Donatas Motiejunas signed with San Antonio Spurs

[RC_Drunkford]

Is he already in San Antonio? I'd like to see him play a few spot minutes just to know what he looks like on an NBA court

[monty4329]

Go tell that to Portland.

That was exactly my point. This season's fashion to push aside centers is backfiring to many teams, and now many are in need of a neglected commodity, hard to find.

(Portland case is just bad luck)

[DaDakota]

No doubt that was gruesome.

DMo can play, it took a while for his back to heal and him to get comfortable, the national team is a weird one, he wants to be THE guy but the coach wanted him to wait his turn.....clash of egos.

He will help, but he is making 3m in China - can't blame a guy for that.

DD

[duncan2150]

So where is Donatas ?

[benfti]

Center position is dead... Nobody wants centers anymore..Then when you need one you can't find it. Warriors had to go to Bogut, SA to China. Boston scrapping the bottom to find quasi-dead Monroe. Valenciunas dominating in Memphis.

The inside game might prove crucial in the postseason.

im pretty sure every team I’m the league wants Joel Embiid

[R. DeMurre]

The Center position is being re-imagined in the three point era, but I wouldn't call it dead. Jokic and Embiid are leading their teams to good seasons, and Brook Lopez changed his entire legacy by becoming a three point shooting center next to Giannis.

This is one of the reasons I find Aldridge's reluctance to shoot threes so frustrating... he has the range, and shooting three or four per game would open up the floor for White, DeRozan, etc.

[Kurgan]

This is one of the reasons I find Aldridge's reluctance to shoot threes so frustrating... he has the range, and shooting three or four per game would open up the floor for White, DeRozan, etc.

We need to stop blaming the players on this issue. Aldridge was attempting 1.5 threes per game with a 35% efficiency in his last year at Portland. As soon as he joined the Spurs he went down to 0.2 three point attempts per game. Derozan was attempting 3.6 threes per game at Toronto last year at 31% efficiency. This year, he's down to 0.6 attempts per game.

This is an issue with coaching philosophy more than anything. Pop and his yes men in the coaching staff want more long twos despite the rest of the league moving away from that outdated model.

[tmtcsc]

Pop and his yes men in the coaching staff want more long twos despite the rest of the league moving away from that outdated model.

We can't have LA shooting 3's because most of the guys on this team don't rebound for . He needs to be closer to the basket. ** Shooting Long 2's is NOT what the Spurs or any other team in the league wants. I believe the Spurs want SMART three's not quick ones because their transition defense is atrocious.

[exstatic]

We can't have LA shooting 3's because most of the guys on this team don't rebound for . He needs to be closer to the basket. ** Shooting Long 2's is NOT what the Spurs or any other team in the league wants. I believe the Spurs want SMART three's not quick ones because their transition defense is atrocious.

Has anyone noticed that since Pau is gone, and we're starting Poodle, an EXCELLENT offensive rebounder, LMA has been hoisting up more 3s?

[ceperez]

I think we got the current philosophy of this team wrong.

It is about taking the highest percentage shot per ability of the player. Sure, a more diverse skill set makes a player more difficult to guard. But a diverse skill set also makes a team as a whole more difficult to guard. The players that take 3s in the Spurs system are those best at it and same with the 2s. Up to the Spurs offense to set up the right player to take the shots. It's the entire team that seeks the best shot not the one individual.

[RC_Drunkford]

We need to stop blaming the players on this issue. Aldridge was attempting 1.5 threes per game with a 35% efficiency in his last year at Portland. As soon as he joined the Spurs he went down to 0.2 three point attempts per game. Derozan was attempting 3.6 threes per game at Toronto last year at 31% efficiency. This year, he's down to 0.6 attempts per game.

This is an issue with coaching philosophy more than anything. Pop and his yes men in the coaching staff want more long twos despite the rest of the league moving away from that outdated model.

This. Same reason Dedmon didn't shoot jumpers while being here and then became a good 3-point shooter the next year in Atlanta

[DMOFOR3MORE]

I could write good 10 pages about what happened with DMO and with Rockets GM, but let bygones be bygones.

Last two years DMO played in China, almost never missed a game, putting load of stats. Just his free throw percentage is ugly. I don't know how he will match up against NBA dudes, but DMO has (or had) mad skills. When Dwight went down for the Rockets - DMO finally got enough playing time to show what he can do. And he delivered. Though playing out of position, he is a PF, not a C. But with very good true 7'1" size.
For a while, before that minor surgery some were calling him to have the best post moves in the paint. So, a little honey for your eyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuOsp5ULymc

[r0drig0lac]

I could write good 10 pages about what happened with DMO and with Rockets GM, but let bygones be bygones.

