Working In the Post with Donatas Motiejunas
The Rockets big man breaks down working on his game with Hakeem Olajuwon and recovering from back surgery
Back in 2015, I wrote a story about former Rockets big man Donatas Motiejunas. At the time, he was recovering from back surgery during the beginning of the 2015–16 season. The story never was published. I wanted to share it to begin Hydrolyzed Hoops.
It’s a Tuesday night, and Rockets big man Donatas Motiejunas has just finished a full day of work at the Houston Rockets practice facility. That eight-five time slot isn’t the limit for him as he’s headed back to the gym for a night lifting session. Motiejunas still has rehab and days to ponder what lies ahead of him as he recovers from back surgery seven months ago.
The season-ending surgery halted the momentum of Motiejunas’ sneaky good 2014–15 season. He was the rare big man with the ability to shoot from outside (36 percent from three) and take opposing players down in the post. Motiejunas was the third most efficient scorer (0.98 points per possession) on post-ups among power forwards and centers (min 100 attempts) according to the NBA Stats Page.
The lithe Lithuanian earned the nickname “Captain Hook” as he attempted 227 hook shots and held the fourth-highest field goal percentage (56.4 percent) out of players that attempted at least 400 hook shots per NBA Savant. Motiejunas had defenders dazed and confused with a variety of drop-steps, pivots, and fakes.
Motiejunas attributes his versatile skillset to his first time playing basketball at the age of seven with kids slightly older and bigger than him. He played on the perimeter during those formative years. Eventually, Motiejunas started playing with his own age group and towered over his peers. This naturally forced him into the paint.
Former Rockets center and Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon has been an influential presence in Motiejunas’ development on the block. Motiejunas and other players from the Rockets have worked out with Olajuwon who was notorious for helping players like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony during previous summers. “Hakeem is one of the best players that I’ve ever seen in the post,” said Motiejunas. “It was just phenomenal to listen to his advice and see how he moves in the post. I was like, the first time I saw him I couldn’t believe that he’s out of the league the way he moves and how his footwork works.”
While working with Hakeem, Motiejunas made sure to practice these moves every day, but opportunity played an important role in him being able to showcase his newly developed post game. “All of my post up work, I just got a chance to show everyone,” he said. “I was working day-by-day every single day. I spent pretty much all the time in the gym to learn something new. I was creating my own moves trying to make it happen. That’s why I’m so good right now because I’ve spent so much time developing those moves.”
Learning from Olajuwon is one thing, but actually translating those practice sessions to a regular season game is a completely different monster. “It’s just weeks and weeks and weeks of work,” Motiejunas says of the amount of time it takes to master a move. “He can show you something, but it’s up to you to develop at it. It can’t be that easy that someone shows you something and you can just copy it and make it your own move in one or two days. It would be nothing special.”
There are a few basic principles to adhere by when Motiejunas has a pesky defender hounding him in the post. “Honestly if I have a big guy behind me, I kind of feel where he is,” says Motiejunas. “And when I first move, I usually try to check which side he’s covering more. So if I first dribble into the middle of the lane and he doesn’t react, I just keep on going, but if he reacts, then I will give him the fake to the baseline and I’m sure that he will believe in that. So I kind of just follow the defense. I feel the man behind me, what he’s doing. That’s pretty much how I try to do it. It’s nothing complicated.”
Motiejunas experienced back pain after a game against the New Orleans Pelicans last season and was initially ruled out for 1–2 weeks. The injury was more serious than initially projected and Motiejunas was forced to have surgery. He had a herniated disc in his back that pressed down on a nerve which caused excruciating pain.
The lumbar disc herniation also caused foot drop. “Foot drop, sometimes called drop foot, is a general term for difficulty lifting the front part of the foot,” according to Web MD. “If you have foot drop, you may drag the front of your foot on the ground when you walk.”
Motiejunas wanted to play initially, but doctors were against it. “We were doing so good and the team was doing great,” said Motiejunas. “So I was expecting that I might be able to play those couple of months to help the team in the playoffs and then during the summer time, I would get surgery. But the doctor said that I really could not play with a dropped foot any longer because it would be harder for a recovery.”
Motiejunas underwent a successful lumbar microdiscectomy in April. “I was forced to get surgery and it was actually the first serious surgery of my life,” said Motiejunas. “I really didn’t know how to handle it psychologically or physically, so I really didn’t know what to expect.
This summer, it gave me more than I expected. Every day I wake up early and it’s a psychological battle. I’m fighting myself pretty much.” The fight has been an adventure for Motiejunas. He’s battled back by following the paleo diet. He’s cut out all sweets and junk food from his diet to help him lose weight and relieve the pressure on his surgically repaired disc. The first couple of weeks were tough. “I was feeling like an addict,” said Motiejunas. “I was addicted to sugar. So I was like walking around and shaking, and thinking where I could get some sweets.”
Now, Motiejunas is on the road to recovery and has begun to participate in light contact drills as he gets ready to return to the Rockets lineup. It’s an important year for him and the Rockets. Houston is coming off of a Western Conference Finals appearance and is looking to contend once again after adding point guard Ty Lawson to their roster that features stars James Harden and Dwight Howard.
This summer, Motiejunas will become a free agent after failing to come to an agreement with the Rockets on an early extension. “Of course I had [free agency] in my head what’s happening and what could happen, but I’m playing basketball not for money, I’m playing basketball because I love it,” Motiejunas said. “For me, I’m going to work every day not to think ‘oh I have to get better today because I need to make more money.’ I don’t think like this, so I’m thinking I need to get better to help my team win a championship. And that’s what I have in my head. Everything is over so one way or another I’m going to free agency so I don’t really think about that this much.”
Motiejunas is only thinking about right now and getting back to help his Rockets squad that has struggled through a lukewarm start. The team recently fired head coach Kevin McHale after a four-game losing streak left the team at 4–7. “I don’t think about what’s going to happen tomorrow, I’m thinking how I can maximize today, how I can get better today.”
