99 replies to this topic

[timetodienow1234567]

Tony Parker has become a world class PG and he couldn't shoot a lick when he first came into the league. Now he can shoot 3s. He can shoot fadeaways. He can pull up and shoot jumpers. He has nearly every possible shot in his arsenal. Hard work can teach you to shoot. Maybe Parker's the exception, not the rule, but we'll see with Kawhi's emergence. He's gotten a realiable 3 point corner shot and has developed a few other offensive moves that he displayed in the summer league. Of course, Rondo's never gotten a shot, so that's a detriment to my point, but when you listen to most GMs, they say that you can learn a jumper more easily than you can learn defense. For a big man, look at Ibaka. He's got a nice jumper now.

[Cooper]

I wouldn't say tony Parker is a good defensive player...and yeah ibaka has a decent mid range shot but he still isn't a skilled offensive player.

[timetodienow1234567]

I agree, but he's getting better. And how is Parker not a good defensive player? He's won rings on a team that had shut down defense. He may not be the gaudy stat sheet stuffer, but he plays good defense and also has excellent help defense. He's not a great defensive player, but he is a good one.

[Cooper]

I was just looking at Parker's stats and he's never shot less than 42% so it's not like he was a bad offensive player when he first came in.

[timetodienow1234567]

Almost all of his points were from layups. You might have forgotten, but he was as fast as Iverson when he came into the league.

[Jeby]

Going back to D-Mo's rebounding and defense: don't watch his rebounding numbers without watching his play. As long as he plays next to Asik--one of the premier rebounders in the NBA--D-Mo's rebounding numbers will suffer. Asik stays close to the basket to gather misses created by good defensive effort from his teammates. Motiejunas can help the TEAM rebound best by rotating fast and hard to contest shots, and then focus on boxing out his man before diving for the ball. On a lot of those possessions, the ball is going to end up in Asik's hands, not D-Mo's, and that's okay. I'd rather have Asik making the outlet pass as D-Mo hustles down the court to establish early deep post position in transition.
Of course, as guys like Kevin Love and David Lee have proven, going for rebounds rather than good defensive rotations is the best way to put up big numbers and get a big contract (this was noted in ESPN's coverage of the Sloan Conference). Since D-Mo is still a few years from free agency, I think he'll try to make the right team play.
One last note: even though I and many others have criticized Patterson for his lack of rebounding, I think part of that was due to him going for the shot-contest first, and the rebound second, knowing that Asik would reel the ball in. On Sacramento, where he has no motivation other than stats, I expect his rebounding numbers to rise.

[timetodienow1234567]

I agree somewhat. But Chandler gets rebounds without sacrificing defensive prowess. It's not a one or the other type thing. Look at Duncan/Dwight(pre injury)/Chandler/Noah/etc...

[Mason Khamvilay]

Yeah, I think those excuses are only valid if you're on a great rebounding team so there aren't many rebounds to go around. From what I've seen, Motie doesn't know how to get in a low stance and fight for rebounding position, he's always standing tall and relying on his height and length to get rebounds. He's still young though, and I'm sure McHale will work on his rebounding fundamentals during the off-season. 

[timetodienow1234567]

DMo's expert passing tonight was great. If he can keep those passes up, we'll get wide open looks for sure.

[Steven]

D-Mo = HOF. Too much pressure to put in a guy <5 starts?

[ale11]

DMo's expert passing tonight was great. If he can keep those passes up, we'll get wide open looks for sure.

 

I know it was just one, but how about that crossed pass from Robinson to Garcia for an open 3?

[Mason Khamvilay]

I pesonally found D-Mo's quick touch pass to Asik inside the most impressive of his assists, even Asik looked surprised because he paused for at least a second looking down at the ball in his hands seemingly thinking to himself "whoa, how did this get here?"

[timetodienow1234567]

That was pretty funny too. He also passed up a 3 that "might" be contested to a corner 3(which has a higher percentage), which had "zero" chance of being contested. That selflessness will make him improve faster.

[Jason]

D-Mo had all the tools to be an offensive star. He can post up with an array of moves, can shoot out to three point range, runs the floor very well for a seven footer, can put the ball on the floor, and has even shown some pretty good passing ability. The only question marks for me are his rebounding and overall defensive ability. But there are a lot of stars who can't play defense (Nash, Dirk, Barkley).

[timetodienow1234567]

Dirk can play defense. He's average defensively since 2007.

[Steven]

2007 when he turned 28. So D-Mo has 6 years to be average.

[phaketrash]

2007 when he turned 28. So D-Mo has 6 years to be average.

 

And to be on Dirk's near-prime level on offense  

[thejohnnygold]

In his last 9 games D-Mo's per 36 numbers are looking good.

 

  pts      fg%     ast     reb     stl

19.8    .538     3.2     7.2     0.2

 

He is still a defensive novice and picks up fouls for tying his shoes wrong, apparently.  I'm not sure why he got that foul called for the illegal screen last night...I guess he wasn't completely set yet, but guys do that all the time.  He also continues to move quickly enough to draw charges--so that's good.  Keep it up...

[Mason Khamvilay]

I've noticed that the refs have been pretty rough on D-Mo. He has been called for all sorts of things that normally wouldn't get called, I can imagine his confusion, the refs really should be more consistent.

[thejohnnygold]

I'll write it off as the rookie treatment....He'll learn and they will lay off him in time.