Your eye test tells you that Lin is a liability on offense, just like many feel the same way about his defense. I think there have been plenty of posts about why such tests are not very reliable, not only because we can't HELP but be biased one way or the other (all of us) but also because we are more drawn to what's flashy. I'm just going to run through some stats that I posted in another thread regarding Lin's playmaking. http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/pl...3/seasontype/2 He is currently #12 among NBA players in Assists per game at 7.0. This is despite the fact that for 6 of the ten games he barely had the ball in his hands and even in the other 4 games he has shared the ball pretty evenly with James Harden. In the last two games Lin had 10+ assists. Watching him play there is nothing to say that he couldn't maintain such an average if he was allowed to continue to run the point. And, if like many other PGs in the league he was actually allowed to be the main ball handler for the majority of the time, he'd easily clock more. There are currently only TWO players in the NBA with more than 10 APG. Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul. Hell, just 1.5 more assists per game would put Lin in the top 5. Does anyone seriously believe that if he was allowed the same ball share in those 6 games where he played as a 3 point SG only of the ball as he has in the rest he wouldn't be there? Meanwhile according to Hollinger's ESPN stats: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/holli...sort/usageRate Lin remains #45/50 among PGs in his USG rate of the ball at 18.8. Toney Douglas is #38 with 20.0. To me these numbers suggests that Jeremy has near Elite playmaking ability at this early level of his career. His perimetre shooting is in a bad slump right now. But I honestly believe the only thing that's missing is maybe 3 drives to the basket more per game with some good screens set for him and his FG% and points per game would go up dramatically. Because Lin's taking so few shots it would only take a couple of made baskets a game to push is FG% into very acceptable territory. I think Jeremy can very easily be a double-double machine for the rockets at his current level of play if properly supported by the coaches.
I hope he gets his FG% up, I'm cheering for the guy. Having said that, teams are ignoring him on the perimeter daring him to shoot and they're using the man that should be guarding him to double someone else. Getting a lot of assists are great but the FG% absolutely must get good enough to force the opposing teams to defend him honestly.
All that is great but teams are ignoring him on the perimeter and daring him to shoot. His lack of ability to knock down a wide open shot is allowing teams to use his defender to double someone else. One of the reasons that Scott Machado is in the D-League and not getting minutes on the team is because the team is afraid he can't hit the outside shot and will allow teams to ignore him on the offensive end. By all accounts Machado is a terrific passer... much like Lin. Lin absolutely must start knocking down his open shots.
Oh yeah I agree. Something he has been doing lately is attacking the basket forcing the defense to rotate on him & then kicking out quickly to his open teammate. Hopefully he continues to do that while he works on getting his scoring touch. Apparently his shots fall in shoot around & practice they just aren't translating to games. In the last game there were a few times I thought his shot would fall but it just missed, I like to think law of averages will kick in eventually & his shots will start to fall kind of like how James shots were falling like crazy in the first few games & how he has started to fall off now. I am going to give it several more games & if it still hasn't improved then I will re-asses. I don't know if you saw this but here is an image of his shot chart compared from last year to this year. Small sample size alert. Would love your thoughts on the shot chart & the implications of it. http://weareutahjazz.com/lockedonjazz/2012/11/19/shot-chart-what-has-happened-to-jeremy-lin/
I don't see how you can morph crash's posts here into your inane dribble. People like you are a waste of bandwidth. Members aren't allowed to make critical comments about a Rockets player without being called "haters?" What middle school are you posting from? Honestly, get a grip. I can remember cussing out Olajuwon for letting Kupchak goad him into taking a swing at the chump, getting him tossed from a Western Finals game against the LA Lakers in 1986, a game Ralph Sampson won with a miracle shot. A game that put the Rockets in the Finals against the Boston Celtics, and eliminated the defending champions. Yeah, I cussed out my favorite player because he ****ed up. I'll give any Rockets player a piece of my mind if they do something stupid. That includes your hero, Jeremy Lin. So get used to it. Rockets fans care about team success above everything else. They don't simply care about one player, and blind themselves to issues on the court that player may have, temporary or not. I'll add this. Crash has forgotten more basketball than you'll ever know.
