Did you just dislike a Lin for Manu comparison? I would think this is actually overrating Lin quite a bit. The better comparison would be Lin with Jason Terry on the Mavs.
yes asik got better as the season progressed, but man a ton of entry passes all season were not "converted" because asik isnt a dynamic dunker like howard. assuming asik even catches the ball, he's not going to dunk over people. and if he catches it a few steps away from the basket, he isnt athletic enough to take a step and posterize. now we have dwight and all those doors open up. and i havent even mentioned alleys. if lin cant do it with howard then he's done. the other side of the coin is that the linsanity assists will happen every night, potentially every possession...
"Now we see if he’s ready for that new challenge, because for the scholarly Lin, the first 20 games of the 2013-2014 NBA season will be the biggest exam he has ever taken." <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vqB8QnG1Kv0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Everyone needs to chill with all this Lin expectations. Let the man play PG & not corner 3-pt-trash-clean-up. And maybe he might just exceed every ones expectations?
Thanks, and no problem on the repping issue. Let's be fair to GBRocket: He isn't relying solely on ORTG/DRTG, but several different metrics. Also, Lin is less prominent in this year's promotional materials as compared with last year's. But he's still far more prominent than, say, Beverley is in those promotional materials. And it doesn't seem like the marketing department is exactly hiding Lin in the promotional materials, either. GBRocket put a lot of work into that article, and I respect that. There are also a number of things said in the article I agree with, including ESPN Insider may be jumping the gun on someone being replaced in the preseason (if that is what they're saying; I don't have ESPN Insider and can't check) and that Beverley will have to show that last year translates to this year. It's a fair article because it's not just putting the burden on Lin to get things done, but also Beverley. As GBRocket said, Beverley played 713 minutes last year. In his New York year, Lin played 940 minutes. If Linsanity 1.0 was a small sample size, then I guess it becomes clear where Beverley's 2012-13 sample size lies. And GBRocket made that point, about Beverley's minutes, so credit to him. Having watched Lin thoroughly during his time in New York, I said repeatedly last year that I didn't feel I was seeming the same version of Lin, physically, as the one that was in New York. That version seemed to reappear around the time when he dunked on Francisco Garcia (then of the Kings) on February 11, 2013. But apparently the knee/leg strength in the recovering knee/leg wouldn't be back up to around 100% for around another month. Lin has a lot to work on to become a complete player. I don't think anyone could seriously say differently. And going from the New York offensive system under D'Antoni to the Houston offensive system of 2012-13 helped show exactly what he needs to work on. Ballhandling (especially with the left hand), outside shooting, defense, decision-making, ability to play at different speeds, etc. As long as Lin can stay relatively healthy from this point forward in his career, I think 2012-13 is going to be the "low point" for him going forward. Still, I expect Patrick Beverley to improve as well and we will have to see how things shake out this season and who deserves more minutes, who deserves to start, who deserves to finish, all of that. As a Lin fan, I'm sure he'll be fine but I know that there are now "spots" given out on a golden platter, either. So, let the competition begin and hopefully all of our point guards can help the team achieve success this season.
You basically said that Lin shouldn't be Manu-esque because he works well with a big man. Are you implying that Manu was a better fit as backup because he doesn't work well with Duncan?
Lin is a pretty damn good PnR passer, and it would make a lot of sense for the Rockets to employ him in a capacity that made use of a range of his skillset (passing to Dwight Howard), not just driving or scoring. Let's not play around with words to trap each other. Having said that, as an aside, if Harden elected to stay with OKC (ie take a lower than max level contract), Manu would be a guy he'd be compared to. The third fiddle off the bench defacto PG/playmaker from the perimeter, fearless to the rim, and a dagger of a 3pt shooter. Harden, obviously, is better than Manu, and rightly elected to take his talents elsewhere to be the franchise player.
