Anyone can develop into a good shooter. It just depends on whether he would put the time and energy into it. Kyle Lowry developed into a lethal shooter over a few offseason. Its all about the hard work they would put in it.
Given that Daryl Morey (ie. Chairperson of MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference) had probably run the numbers on Lin, and probably STILL has a team of people running numbers on the Rockets and their opponents and feeding the info to the coaching staff, I really doubt that they don't know how to best use Lin. I seriously think that they might be trying to brute force Harden into knowing his teammate's tendencies and forming chemistry with the players he doesn't already have chemistry with. ie. not his old OKC teammates (who've played slightly more with Lin), and not Lin (with whom we could see in the first two games he pretty much had instant chemistry with). We all saw how Harden and somewhat Lin put the team on their backs for the first two games. We all knew that it wasn't sustainable to have 40+ min over the course of 82 games; which means that the team has to step up. But they can't fully step up if they haven't formed chemistry with Harden, and they can't form this chemistry if Lin is making things easy for everyone. (Like that first quarter against the Nuggets when he made 4 assists and then Sampson pulled him aside to speak with him. He had only 2 assists for the rest of the game.) Meanwhile Lin is slowly improving his shot in game situations. So, basically I think they're growing and using at least these early games as 'practice'; otherwise I can't help but think Morey will start firing people soon, because he HAS the numbers to prove that Lin in specific can play better than he is currently. He'd in fact defended Lin's TO's on Quora: http://www.quora.com/NBA-Season-2012–13/Why-is-Jeremy-Lin-so-turnover-prone-and-how-can-he-fix-this Meanwhile I also think Lin has been brute-force feeding Asik various offensive looks near the basket, repeatedly using the same play even when it failed the first couple of games. And I had been frankly groaning at my screen until I stopped and thought about it. Don't you think the coaches would have pulled him aside to make him stop that play if it hadn't been working? Don't you think Morey would have been in someone's ear about it being inefficient? (ie. Morey, who not only found Shane Battier but optimized him by making sure he had all the stats he needed to figure out how to defend people like Kobe: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html?pagewanted=all) What we saw instead was Asik slowly but surely developing first catching ability, then somewhat of an ability to finish during the Heat game. The Rockets are a growing team, and I think the coaches have a plan. If they don't, I don't think Morey is the sort to be afraid of firing them a la Mike Brown.
And you are talking like Harden hasn't been suffering from our lack of offense as well. Harden isn't playing like he was in those first two games. He is no longer MVP level Harden he is now Monta Ellis Harden. And Lin is playing like Derrick Fisher. Both players are not fitting one another & both are suffering because of it.
Exactly, roxxy. A coach is supposed to raise a team's play, not make it worse. Harden's even worse than Monta right now (0.330 in the last five games of ISO-Beard ball vs Monta's season average of 0.393).
Very good post. We Lin fans (or at least myself) do hope that this is the case. Let's sit back and watch as it progresses.
Yes, I don't disagree with you on they are not fitting well together the current way. That is why I think they are trying to separate the overlapped skill set with having Lin doing more spot up shooting, which he seems to be improving. If they can't fit together at the end, who do you think the team will keep? who to trade? On another note, I think if the two of them share the ball better, and keep the ball movement, distribute the touch ratio from 80:20, to maybe 60:40 (or 50:50), that should benefit both, but as I said, they are experimenting things, let them take the time to figure it out.
Very interesting idea. They are fitting Harden in with the team, not just having Lin fitting with Harden. Let's see how these experiments will turn out then.
The rockets signed the wrong player. Should had been novak instead of lin if they wanted a spot up shooter. Rockets could had saved more than 50% and get a dead eyed shooter.
Dude, you sound like a smart guy. I know Morey is a smart guy. But I doubt McHale/Sampson are that bright to come up with a scheme like that... The idea that Lin and harden are doing so well that they both need to take step back in order to move forward...
I agree with your last paragraph. I have been advocating for a while that they split the touch ratio more evenly. Honestly, a simple solution that I have been advocating that uses Lin as a spot up shooter & playmaker is placing him at the top of the key on the left hand side. Place Harden also at the top of the key on the right hand side. This way they have space to view the entire half court & can drive in the direction of there dominant hand (lin to his right & harden to his left). Lin isn't a threat on the dribble drive (his strong suit) at the baseline because there is no space for him to see the floor or to attack (he is hugging the baseline can't step out of bounds) Also this preserves team spacing overall. There was a play in the Heat game where both guys were positioned like this Harden passed to Lin, Lin to Asik & Omer was able to convert on the FG at the rim.
Heh, I'll take the compliment even though I don't have the danglies to support it. As for the idea that Lin and Harden needs to take a step back in order to move forward, let me use the analogy of typing. I remember being able to type really really fast using only two fingers and staring at the keyboard. I HATED learning how to type 'properly' and typing 'properly' slowed down my words per minute to a crawl, less than half as fast. But now that I know how to type without looking at the keyboard my typing speed is in the 100's. I think a similar sort of process is what we're watching Lin and Harden go through. I can't speak for the intelligence of McHale/Sampson, but I do think they're smart enough to figure out what to do to not get fired. I think they're as hungry for wins as any of us, but I also think that they're very aware that the larger goal is That Ring. Sometimes you have to go slow to learn fast.
Not saying that won't work, but my understanding at those 2 spots, passing to each other becomes more difficult? Higher chance being intercepted?
like I said Lin and Asik are here on 3 year contracts... if your going to take the time to develop Lin into a spot up shooter... and Asik into a posting up "back to the basket" center then you probably want to sign them both up for longer than 3 years...
Lin didnt have to take that 3... there was a big enough hole he could have jogged to the top of the key and taken a floater... if he didnt blow by the defense...
I think 3 years is legit, it is better to test them out first, if they can't develop them into that kind players, at least their contracts are short enough to be dealt easily.
