Mo came out the gate slow which was to be expected given how raw his game is in the post and the fact that Mo needed a few happy meals to bang in the post with grown men. The physical gifts are no doubt there (nice touch from the 3 point line, long wingspan, and great character) but there are some head-scratching things that might truly hold Mo back in the long run. Is Mo a shiny Ferrari that has a Toyota Prius motor? (Mo baby just run the floor and get easy buckets). He ran a faster full-court sprint time than John Wall so we know he’s capable of running the floor at an elite level. Is Charmin toilet paper tougher than him? At 7’0 230lbs it’s no doubt going to be hard to bang in the post with his frame, but there are players half his size that flat out hustle, compete, and have that dog in them. How can our future starting center manage to get to the free-throw line just once a game? If you don’t have toughness or a motor, what’s your basketball all IQ like? Unfortunately for Mo it sometimes doesn’t look like the lights are on. A lot of his mistakes on the court are because he’s out of position, doesn’t know where to be, or just doesn’t process a play fast enough which can cause him to be a step behind. His Per 36 minutes numbers have him averaging 5.4 fouls and 3 turnovers per game. If he ever wants to anchor a team theses negatives have to turn into positives.
Now we can beat the kid to death and call him a bust, but due to injuries, he’s only played 66 NBA games in two seasons. He’s averaging 6ppg, 5rbs, 1blk all while shooting 57% from the field, and 33% from deep playing 16 minutes a game. I’m not big on analytics but per 36 numbers suggest there might be some hope for our guy, even though his play on the court screams the latter. Orlando did an amazing job of removing the hype from Markelle, to elevate pressure so he could develop. It may be time to do the same for Mo in order to keep the train going. If he can just get back to the basics and do the small things like rim run (53.7% in restricted area), be a 3 and D big (38.9% from top of the 3pt line/50% from right corner & 3.2 blocker per game), play in the post more so he can actually get to the free-throw line, he’ll be just fine.
