Moe’s best stretch of ball last year was before Nurkic arrived.
Not true at all. In fact if you go back and look at the game logs and splits from January and early February last year, you will see that Mo played his worst ball of the entire season from late January through early February, right before Nurk arrived. In fact, just like this season, Mo lost his starting role and was moved to the bench. That happened on 1/20 and he didn't return to the starting line up until two games before we got Nurk.
After we got Nurk, Mo saw a significant uptick in both his scoring and his shooting percentages. Remember those games when Nurk was getting 5, 6 or 8 assists? A lot of those were Nurk finding Mo on cuts to the basket. Mo can pl;ay well next to Nurk. The question is, why isn't he?
His best games this year have been when one of Dame/CJ have been out. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. When he’s somewhat featured, he produces. When everyone is on the court, he’s relegated to standing in the corner waiting to shoot a three, which isn’t his game, as he’s even admitted.
So while he definitely deserves to be criticized, I don’t believe it’s 100% his fault as I believe you’re making it seem.
And that's the problem with Mo. He's not good enough to be a reliable third option, but loses focus and motivation when he's not. Because he can't beat his man off the dribble, he needs to be an opportunistic scorer (cutting to the hoop, scrambling for loose balls, offensive rebounds, etc.). All those things require effort and when Mo feels like he's not being "featured" the effort dwindles (what I call pouting).
I have seen the lack of effort from Mo, which is why I have been down on him, but if you don't believe me, just look at his offensive rebounding. It's down from 1.6 ORB per game to 0.8. Sure, he's playing fewer minutes. So, look at his ORB%. Down from 6.2 to a career low 3.8. That's 8th on the team. Not good for a guy who relies on hustle for a big part of his game. And, before you try to blame that on Nurk's prescence, Mo saw a significant uptick in his offensive rebounding last year in February and March when playing next to Nurk (probably due to other teams focusing on keeping the beast off the offensive glass).
Mo whined to the media back in November about Dame, C.J. and Nurk getting all the touches. Well Mo, you were playing like ass and Aminu was out. Exactly who else should have been getting more shots? You want more shots, put forth more effort.
You had over two and a half years, before Nurk got here to establish yourself as a consistent and legitimate third option when this team desperate needed one, and you didn't take advantage of that opportunity. You have no one to blame but yourself. You were basically gifted the starting SF role, due to a lack of other options and you still have not been able to hold onto that role. Stop blaming others and start playing like you WANT it. Stop looking for it to be handed to you. It was and you pissed it away - twice.
Man up and earn that paycheck, or at least increase your trade value enough we can get something of value in return.
BNM
