Yea, he looked a bit lost, especially on the defensive end. Despite liking the trade for the long haul, we may suffer a bit at the 4 for a while.
For now, it seems that Parsons will start at the PF slot and Delfino will move in to the starting lineup. These are guys that McHale knows. Once he becomes more comfortable with Motiejunas / when he stops committing dumb fouls or taking dumb shots, he will get more run off the bench, and will eventually start. Robinson, I imagine, will be a high-energy rebounding and outback guy off the bench this season, and in a few weeks will start to look at 18-22 minutes. If he is tenacious enough, he could swipe the starting spot, but as of now, it looks like Motiejunas will inherit the starting spot in the next 5 games. Motiejunas starting is really exciting insofar as it increases the size and length of our front court, while maintaining the same quality of outside shooting that we had with Patterson, perhaps even better. His shooting mechanics are good and he can shoot the 3 from other spots besides the corner. The rockets ran a play last night where he came up from under a pin down to the left wing, and had he stopped and set his feet (D-Mo is too big to worry about getting the shot off fast, his length nearly makes his shot impossible to block), it would've been a nice bucket. He also showed a lot of aggression around the rim last night, and while his finishes could've been better, he will learn the patience of scoring around the rim and become a very nice piece. Long story short, look for Motiejunas to get that starting spot. He just has too many tools and is just as experienced as anyone else at the PF to be overlooked any more
I disagree. He didn't have an all-nba night, but he had the kind of night you should expect from a guy who doesn't get much playing time. He took two shots at the rim, made one, and he also missed a good look at a 3. He was also going up against OKC's lengthy and shot-altering front court. Yeah, he made some dumb mistakes, but what rookie doesn't? With more PT, and less obligation to handle the ball if he were to start (since the ball is in Lin or Harden's hands most of the time), silly mistakes on offense and having to worry about making easy-ish shots will go down, and productivity ought to go up.
Not seeing the poor play other than the sequence where he left the ball out to be stolen and then tried to compensate on the next play with a rushed shot. Otherwise he played fairly solidly. He had some solid shots that he missed and one that he made inside. His defense was adequate. Nothing great but not poor. It reminded me a lot of Scola and his roaming style of defense. D-Mo didn't really give up any points, but didn't play lockdown defense either. D-Mo didn't play much because McHale chose to go small ball which has been his comfort zone all year.
Mchale will stick with the starting lineup we had against the Thunder. As more games get played I feel Trob will start
Yeah, in addition to Carlos Delfino's quote in that article, there are also the interviews from today's after practice media scrum. In today's interviews, McHale said he would continue with the small lineup with Carlos Delfino starting at PF, situationally, depending on the matchup. And Jeremy Lin said he wanted to welcome their new PF, Carlos Delfino (though Jeremy may have been joking). TRob won't be allowed immediately into the rotation, much less starter slot. He has to learn the team's playbook and terminology first.
This is actually kind of scary. The stretch 4 really helped us win games, I feel bad for Mchale, having to scramble through players even more now. I seriously hope we haven't gotten that much worse...
I don't know why people think Robinson can just come in and start. He is pretty much as unproven as Motiejunas and Jones, maybe just a little more. I think McHale will start Parsons for the short term. Gracia will backup Delfino at the 3. Long term, it will be a fight between DMo, TJones, and TRob. And we still have the backup center spot. Robinson might prove to be the rich man's Greg Smith. For the PF spot, it's who can do these things better, in this order: 1. Knocking down open midrange or outside shots 2. Play defense 3. Rebound 4. Run the floor #3 and #4 might be reversed.
exactly. TRob is a long ways away from starting barring injuries...its going to be a weird combo of Parsons/Delfino (which hopefully won't last long) then they'll plug in DMO/Smith/Jones in that order..giving DMO the best shot. THEN, when McHale gets TROB some practice time and garbage time will he start to get minutes.
So until Thomas Robinson gets to actually practice with the Rockets, does Terence Jones at least get a chance to play more? I think the minutes Delfino gets should be shared among Jones and Robinson, especially when the opposing frontline is deep.
Motiejunas or Robinson hopefully will start soon, Delfino is no PF and I can't help but think he is more likely to shoot us out of games the more time he spends on the court then help maintain a lead. 4-14 FGs last night, 12 of which were 3 point attempts.
Does anyone know Motiejunas' current weight? I heard one report that he is up to 260 while most reports have him between 220 and 240. I know the Rockets have him in the weight room to boost his strength and weight, but what is his true current weight? If he can bulk up without losing any quickness, he could well be able to slide over to be our backup center much the way Otis Thorpe did when Hakeem took a rest. Don and T-Rob would make a formidable tandem against other teams' second stringers. I really like our flexibility with Asik, Motiejunas, T-Rob and T-Jones with a little Greg Smith and Tim Ohlbrecht mixed in.
