[ClutchFans] Notebook Dump: Reflections on Dwight Howard, Morey, Asik and Lin

I still don't know why people don't think Lin and Harden can't co-exist. I thought Lin's second half stats were pretty good, considering somebody has to take a back seat on offense when there are limited possessions in a game.

It's nice to have Lin as an option if, god forbid, Harden misses an extended number of games.

My guess this year: Lin's performance is flat (scoring down assists up), Harden/Parsons decline as Dwight will command many more touches than Asik.

 

Okay, everybody is overreacting to Lin and Asik's silence on twitter. First of all it's twitter. Enough said. For all we know, both players already privately called Dwight and congratulated him for coming to Houston. Twitter has become so mainstreamed, people seemed to think if you don't communicate on it, then something is wrong.

 

Lin is probably the most social media savvy Rocket/NBA player. His silence is puzzling.

 

thanks you, sir!

 

Lin is best when he has the ball in his hands and he is either pushing the tempo and running PnR. Harden is best when he has the ball in his hands and he is either pushing the tempo and running PnR. Only one person can have the ball in his hand at a time. Only one person can run the PnR at a time. That is Harden, not James.

Also, Lin had nice stats in the 2nd half for 2 reasons; he shot the ball better and Harden started slumping. Points have to come from somewhere, if not Parsons then Lin or Delfino. It still doesn't tell us which Lin to expect going into next season though.

 

Last year Morey said he prefers an attacking backcourt where both 1 and 2 can take the ball to the rim and also shoot 3s. I think Lin fits that bill perfectly but since we want to win now, it will be a very important year for Lin and all of our guys.

Also maybe because Lin developed a friendship with Omer and didn't want to seem too happy about Howard signing. He probably contacted Howard directly but it is still strange he didn't do that on twitter.

He has a lot to prove next year and I think he'll do well.

 

Yeah, am I missing something here? So what if Harden was signed after Lin. Didn't we have a successful year last year? The team performed better than many expected. I don't understand why Lin don't fit with the current roster. I don't know why you wouldn't want a more dynamic player and prefer a one dimensional player.

 

Morey has noted the problem with basketball is the "baby elephant" dynamic where you only have a few roster spots to develop players (baby elephants). As opposed to baseball or football with giant rosters.

He's ahead of everyone else by purchasing the D'League team, collecting 2nd round picks, and draft rights to Euros. He has a whole brood of low risk players that could someday be the next Parsons.

And with Dwight/Harden he's going to need players that overplay their contracts.

 

I suppose if Clutch cranked out an article every day the quality would suffer, but this is lightyears ahead of most of the Rockets stuff out there. Makes me wish he would crank out an article every day.

If you are reading the tea leaves of Lin's twitter not saying anything about Howard, then you can also look at the exit interviews where Beverly came out saying they said "the sky is the limit" vs Lin having a list a mile long of things to work on.

But in any case it is obvious looking at his salary that there is a question mark over his head. As fans, we probably won't have any clue until we either see him traded or start seeing how playing time is allocated between him and Beverly.

At this time, though, both he and Omer are critical backups for the roles Harden and Howard play... Omer for defense, and Lin as attacking guard. It will be interesting to see what Morey does.

 

1. Boss is going to an important meeting but he is not taking with him an employee (Lin) who is supposed to be an integral part of the project discussed.
2. That employee is openly chitchatting with the employee of another company (Dorell Wright of Portland Trailblazer) and doesn't even say hello to his new co-worker (Howard).
3. During all this time, that employee's best friend (Parsons) in the Company is bonding with the guy who is competing for that employee's job (Bev).

While all these can be nothing, it's really hard to believe it's a mere coincidence.

 

I'm not trying to pucker up to the site moderator, but that was the best writeup of the Howard situation I have read online. An honest and heartfelt ode to Morey and the Rockets from probably one of the team's greatest fans.

Thanks for sharing, Clutch.

 

Because he possibly be traded this summer. It doesn't make any sense to say anything if you are leaving. Until preseason starts, and Lin is back, Lin will not say something. I believe a lot of teams hate and jealousy of Morey. They possibly didn't sign Lin on purpose to punish Morey's decision.

 

Great article Clutch

It was a hell of a ride last week.

Its a bluur looking back on it.

No work done. Angry fiance. Endless amounts of re-charging ipad.

But it was nice, for the first time in a while, to actually see us come out on top. And when Sam Amick broke the news at 4:54 PM on July 5 ill never forget seeing that tweet, thinking shoot, is this real and scrambling around to confirm...

And then the roller coaster of the 50/50 ordeal had me stresed AGAIN.

But we won. We shut out two of the three teams i hate most (LA and Dallas - other being Utah of course) Just thinking about Harden and Howard gets me excited. Im a big Texans guy, and I cant even be pumped for the season because im so stoked about the Dwight deal.


Its going to be a fun ride. Hopefully a successful ride. But I seriously believe that James Harden and Dwight Howard make the best one-two punch in the NBA. now lets see this team take it to new heights. I firmly believe Dwight is going to DOMINATE this year. You can just see he is tired of people trashing him. Hes ready to put the naysayers behind him. And Parsons is such a B-E-A utiful piece to put next to dwight with his slashing ability and deadly 3 ball.

Congrats Rockets fans...we did it.


And thanks again, CLUTCH

 

Um, how about 2 other possible reasons...his strength in his knee/leg finally returned, and he became more comfortable with the system, a system that was constructed only several days before the start of the season. It's funny that people excuse some of Dwight's relatively mediocre stats last year due to injury and a system that doesn't compliment his talents, yet don't give that same benefit to Lin.

 

Seriously? Wow... Dwight was a 17/12 player coming back early from a BACK injury in a system where he did not excel or feel comfortable in. Lin was a 13/6 player. Dwight was still incredibly productive no matter how you cut it. Lin was mediocre despite a strong 2nd half, not that it was hard considering how poorly he started the season.

 

"Not only did the Rockets build this superstar core in a span of nine months, but they didn’t mortgage a lick of their future to do it. Golden State had to part with numerous draft picks to create the room to add Andre Iguodala. The Rockets? They have all their first round picks… and additional second round picks… and the rights to International talent… and, oh by the way, they kept their three best draft picks of the past two years in Chandler Parsons, Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas as well."

I caught myself nodding as I read every word...Daryl Morey. It's a game of chess, and we're all spectators to his calculated and sometimes risky moves.

 

About Asik and Lin? Anybody thought about that other teams didn't want to take Lin or Asik because they are jealousy of Rockckets and hate Morey to get so many stars within two years. Last year, we got linsanity, the most popular player in the world. Then we got Harden and made him a superstar later. And this year, we got superstar Howard. To get more superstar players and clean the big salary burden in the future, Morey tried to sell Asik and Lin to other teams. But Morey may never thinks that all other teams don't want Rockets successful and they also don't want to carry the salary burden for Rockets in the
future too. They want Morey and Rockets to suffer what they bought. Any thoughts?

 

Good read. Why you no use my Morey Magician gif?

Spoiler

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98557297@N08/9221749030/" title="magic by jocarlo875, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3782/9221749030_39e1134202_o.gif" width="350" height="195" alt="magic"></a>

IF the Rockets had made an offer (I wish I knew how much it was) I think J Smith made a huge mistake with Detroit. If he was set on making the most money, how much did he weigh the possibility of endorsements if we were to win a ship in Houston? Or did he want to be head honcho, too?

 

Great article Clutch! Thanks

 

Or...(Occam's razor) they just don't think he is worth $20 million + luxury tax for 2 years. GM's will do what makes their team better or they will lose their jobs.