Can we have a serious discussion about Jeremy Lin?

He made a dumb decision to play last night without enough test for his injury.
That's all.

 

If he didn't play, you will blame him for not playing either.

 

I think the only way you're going to get a serious, rational discussion about Jeremy Lin on this forum is to wait at least until a month after the playoffs are over and people have had a chance to calm down.

Otherwise, as you can tell from this thread (including in the OP), it's not going to happen. Ever since Linsanity started, and over the course of this season, it's been clear that people have already made up their minds one way or the other and are only looking for confirmation bias.

The one thing I will say that nearly everyone seems to ignore is the fact that there are five guys on the court at any given time. You can't assess Lin's defense in a single game by saying, "Oh well Russell Westbrook scored X points when they played against each other" because defense is a team effort. Similarly, you can't assess his offense in a single game by saying, "Oh well when they played the Spurs he scored 38 points so he's the next LBJ" because offense is also a team effort (yes, even when Harden goes ISO).

A basic pick-and-roll should tell you why that kind of evaluation is just plain wrong. If you can't get past that kind of "evidence" for your argument, then there's really not a whole lot that's left to say other than your opinion is almost certainly not grounded in an objective assessment.

Honestly, the whole thing would be kind of funny if it weren't really sad. People are literally arguing with each other over their opinions of a guy who doesn't even know they exist. Crazy-ass Lin fans who think they are supporting him by throwing everyone else around him under a bus and wanting him to succeed at the expense of other people are not helping his cause, and are only proving themselves to be small-minded and vindictive. Lin haters who think he got too much hype because he's Asian and he played in NY and he's Christian and he went to Harvard and America should be about what you do not who you are blah blah blah are blinding themselves to the fact that if the NBA was actually a meritocracy then he wouldn't have been a story in the first place because he would have been a high-round draft pick and eased into a starter role for a team somewhere. The Rockets fans who hate the crazy-ass Lin fans think that if he fails or if he gets replaced or if he gets shipped off somewhere then they won't have to deal with his fans anymore, but are losing sight of the fact that in hating on Lin, they just end up being exactly like the Lin fans who hate on McHale or Harden.

People aren't dying here. Basketball is just a game. And this is just an internet message board. The only person your negativity is hurting is yourself, so you might want to try to take a step back, take a deep breath, and calm down.

 

His First year of starting and playoffs...

Parsons been awful as well.....

 

As someone who has maintained that we can't be a contender with Lin as our starting PG (and still firmly believe that), he's not to blame for tonight. He shouldn't have been on the court as he was clearly hurt. I respect him for going out there and trying to play through pain.

 

Summed it up perfectly for your 7th post.
The voice of reason.
I'm noticing more 2013ers being my favourite posters recently.

 

Well said.

I don't know. Maybe its just my own sensibilities but I cannot criticise players who are hurt.

If you give a player like Lin the option to play, of course he's gonna take it because he has that burning desire to win. The coaches and Lin did the right thing just after the start of the second half when they took him out for the rest of the game.

He has clearly in pain just running around.

He's a controversial figure on clutchfans but to his teammates he seems like a glue guy. They all seem to love playing with him and always sing his praises. I dare say he shows some vocal leadership qualities on this team as well, esp. during time-outs.

I hope he fully recovers and plays well in game 4. This will be good for the Rockets francise ...and CFs.

 

People tend to forget Lin had good games against the Spurs, The Heat, The Clipper and the Thunder this season.:grin:

 

Why would anybody blame him for not playing?..... It's not like he had some amazing production that we were going to miss. ( I'm not even being mean, so don't get all hurt. I'm being foreal)

If your Hurt, then your hurt. that should already just make you not want to play, but if you already have been having a bad series and now hurt( TAKE A BREAK). I don't think anybody forced Jeremy to play hurt... He chose to. With that being said, the whole team( coaches and players) should have just told him to chill out and relax

This is not the Jeremy Lin show( he didn't lose us the game, KD's lucky shot did)....


It's about the HOUSTON ROCKETS. we are getting great playoff experience against a top 3 team( in the whole nba)

 

lin is soft, I'd rather see beverly start as well until his poisonous contract is rid of through some sort of trade. 8 mil is just too much for the developing Powderpuff, 4 million seems reasonable for a guy of his likes but Jeremy isn't an all-star. Parsons deserves more than the guy, seems like management cares more about popularity and revenue than winning a chip.

much better cheaper guards

bayless
bledsoe
jarret jack
andre miller
kirk hinrich
jj. reddick
danny green
mario chalmers
tyreke evans
devin harris

 

.
Haters did blame him for not playing because he was not 100%.

 

I think the problem for fans like you is that they prefer a player to jeopardize the team and his own career by playing hurt and expecting their norm production. If you're injured, you're a liability and shouldn't be playing. I don't care how much you get paid. Lin's shouldn't even be on the court last night. This is the only guy gave us all 82 reg season games and you're acting we rolled over all because of him? He was awful the first playoffs game and that's it. I'm glad PB and the team stepped up. If you really want to blame someone for this clusterfuk against OKC, blame McHale and Harden for losing us the last two reg games.

 

We need to have a poll on this site that asks the question:

From 4 minutes left to the end in Game 3 of the Playoff Series with OKC, when the ball was thrown away several times, or when Durant scored, did you swear at Jeremy Lin for playing too much?

o Yes
o No

Disclosure: For the record, I voted no.

 

Originally Posted by FearTheBeardJH View Post
We all know Lin doesn't play when he is only 85% ready, so he probably won't play.

Originally Posted by rocketman84 View Post
It may be unfair, but now that we know its a bruised muscle, I will seriously question his toughness if he doesn't play on Sat.

Originally Posted by tycoonchip View Post
Give him a Midol. This is the playoffs grow a pair.

 

Thanks for the refresher! You need to put that in your sig so that people are reminded!
Funny thing is that when they posted all those comments, most of the users now bashing him for playing said NOTHING to counter.
:grin: Poor Jeremy.

 

I was trying to find the one which someone posted a picture of vigisil for Lin but found those instead.:grin:

 

Beyond the contrast of his injury, throughout the 82 games of the season lin has been soft and tentative. This has been going on for a while, dude plays scared more often times than not, no ifs ands or buts about it that's just what it is. Injured or not, lin often looks weak unless hes sporadically spurting out threes, slashing, or getting open dishes to Asik or Greg. Hes a terrible commander at point guard. How are you going to run point guard scared??? Westbrook sensed his fear and went to Town, Rondo in similar instances last year to break linsanity, I understand mistakes through the process as a rookie but showing up with no heart is unacceptable and weak. He should take a few pages out of beverlys book of confidence.

 

It's cool that you have your own view.
But you still need to acknowledge that nothing you just wrote is more than just your opinion. Fair?

 

Seriously, Lin was a good player but cannot fit into Harden/Mchale's system. That's all.

Lin was most comfortable in role of PG. But was used as SG/ spot up shooter.

It's like putting Asik to shoot 3 pointers. You can't expect him to be good instantly.

 

If Lin had 3 games like Game 1 (scared, a negative on the court, etc) then I would think it would be legitimate to sit down and have a grown man conversation about this whole thing. To me, 3 playoff games mean a lot. Small sample size, obviously, but this is the playoffs: you have to perform now or go home. Such a situation can show you a lot about a player.

BUT... Lin was obviously hurt tonight and had no chance of performing well. And I honestly thought his first half performance in Game 2 was pretty good.

Now, of course, Lin isn't untradeable. And I'd gladly take an upgrade at the PG position. But this series isn't enough to declare the Lin resigning a failure.