Yeah I believe I read somewhere that he was actually a really good spot up shooter when he would train with his shooting coach & he was surprised that it wasn't translating in games. We shall see though.
I'm not too worried about Lin. He's shown that he's a hard worker. He'll improve on his weaknesses. The real question is who do we replace McHale with? Being a spot up shooter is not Lin's forte... FREE LIN...
we all want him to improve his spot-up shooting, but my point is that if he's essentially relegated to just a spot-up shooter in our offensive system, we are wasting $8.5 mil on the guy. That's not who he is, and it's not why we signed him. He needs to improve his shooting and the coaches need to be more flexible and improve their offense to capitalize on his strengths.
I watch Linsanity games on YouTube and it's seems like Lin biggest asset is his dribble drive game I like to see more of that than spot up shooting If Lin is going to do spot up shooting then why didn't Rocket just trade Lin and keep KM then?
if Jason Kidd can become a good competent 3 point shooter, then Lin can also who btw, is a better shooter at this age in their careers
because the KM is an expiring. The Thunder already have Russell Westbrook. There's no need for Lin and the Rockets really wanted Harden.
Not wasting, but investing... I'm starting to believe that Rockets are thinking long term with Lin.. to win championship in a few years time, Lin is still work in progress, he has to be a more rounded player... We may want to see Linsanity now, lotsa Lin's fan happy, excited.. but that will not be enough to win championship.. Lin with firepower, more matured Harden and add another Star will... Think positive people..
Shooting ability is an asset for any player, even for Dwight Howard. I am sure everyone at Rockets including Lin himself would be excited if he can knock down 3 pointers at will. Whether he can develop that is one thing, but forcing him to "practice" in games is too much of a waste - time, money, games, for the whole organization, fans included. I have no problem that Lin practices shooting for 2 extra hours every day in the gym, but does that mean you want to specialize him with his weakness during games? Then what's the point of paying him $8 million a year?
Guys like Kyle Lowry and Jason Kidd were inconsistent shooters early in their careers, but they always had good shooting mechanics, which makes it easier to become a consistent shooter. Lin needs to change his shooting form or else he's always going to air ball twice a game. Right now his elbow sticks way too far out, kind of like LeBron (who is still a mediocre 3 pt shooter).
That is what I am thinking as well. I hope they are just testing him out and develop his other games, but still have the plans to have him sharing the ball handling with Harden.
According to someone posted earlier, it seems he shot the ball pretty well from outside in PRACTICE. It takes time to gain confidence to translate that into the games, maybe they are just doing that.
I disagree. James Harden for his career has been a better 3 point shooter than Lin much better. So it makes absolutely no sense to have Lin be the spot up shooter over Harden. yes I understand that Harden is a lot better than Lin as the pnr ball handler. Lin ranked top 70 in the NBA Harden ranked 2. However putting Harden in the corner a little bit more & having Lin facilitate a little more would help both players. Or better yet put both at the top of the key with harden on the right side & lin on the left (opposite of there dominant hand/ Lin's right dominant & harden's left dominant). that would provide spacing for the team & for the two back court players.
I don't get this bit at all. If the team needs a solid spot-up 3 point shooter, then surely they can get one for a lot cheaper than 8 million per year. Actually the rockets aren't doomed, they almost beat Miami last night with minimal contribution from Lin. However we are doing ourselves a disservice if we don't use Lin to maximum advantage. I think Harden, Lin and the Rockets would do best if the ball was shared a bit more between Harden and Lin and if Lin was giving more playmaking than he is now. I've said this before but I think a 60-40 spit between the two players is ideal. The way it is now is unsustainable and you are wasting Lin's strenghts completely while making it easier for defences to focus on Harden. That said, I'm beginning to feel that with the current style of offence the rockets don't really need Lin for it to work and they should trade him and use that money to get a better shooter + cap space for other high quality role players.
Spot up shooting like any kind of shooting can be improved, but it isn't something you can do easily during the regular season. Shooting, especially spot up shooting relies heavily on muscle memory, and thus takes thousands upon thousands of repetitions to improve. This is why things such as shooting mechanics are not only worked on during the season, but more importantly in the Off-season where you have the time required to not only work with a shooting coach, but to do the repetitive drills to build that muscle memory. Even then, to maintain a very high spot up shooting percentage like 3 point shooting, you need to maintain very disciplined drills. As an example, Steve Novak has stated in interviews that his regimen include shooting 500 (five HUNDRED) 3 pointers almost every day of the week, rain or shine, ON TOP of normal practices. And that is just to MAINTAIN and incrementally improve his current shooting. That is NOT a small time investment when you have practices, your own work out regimens, family and business commitments as a player. Lin will work into a rhythm that will eventually regress to his actual shooting percentages at all distances, however to look for dramatic improvement in his spot up shooting IN Season is highly unrealistic. Now could he improve it substantially during next OFF season? Sure, if that's was his main priority...
In other news, Novak averages 6.2 points per game this season. No one is making plays for him I guess.
The fact that Lin has improved his transition game, improved his defence, improved his ball handling and reduced his turnovers, that's not good enough. Now he needs to turn into Ray Allen so that Harden can be turned into Carmelo Anthony? How can people be so utterly clueless?
