[ClutchFans] Lin and Yang: Why Choose One Point Guard When You Can Have Two?

Unfortunately based on the current trend, I'm afraid that Rockets may be experimented out of play-off contention. With so many good teams in the West, one or two games will decide if you make it or not (not to mention the match-ups or home court advantage). We have been seeing this for the last several seasons. Do you want Rockets at that "Seed 9 missing by one or two games" situation again.

 

If your reasoning is just only about "FIT" that's the lamest excuse to say Lin doesn't fit the starting line up,Lin is actually producing like a star player if given the chance,if this team wants to contend,Harden needs to sacrifice ego and need to sacrifice a little bit on offense because if you compare TS% between Lin and Harden right now,I would say Harden need to defer to LIn but this is about the team,everyone needs to sacrifice and achieve the common goal.Beverly is a good player but not a starting quality point guard and if you argue about his defense then you need a defensive specialist not a PG.

 

Astonishing! For a bench player, Lin played almost as many minutes as CP3.

 

So what is your point?

 

Why point this out? lol if you look at the players surrounding Lin - they are all pretty good point guards in the league. Granted his assist to turnover ratio isn't the best, but all those guards turn the ball over too.

 

It means Lin is important to the team no matter he starts or not. It also means that he will play along side JH for more than 25 minutes no matter what. Lin and JH have to learn to play together, "fit" or not. I'd rather try to make it fit for the long-term success and rather than avoiding it by starting PB.

I am for"if it aint broken don't fix it". I'd rather build on sth. already there rather than toppling it and experimenting sth with only limited POTENTIAL upside but equal (potentially worse) downside.

 

Agreed!

 

The only problem is that the coaching staff rightfully understands who starts isn't as important as who contributes. The problem is that every nba player wants to start, period. Even the best 6th men. I believe the statement attributed to a supposed Lin source who said he was blindsided by not being the starter. Being 6th man might very well work out for Lin. He's going to make the best of what he is given. But I think it was unfair to take someone who was your starter all last year, who was not definitely outplayed by his backup, and not give him chance to show he could mesh with the new starting lineup. I love Beverley and realize he's far cheaper and he's a really good defender at the point of attack, but I'm so tired of seeing him run around like a headless chicken with nonsense of passing and no ability to drive to the basket. He may be a better fit with harden because of his defense, but boy I would have like to see if harden, Howard and Lin could hurt opposing defenses.

 

To clarify: The "you" was a general you, not necessary pointing at you. I was responding to you comment that seems to say that it does matter who starts. But the whole sentiment about the "silliness" of LOF whining about Lin's benching is that it does NOT matter who starts.

Sure, the way it is, it guarantees that at the start. My point is that it does not have to be at the start.

What you replace with "..." is important in my question: "staggering Lin and Harden." My question was, to put it another way: Why does staggering Lin and Harden have to happen at the start of the game?

Again, I am not arguing that Lin starting or not is a big deal. But changing starting lineup is a relatively big deal. I would expect a more compelling reason for making such a change.

 

it meant it doesn't make sense to bench a guy playing tons of minutes. what's McFail alibi? for him to avoid Harden's ball stopping plays? how come they average just 6 mins apart?

 

All of this. *clap* *clap*

 

Just pointing out he's not as bad as advertised. He's no cp3, but elite pg's on the list are doing worse than him. Trying to tell LOH's to give the kid a break

 

This off season should've been spent getting cohesion with Harden, Lin and Dwight instead of the Twin Tower line up. But that's hind sight and I like many really wanted the Twin Tower line up to work, it hasn't. We know that if we want points efficiently we need both Harden and Lin in the starting line up. The coaches have to make it work, since they are going to need to play a lot together. Either that or trade Lin for something that would be easier to fit in with Harden style of play, but I'm of the mind that Lin and Harden can really excel together in the court.

 

I am not sure what you are saying or what your point is to be honest.

No PB cannot guard two people at the same time. I am just as frustrated with Harden's defense as anyone, but it is what it is. All we can do is hope he can turn on the defensive intensity come playoff time or in a pivotal point in a game.

And I am okay with that because James Harden is probably one of, if not, the best pure scorer in the league right now. I don't like it, but I accept it. It happened with McGrady, it happened with Kobe, Dirk, almost all the stars who carry a huge offensive load seem to preserve energy on defense. It sucks but just seems to be the way it is. I'd much rather have his lazy defense then a worn out broken down star at age 29.

My "fit" point is if you are not an elite offensive scorer, or you have some other irreplaceable skill, you sure as hell better be giving 100% on defense, because there are other guys out there who will.

Relieving the pressure of Harden by having Lin might help with energy but Lin is just as bad on defense as Harden, so anything you gain with Harden, you lose with having Lin instead of Beverley.

Beverley is a defensive specialist.

Lin is not a star, he will never be a star. No one should defer to him. He needs to come in off the bench, play hard, play smart or he needs to go.

 

I think there is some merit to the notion that Bev deserves his chance to show what he can do as a starter. We know what we can expect from Lin as a starter we saw that last season. Above average PG play. From bev the jury is still out. Right now Bev really hasn't shown above average PG play and his shooting/scoring/creating of the bounce has been incredibly poor for the most part. But the season is still very young. After next season the rockets are going to have decisions to make re: Lin/Bev and both players deserve the chance to show that they are starting guard calibre.

 

How to quantify a player as a star? Lin's first full season, statistics wise or contribution to win wise, is better than a lot of so-called stars.

Lin might not be an excellent defender. But his defense is certainly undervalued by you. He is a good defender. This season his defense is pretty good except for a couple games. Also, he gives effort on defense most games, that is the only thing you can ask. I won't give a pass to JH until he gives efforts on defense. He does not need to play good defense but he must play acceptable defense.

 

Like I said many times, I am just afraid that this tryout (unnecessary in my view) might cause the Rockets out of Playoff contention (currently 9th place). With so many good teams in the west, you can not take it lightly 1 or 2 games. Rockets have been bitten by so many times by losing a few more games in the past a few yrs. You would assume we've learned enough lessons already. You simply do not mess what has been working and expect everything will be fine if you reverse the decision and turn back clock. As we have seen, it is hard to maintain chemistry with constant changes. All Championship contenders share the same characteristics: consistency and continuity. You build on what has been working and do not take any risks until it is really needed.

Can anybody give me any tangible upside by starting PB? Even if there is, it is minimum. But the downside is potentially worse as we've seen at the beginning 9 games. Enough already!

 

So far this year, Lin has been an elite offensive scorer. In fact, no one who can create his own shot is shooting more efficiently than he is. Lebron comes in second and Curry comes in third. Do I expect Lin to maintain this level? No. But his offense has been elite in the nine games so far.

 

Honestly, if Lin is still shooting at this ridiculous clip from the three by mid-season (unlikely, but who knows?), it'll be hard not to make the argument that he should be the optimal spot up three point shooter next to Harden, not Beverley.

I like Bev's defense, but he's not leagues above Lin in defense - he's undersized and his defense/hustle simply passes most people's "eye test".

 

McHale genuinely believes Beverley the better player. To McHale, Beverley is in a slump right now, and Lin is just really hot.

McHale started Asik at the start of the season because he "wanted to start his 5 best players". What does that say about Lin?