Donatas Motiejunas: A Bigger Loss Than You May Think

The Houston Rockets are a team that knows how to deal with adversity but they were dealt with a significant blow.

What was that?

Rockets’ fans alike found out that Donatas Motiejunas will be out for the remainder of the season in addition to the playoffs while he tends to a sore back.

D-Mo had back surgery (lumbar microdiscectomy) yesterday and is expected to make a full recovery ahead of next season.

You know, I knew something wasn’t right.

Since stepping into his new role as a starter, in place of the injured Terrence Jones earlier this season, he had been crushing it!

He crashed the boards, he shot the ball efficiently, played Texas-tough defense and created match up problems galore as he was so talented that he could play the five-spot in spurts with his 7’0″, 220-pound frame.

This was especially helpful when Dwight Howard was out when he was dealing with his lingering knee issue.

There D-Mo was, doing whatever was asked of him and playing to the best of his ability.

But these last few weeks, I’ve noticed a drop-off in terms of his effort.

I had a feeling that he was playing hurt and it turned out that he likely was.

Think about it — D-Mo has been playing more minutes than he ever has in his professional NBA career.

Last season, he averaged 15.4 minutes per game but for this season, he averaged 28.7 MPG, which is almost double what he had been playing.

But those minutes were earned, well-deserved and warranted.

D-Mo has come a long way — remember when he was bouncing back-and-forth between the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and the Rockets to work on his game?

Well, he won’t have to worry about that anymore because his game has come full circle.

I honestly think he was struggling to find his identity as a professional basketball player on this team and he finally figured out what works to figure how best to contribute to this team.

Remember when he’d seem to pout about not getting enough minutes?

He didn’t have to this season because I’m pretty sure he got more than he envisioned.

And he obviously was working with Hakeem Olajuwon and Luis Scola because of the sick low-post moves he has now added to his repertoire.

This guy’s got an unstoppable spin move that would make a grown man scream in jubilation, including yours truly! Ha!

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But the loss of D-Mo for the Rockets’ playoff run will be enormous because it hurts the Rockets ability to make quick adjustments to the lineup if things aren’t working.

Just think about two nights ago — if D-Mo had been in the game against the San Antonio Spurs, the outcome would’ve been a lot different.

Having to deal with one seven-footer is enough but with two inserted — with D12 included — both have that innate ability to shut down the paint and that definitely would’ve given the Spurs a lot of trouble.

But instead we had Joey Dorsey looking absolutely inept and not quickly adapting to whatever Gregg Popovich and his staff would throw at us.

But the fact of the matter is that Dorsey will be getting quality minutes from this point forward because of D-Mo’s loss, the minutes will be quality but I’m not sure if his production will be.

Nonetheless, the Rockets will press on with Howard, Jones, Josh Smith, Dorsey and Clint Capela to help plug the middle as the Rockets will attempt to go on a respectable playoff run.

But as time progresses we’re going to realize how big of loss that he is.

Motiejunas, 24, averaged 12.0 PPG and 5.9 RPG in 71 games this season.

He shot a record 50.4 percent from the field for the season — no other Rocket had a better percentage than he and that speaks volumes!

He was 3rd on the roster in terms of win shares (4.7), behind James Harden (12.8) and Trevor Ariza (6.3). That’s quite impressive.