Last two years DMO played in China, almost never missed a game, putting load of stats. Just his free throw percentage is ugly. I don't know how he will match up against NBA dudes, but DMO has (or had) mad skills. When Dwight went down for the Rockets - DMO finally got enough playing time to show what he can do. And he delivered. Though playing out of position, he is a PF, not a C. But with very good true 7'1" size.
For a while, before that minor surgery some were calling him to have the best post moves in the paint. So, a little honey for your eyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuOsp5ULymc

thanks Donatas

[Seventyniner]

I think we got the current philosophy of this team wrong.

It is about taking the highest percentage shot per ability of the player. Sure, a more diverse skill set makes a player more difficult to guard. But a diverse skill set also makes a team as a whole more difficult to guard. The players that take 3s in the Spurs system are those best at it and same with the 2s. Up to the Spurs offense to set up the right player to take the shots. It's the entire team that seeks the best shot not the one individual.

Well said.

[rjv]

lots of hall of fame coaches in here.

[silverblackfan]

I could write good 10 pages about what happened with DMO and with Rockets GM, but let bygones be bygones.

Last two years DMO played in China, almost never missed a game, putting load of stats. Just his free throw percentage is ugly. I don't know how he will match up against NBA dudes, but DMO has (or had) mad skills. When Dwight went down for the Rockets - DMO finally got enough playing time to show what he can do. And he delivered. Though playing out of position, he is a PF, not a C. But with very good true 7'1" size.
For a while, before that minor surgery some were calling him to have the best post moves in the paint. So, a little honey for your eyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuOsp5ULymc

Ok I am excited. I know it is just highlights but the guy has a nice back to the basket set of moves. Great bench big to punish other benches with Rudy.

[Duncan87]

When is this official?? Took Jimmer like 3 days

[gambit1990]

i’m wondering when he’ll be suited up also.

[ZeusWillJudge]

We can't have LA shooting 3's because most of the guys on this team don't rebound for . He needs to be closer to the basket. ** Shooting Long 2's is NOT what the Spurs or any other team in the league wants. I believe the Spurs want SMART three's not quick ones because their transition defense is atrocious.

Has anyone noticed that since Pau is gone, and we're starting Poodle, an EXCELLENT offensive rebounder, LMA has been hoisting up more 3s?

For his size, Aldridge doesn't rebound for either. It's one of the big shortcomings on this team. Pop's philosophy forever has been to shoot a higher percentage than the opponent, and limit the other team to 1 attempt per possession by scraping the boards for rebounds. They were ALWAYS one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the league, and one of the very best defensive rebounding teams. That's because they got back on defense, rather than hanging around to fight for offensive boards. Aldridge does his part to that up by not being strong on the defensive glass. Strangely, he got a lot of put-backs from missed shots in his first few seasons. We were surprised that Pop allowed it, because it was such a departure from how he always insisted the team play.

Poeltl's rebounding probably let Pop experiment with having Aldridge take a few more 3's. But I think it has more to do with Pop looking for something, more than it has to do with Poeltl. There was a time when a lot of people here were screaming for LMA to take more 3's. But he's never made them at a high enough rate to make the points per possession worthwhile. Maybe to mix things up and give the defenses some different looks. But not as a regular item on the menu.

[TheGreatYacht]

Has this scrub been signed yet? I can't stand seeing Bertans get so many minutes

[Grybauskaite]

This is what u getting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUUJC5EcsQE
some from China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=picdZujBEm0&t=5s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xaVmqcbmeE

[Donatas Motiejunas]

Motiejunas has not signed with the San Antonio Spurs

[Grybauskaite]

Motiejunas has not signed with the San Antonio Spurs

What happened to u? Not enough ink in a pen this time?

[Roscoe P. Coltrane]

We need to stop blaming the players on this issue. Aldridge was attempting 1.5 threes per game with a 35% efficiency in his last year at Portland. As soon as he joined the Spurs he went down to 0.2 three point attempts per game. Derozan was attempting 3.6 threes per game at Toronto last year at 31% efficiency. This year, he's down to 0.6 attempts per game.

This is an issue with coaching philosophy more than anything. Pop and his yes men in the coaching staff want more long twos despite the rest of the league moving away from that outdated model.

Gasol shot plenty of 3s wile he was here.

[ZeusWillJudge]

Donatas Motiejunas signed with San Antonio Spurs, according to

@tlangvinis

.

I'm starting to wonder if the person who reported this is really TLong, and the whole thing is made up.