Even a ballhog black-hole like Camero Anthony has now learned to kick the ball back out to his shooters on the perimeter, and the Knicks' games become much more enjoyable and exciting to watch.
I don't see Harden running around getting himself in the open much. (Camelo is doing that all the time now.) Most of the time he was just staying around the top waiting for people to pass him the ball so he could play the PG/facilitator role, or to shoot for 3 or get to the rim. If Harden would move around more, he would bring his defender(s) with him and thus create open looks for his teammates and make it easier for Lin to facilitate. For Lin to work effectively as the PG, Harden need to move out of the PG space and be in a ready-to-score space.
According to Hollinger a day ago, Lin had an AST of 29.9 and his USG was 19.0, while Harden's AST was only 18.0 on USG 26.7. What that means is that Harden has the ball 26.7/19.0 more of the time, but producing much less assists than Lin each time he had the ball in his control. By just putting the ball more in Lin's hands, the Roxs is going to get more points scored while Lin gets more assists made, because he is a more efficient PG/facilitator.
I think Lin is a better ball handler, but Harden is a much better shooter and play maker. I would not be comfortable with Harden dribbling the ball up the court on a consistent basis. In my opinion we need a PG who can dribble the ball up the court, has no problem deferring play making to Harden and feed off the open looks that Harden creates by hitting open shots. Ideally this PG could also defend and occasionally create on his own. Toney Douglas fits the baseline skillset which is why he has looked better alongside Harden, however in the long term, we need more talent. I don't like the current dynamic at all. Every time Lin has the ball I am asking myself how this is a better option than Harden, because it rarely is, and I ultimately end up cringing when Lin shoots because he can't seem to make anything outside of 8-10 feet. The only value Lin is bringing to the team is serviceable defense and rebounding.
Are you trolling me certafiably? Lin / Douglas have been bringing the ball up the court quite consistently, unless its a transition play.
harden is our star he has to carry the team just like lebron was doing with cavs the only difference is that (i hope) harden will attract other stars and stay in Houston
I agree - it's tiresome to watch when Lin and Harden are on the floor together because invariably Lin dribbles across the half court line and dumps the ball off to Harden who then takes over on offense. There are other plays to run, and sure, they run other plays but the bread-n-butter seems to be the aforementioned play. Lin has proven he can make plays with the ball in his hand and lead the offense. What he should be doing, at least in my mind, is running a Spurs-type offense similar to what Parker does. Parker can break down the defense because he's a scoring threat, so opposing defenses have to collapse on him, which then opens it up for others. Harden is a great scorer and on certain nights, I want him to go off and score in bunches, but I don't want him to be the focal point all the time. I guess this will change with time as this team matures, but it's not going to work in the long run for Lin to bring the ball up and dump off to Harden so he can work his iso magic time and time again.
You are right. The more Harden be the focal point, the more he will get double-teamed and be less productive in scoring. Why not let Lin be the focal point to draw the defenders, so Harden can stealthily finish?
Simple, follow the Spurs and use Lin/Harden like how they use Parker/Manu. Have Lin create and handle the ball 60% of the time, let him drive and create shots for others while Harden can play off the ball. Harden can always handle the ball during critical situations but this iso business has got to stop, it's okay when the Rockets end up with a victory but then Lin becomes obsolete. Lin can't spot up and shoot the ball as well as Harden can so why not let Lin play PG and Harden play SG?
I think we can all agree someone needs to be that 6th man powerhouse off the bench.. It has to be an ego thing because if it wasn't the contract Lin would be happy to be that spark of the bench and just dominates a game.. They still have a long way to go and they better figure something out, Lin is a good 3-year investment...
With Harden playing heavy minutes, what would be the point of that? Lin would hardly ever play coming off the bench.
