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

That has more to do with Asik than anything else in terms of our starts.

I watch the games. He has been playing well all season, but since coming off the bench he's been a lot more aggressive. And it took a few games but that aggression lead to his confidence going up even further and now we're seeing the last 3 games a very different player.

You can see how Harden is passing him the ball a lot more. It's clear that the coaching staff and Harden want to keep building up Lin's confidence and getting him comfortable right now. It's a great thing. Harden is doing a great job balancing winning and boosting Lin. I love how Harden kept putting the ball in Lin's hands last night. I thought that was a smart move for the long-term development of team chemistry.

Now Lin still has a long ways to go. He still makes TONS of mistakes. But he's young so you can forgive that. He'll learn. But what I like with what he is doing now is that he's not afraid to mess up and make "good mistakes". That is, mistakes from being aggressive versus mental errors.

He still finds himself hanging in the air but at least he's driving a lot more aggressively to the rim with a higher rate of frequency. He's looking to score more. His shot attempts have doubled the last 3 games. The Toronto game really was a watershed event for his confidence I think.

 

His numbers are better because he is shooting better and he is healthy those are facts irregardless of him starting or coming off the bench.

 

Is Beverley supposed to be good???? Why is he playing so poorly this season?? Where is his 3pt shot??? I thought he was the better catch 3pt shooter over Lin???
Reality is the Rockets have a potential star in Lin and a good role player in Beverley and thats always been the case and all the Beverley supporters are suddenly silent. I like Bev but he is what he is.

 

talking about staggering minutes, it is really not much different btw starting and coming off the bench with our current substitution pattern.

for example, yesterday, lin came in around the mid of the 1st for bev. well, harden played until the end of the 1st. it means lin starts playing bball with harden instead of bev for the last 6 min. if lin started the game with harden, most likely, lin would have come out around the mid of the 1st and wouldn't have come back until the start of the 2nd to replace harden . no matter which way, lin would still play with harden for 6 minutes in the 1st either in first 6 minutes or the last 6 minutes.

now look at 2nd. last night, lin really played without harden in first 6 minutes of the 2nd. then harden came in for lin. if lin started, lin would have come in any way to start the 2nd to give harden a 6 minutes break, meaning he would have played without harden for first 6 minutes. it is exactly same in both ways.

all in all, I don't see the difference whether starting or not regarding staggering minutes.

 

To be fair, Beverley has historically been a good 3 point shooter, but he doesn't have it right now. Whether it's injury, or he was just streaky before, until he finds it again is seriously reduces his impact on the floor.

No need to bash Beverley. The in game play speaks for itself.

All we can hope is that Beverley finds his shot soon because without it he's just an undersized defensive guard.

 

It is easy to agree he is doing better. It is more difficult to accept the claim that it is because he is coming off the bench. Cause and effect are all wibbly wobbly concepts when we are talking about his confidence going up.

But the truth is, the why hardly matters. It is clear that he is playing better now. Coming off the bench might be upsetting to his fans, but he's doing just fine.

 

I wouldn't go as far as to call Beverley a good 3 point shooter. Beverley isn't a pure shooter. What he is a streaky shooter.

His career 3PT % from college to Europe to the NBA:

2006/07 - Arkansas - 38.6%
2007/08 - Arkansas - 37.8%
2008/09 - Dnipro - 38%
2009/10 - Olympiacos - 35%
2010/11 - Spartak SP - 33.9%
2011/12 - Spartak SP - 31.3%
2012/13 - Rockets - 37.5%
2013/14 - Rockets - 24.2%

I would use a consistent 38% as the benchmark to call someone a good 3 point shooter.

 

Fact is he averaged less PPG(18.0 vs 18.8) and assist(3.0 vs 6.4) when coming off the bench vs starting. He is playing well either way, but to say that he is playing better because he coming off the bench is simply not accurate. Lin is playing well because he improved over the off season and not because of his new role. I don't really care whether Lin is starting or coming off the bench as long as he gets steady minutes each game(because quite frankly he is the team 2nd best scoring option right now), but there is nothing to support that Lin should stay on the bench vs starting.

 

So in this morning 790 talk, Morey stated (copying from JR) Lin "<b>knows we want him in attack mode all the time and don't want anything else. If they stop your attack, set people up. That's where he's best. He's comfortable helping the team win that way. It's been great. ... He's getting to the rim better than any guard in the league, including Harden. His ability to attack and get to the rim is special and what made that run in NY special and what makes him special right now and why he's very underrated and much better than people thought when we signed him."</b>

Sounds like the coaching staff knows what they need from Lin. A very good reason for him to come off the bench. He can't be expected to play that role right out of the gate as a starter when you have both Harden and Howard.

I want to see less mins from Harden and a bit more of Lin playing this role as a PG/SG combo. Good for the team in the long run.

 

THere's nothing to conclusively support that Lin should be a starter either. There's quite a bit of evidence though that Lin's best role this season isn't as a facilitator but as a scorer - which places him second in line to Harden and a natural candidate for a 6th man role.

 

his ast isn't bad at all last season. you sounds like he is not good at ast so he is better fit to 6th man.

the role change is the reason he has less ast this season, not in other way. any team needs 6th man to score. plus, many rox players haven't been really good at shooting. w/o teammates making buckets, he won't get ast unfortunately.

 

I agree , we need to preserve Harden and keep fresh and healthy for the playoff run and Lin can fill that role .

 

I'm not going to sit and argue that Lin to 6th man is the cause or effect of his lackluster facilitation this year - it's irrelevant, because it's working.

 

of course, it works. can't believe you just realized. linsanity told us long time ago he can take those scrubs to another level no matter whether he starts or not.

 

better at the position -> in starting line-up

why would you work hard if you get demoted by playing better?

the "fit" problem is just an excuse, with Harden playing 40+ minutes, the're playing together most of the time anyway.

 

If the team is asking Jeremy to facilitate less and score more, are we trying to develop Jeremy into another ISO guy on the team?

 

That's not true. Lin can be both scorer and facilitator.

5 GS he is averaging 18.8 PPG and 6.4 Assist 4.2 TO
5 G off the bench he is averaging 18.0 PPG 3.0 Assist 3.4 TO

So if he was the starter and now posted these stats. What is the justification for him not keeping his starting role again? It's not like he was coming off the bench and posted stats marginally better as a starter so you can argue to keep it as status quote, but he was the starter and got his role switched for no reason.

 

Whatever works best for the team. If you are an efficient ISO, ISO away .

But seriously, ISO isn't necessary bad. The ISO that I hate is dribble, dribble, dribble, until the lock is under 5 seconds and you do nothing but take a bad fade-away shot or pass to someone that can't do much of anything with it.

The ISO that attack the paint and find your shot or an open teammate or get foul is awesome.

 

College and Europe is very different from the NBA if I am not mistaking.

Lin is attacking more becuase he is shooting better. His outside shot is opening up the lane a lot more for him. Also he is healthier so he is drawing fouls like we saw him do in NY. It all goes back to 3P shooting and health. Greg Popovich said it repeatedly that you can't be much in the NBA without a 3P shot. People are underestimating that. Plus having DH12 downlow comanding double teams also helps.

 

No not ISO guy. Management /coaches want Jeremy to in attack mode all the time. This means go inside the paint and keep probing the defense and take what it gives you. If the defense collapse on Jeremy then kick it out to the open three shooter or close by team mate for easy basket, other wise take it to the hoop.