and that's surely hurting the team.

You're basically saying it's good to have better players. Yes, of course it is. I'm just pointing out that TJones' skillset allows him to be very effective without having to shoot many 3's, whereas D-Mo's skillset is different where he isn't as mobile, isn't as big a threat crashing the offensive boards and not as good a ballhandler or finisher from the top of the key. Due to that D-Mo takes up 3's at a much higher clip than TJones does.

Because of that I was saying a better way to utilize D-Mo, rather than turn him into some stretch 4 which he clearly is not, would be to actually have him be a match-up based substitution to take advantage of mismatches in the post. But this is somewhat of a small gripe though and more of a look toward the future because we're still incorporating more important things into the team. I do not believe D-Mo is going to be in the rotation this year once Greg Smith gets healthy.

Maybe you're right that he's not a stretch 4, but it seems to me DMo's still pretty raw and does have the potential to become one. DMo wasn't playing so well until the last few games. Now I think that he deserves to have more minutes after his great D on Dirk and in the Cavs game. I like him in the post but as you said, Dwight's not going to happy. If Dwight has indeed improved his posting up, having four shooters around him would be nice. Weren't we talking about Ryan Anderson just a while back? Again, I think TJ is better playing the Odom role, he's being abused by bigger fours. Him shooting a high percentage from 3 would be a very beneficial addition to his perimeter skills.

[Vator]

Career high 20 points against the Wolves.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tngVLBeK5yc[/youtube]