Manu is/was a pretty damn good PnR passer. And it would make a lot of sense for the Spurs to employ him that made use of a range of his skillset. So did the Spurs over the past decade use Manu well or didn't they? And people forget the fact that Linsanity was one of the best iso player in the NBA... at least for those several weeks. Actually, when traded, Rockets fans thought Harden would be a Manu type and would be happy with that production. And fwiw, he's not better than Prime Manu on a per-minute basis. Manu's prime was utterly amazing and only hindered by his health and supposedly stamina(which incidentally is something that coaches have said about Lin). Ginobili was also one of the most versatile players in the NBA both on offense and defense. Yes, Harden is a comparable player to Ginobili. Even today I would have no problem with that comp.
Agree with most of what you wrote. The Spurs decided to let Tony Parker (the PG) run most of the PnRs with Duncan, with Manu off the bench. Lin has also been compared to Tony Parker in terms of their playing style, by Tony Parker himself. But don't read this incorrectly. I'm not advocating for Harden off the bench, in any way at all, and the gap between Manu/Harden is a lot narrower than Parker/Lin. My view is simple. Start your best players, especially when the fit is fine. Lin/Howard is a good fit on PnR offense, and Lin/Howard is a good fit on D. Coach Sampson said the Rockets are likely to funnel the opposition offense into the paint (Dwight) this year, and Lin's a very smart position defender. And Lin shot better than Beverley during the same 40-odd game sample from the first game Beverley played for the Rockets, both overall FG% and 3pt%. Last year, a lot of the posters here talked about staggering Lin and Harden's minutes. McHale didn't do it much. This year, I actually think it would make more sense to stagger Harden/Dwight's minutes somewhat, with Lin as the conduit between the two. My personal opinion, won't go into it here. Not a LOF-type post. But regardless, if we have one of Lin/Harden and one of Dwight/Asik on the floor at all times, we're going to at least have a top level iso/PnRs shot-creator and a top level rim protector on the court at all times. I doubt any other team can really say that. And hopefully that can key a top 10 offense and top 10 defense, making the Rockets a top 5 team.
Nice play on stereotype. He was in for only a 3.1 GPA in Howard. Better than Bush version 2.0, though. R U someone who despised academics and dropped out of highschool?
In NBA history, the best players have always ENDED the game together because those are the highest leverage minutes of the game. Therefore it makes the most sense for your best players to be on the court when it's most important. Manu Ginobili was always on the court in crunch time. ALWAYS. And all those scrub "starting centers" that started those games for SA were always off the court at the end. Because the best players play at the end. From a Lin fandom standpoint, it's important to see if Lin finishes games, not whether he starts them. If Lin starts every game and Beverley finishes half of them, then the Rockets staff doesn't think much of Lin's abilities. If Lin is the 6th man and finishes all of the Rockets games, then he is the defacto starting PG or whatever you want to call him. Nobody looked at Jason Terry during Mavs championship year and went, "bench player?"
Nice article, i did think again after read your article, hmm.. IF lin being off the bench could make this team more dangerous, i would love to see him as a leader off the bench.. Howard harden Person tjones/smith -> First Asik Lin gracia dmo/smith -> Second Mchail have a lot of homework to find weather All 5 power starting line up with moderate Bench or Good starting line up with Good bench power.. so he must take advantage of Training camp and decide which strategies more efficient and balance
Yeah. That's what he's saying. Lin is tons better than Ginobli. Now you can go say crazy Lin fans all think he's better than Ginobli. Good one. You caught him slippin'
I agree. And I do believe Lin should close all games but as evidenced by last year, I have a sneaking suspicion that Bev is gonna close a lot of games irregardless of Lin's performance. Not taking anything away from Lin or Bev, I just feel that McHale, IMO, doesn't like Lins game that much. Nothing wrong with that as the coach has got to make the call. Im just saying that as a fan that sees the positive impact Lin has more so than perhaps McHale, it upsets me. But that's just me and I'm only venting.
