NorEastern

come for the drama, stay for the education!

I stay because it amuses me.

I like D.Mo, but I like T.Jones more. I don't care who starts as long as T.Jones is paired with Ty Lawson. Jones will feast on opponents with his ability to cut to the basket and finish to go along with great athleticism.

I think I'm in the minority in thinking of D.Mo as not a true 7 footer. He gets beat up and overpowered on the defensive end even though he has good positioning most of the time and seems to know what he should be doing. He just doesn't have the physical ability needed to excel on the defensive end. He isn't bad but isn't good either, especially for a guy with his height.

He offensive game is good. He is a very good back to the basket player. He would thrive more on the block with set plays. He is not a cutter/finisher. He can do it to some degree but that isn't his game. That's T.Jones' game. Both players need to develop their games another level. As an overall player I think T.Jones get the nod in my opinion. However, it's not like there is some big gap between the two. They are almost interchangeable and lineups should dictate who plays when. Again, as long as T.Jones is paired with Lawson and possibly Capela I think the Rockets will do absolute damage to anyone inside on offense. 

If you look at the tape you will see that DMo is almost never backed down on defense. Hibbert can back him down, but Hibbert can back down Mount Rainier. And on offense DMo just blows defenders back into the restricted zone with ease. Jones, while of similar size, just gets blown up by like sized opponents. He cannot hold position. That is a problem.

It is impossible for me to imagine a more important player over the next four years on the Rocket's roster than DMo, except of course for Harden. There are few bigs in the NBA both willing and able to hold down both the four and the five positions. I am a much lesser man than Morey and so I would probably be sitting on DMo's doorstep right now with a 4 year $64 million contract in hand. I doubt Morey will seek to extend him right now.

Jones is a completely different story. Jones should be very good, but he certainly is not. He is not able to man up on a night to night basis. He is not capable of holding position against similar sized players on either offense or defense. I expect a lot of small ball out of McHale next season with DMo manning the five. If Harrell, Dekker and Capela develop I would expect Jones to be traded next season. Over his career is has been of little use against many starting Western Conference power forwards.

I expect Howard to enter free agency next summer. He will be on the wrong side of 30 and he has one large contract left in his career. I would doubt that Morey will offer him three years at $28M per year.

If Howard bolts will the Rockets be as good in the 2016-2017 season? That depends on how DMo and the young bigs develop. I have no crystal ball.

100% agree. 

Chuckie is done. Sorry. And honestly he was never very good when compared to D-Mo and Capela. Layup drills anyone?

I'm a little worried about DMO's health.  Backs can be career altering injuries (McGrady, Howard, etc).

 

However, assuming good health, figuring out the rotation will be key.  Given the talent level, we're likely going to need players who are legit NBA rotation guys to take a back seat (ala David Lee).  Will ego's survive?

 

Lawson and Dmo need to start because a starting 5 of Lawson, Harden, Ariza, Dmo and Howard will be unstoppable for all but a handful of teams.  But the minutes need to be staggered so that Lawson and Dmo are always on the court with the second unit to keep from having last year's drop off when Harden sits.  This likely means the starting 5 playing the beginning of each half and the end of the game together.  Big portions of the game will still be totally reliant on Harden for offense, but it should still reduce his workload (more energy available for defense?).  

 

McHale also has to figure out how to keep Howard's minutes down during the regular season.  I'd love to see Howard kept at a normal rotation of something like 6, 6, 6, 8 per quarter.  Does McHale play Dmo at center (remember...back issues) or do we get a much bigger dose of Capella?  Capella looked good in limited minutes during the playoffs, but is he ready to play 22 min a night?  

 

Finally, what is the rotation at backup wing?  Ariza and Harden need to reduce their minutes.  Ariza's 3pt % likely rises with less minutes.  But even if Harden/Ariza only play 34mpg that only leaves 28min for Brewer, KJ, Thornton, Terry, and Bev.  Bev is too good not to play 20min per game, but Lawson needs to be on the court with the backups.  KJ needs to play in order to develop.  Thornton's 3 ball could be huge for us.  Brewer brings insane energy that changes games.  A lot of balls in the air for McHale to juggle.

A quality post for your third one. Great job!