[RealGM] Beverley, Lin And The Rockets' Meritocracy

I understand what you mean, and its true that Lin's rim shots and free throw attempts should maybe be higher, but remember last year he was the primary ball handler and was in control of the offense, whereas now he has to share with Harden

 

Yeah man, good point. I don't know what's up with that.

 

Pretty good until this:

The author, Jonathan Tjarks, is not necessarily held in high regard by all readers:

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1179494&sid=78cf4969b7693d94777bc49111fe9626

I don't see any way in which Lin's job would be in jeopardy heading into next season. Struggling in one's first playoff series is to be expected. Particularly when one is playing injured.

Lin has put up 17 or more points 20 times this year. Beverley has put up 17 or more points 0 times this year.

As compelling as Beverley's defense and other qualities may be, I just can't see the Rockets wanting to take Lin's offensive abilities off of the floor and relegate them to a bench role. Lin has shown what he needed to show as a first year starter to invest in him going further.

Additionally, Lin has been on the scouting report consistently this year. Beverley has not. That makes a big difference.

So, while I disagree with Tjarks' point about Lin's job possibly being in jeopardy, I do agree Beverley has been a great signing for Houston. He is much better than Douglas, and he should provide Lin and the team with a great backup and/or co-starter going forward.

 

Yeah, I didn't realize I was posting in the middle of LOF vs. LOH war. Still, the comparison between Eric Gordon and Jeremy Lin was unnecessary and unfair perhaps.

Actually though, it is interesting that Lin had more shots at the rim (4.0 to 3.9) this past year compared with Linsanity, but wayyy fewer free throws a game (3.2 compared to 5.2). Why is Lin attacking the rim just as much but drawing fewer fouls? Just seems weird to me.

Is there any way to find these stats for the second half of the year? I would be very curious to see Lin's stats the second half of the year. I wonder if they approached the Gordonesque numbers that I was touting.

For all the people who go on and on about how Lin is not paid that much, though, I present to you Ramon Sessions. Dude only made $5M last year. Try all you want, you will not be able to convince me that Lin is 60% better than Sessions....

 

Beverly's FG% is .418. His eFG% is rather inflated as he put up very few 3's. His 3PT %age is .375. He has only shot 96 3 attempts. In comparison Lillard has shot 502 3's, JR Smith has shot 436 3's. Wayne Ellington has shot 99 3's and his 3%age is .423.

 

Like...Riles???

 

Terrell Brandon! And he's available!

 

ramon sessions got that contract because of his performance last year which wasn't really good. and considering that he has been in the league for 6 years he hasn't really shown any improvements so what you see in ramon sessions now is most probably his ceiling...

thats the big difference with him and Lin:
Lin + huge performance last year + huge potential = bigger contract

 

Forget about a Lin / whomever tandem... Lin would be amazing working with Morey in the exec office. Can they do a 3rd string point card / assistant GM - Head of Asian marketing position?

 

And yet some how once again the Thunders backup PG is out playing our backup "fantastic, wonderful, amazing" Beverly.

LOL...this is exactly the reason why he didn't deserve to start.

Now you guys take off your Lin Hater glasses and move on.

 

JR Smith won Sixth Man this year averaging 33.5 MPG through 80 games. Didn't start a single game.

Jeremy Lin started all 82 games this year, and averaged 32.2 MPG.

It's easy to get caught up in labels and whatever, but at the end of the day it's a team sport. Maybe someone can post our most effective five-man-units since we picked up Beverley.

Notwithstanding major roster changes, I also doubt that Lin is going to lose a lot of burn to Beverley. Still need someone to create on offense other than Beard, carry the load, and attack the rim.

Back in 2010 haters used to say pairing LeBron with DWade was going to be a disaster because they both needed the ball in their hands. Although they struggled for a while to mesh, they figured it out. I would like to think a similar principle might apply to Harden/Lin (two attacking, ball-dominant players coexisting), but I'm not sure it does. DWade/Bron are flat out bigger humans. The mismatches LeBron can create make that duo work.

Beverley seems to be a better fit next to Harden than Lin does. Murray's building around Harden. Second star takes next priority, then pieces that fit. Rockets are still collecting assets to package up. Both Lin and Beverley are candidates to be shipped out, let's be real.

 

It doesn't work that way. The worst you can have on the floor in terms of player synergy is ball-handling redundancy. There's only one ball on the court and you only need one major playmaker on the floor. Do Kobe need a capable playmaker next to him (see Steve Nash)? How about CP3?

Harden is more than capable of being the only playmaker on the floor and he's great at that. And there's always Parson as a fallback option even though I don't think his play-making skill is anything special.

 

Lin and Beverly are two different types of PG. Beverly would be perfect starter for a team with at least two all-NBA level scorer/play-makers, like Miami with LBJ/Wade, Kobe/Gasol. But Harden has a long way to go to be reliable under PO pressure. On the current team, even with Dwight Howard, it'd be a better bet that Lin improves his ball handling and conditioning further. Harden and Lin became less effective in the PO, because they draw most attention from the defense geared to stop them. Beverly, Parsons, Asik, Delfino don't get this treatment.

 

Bev has shown me a lot lately, he played really well tonight...if he keeps on progressing, I could see a situation where Lin would take the 6th man, 28-30min night role, and pretty much dominate at it. He would play the final 6-8 min of the 4th quarter though, the guy is clutch, plus, he'll have a ton of energy left to attack the rim.

 

What would happen to Lin if he plays a 4-12, 15pts, 10 TO game?

Would McHale say to him:"Harden, we are trying to win here?"

Will Harden sit on the bench and Garcia/Delfino finishes the next game?

"Meritocracy" only applies to "selected" people.

"Hypocrisy" is probably more appropriate.

 

Mchale has a cognitive bias and there's nothing on this planet which will change it. Harden is a "great" player and Lin is a "role" player. That's it. His preconceptions are etched in stone, as permanent as the sun.

As long as mchale is coach, Jeremy will be relegated to mop-up duty.

 

...that's not how it works. You just said the complete opposite of what happens.

It's about percentages, not totals. Half of Beverley's shots are 3 pointers.

eFG% factors in that he takes MORE 3pointers than most people. His FG% is getting deflated because of how many threes he's taking.

 

This team has been tailored for the current backcourt. They're opening up the lanes for both Harden and Lin. Lin struggles in the halfcourt setting and this was mentioned by both Morey and Sampson. Guess what? The Rockets don't even try to go there. When DMo was drafted McHale said he would not be shooting 3s in the NBA. The opportunity has been there for Lin the whole season.

 

So even if you ignore the very small sample size, some people think because Bev's numbers are only slightly better than Lin's (if at all), he should be the clear cut starter over Lin? I know Bev has been great this postseason, and he definitely deserves more minutes next year if he keeps it up, but some people need to calm down with the Lin-Bev knee jerk reactions