Is it just me? I see Jeremy Lin making progress here.

What we need is the midpoint of Linsanity and as ive heard around the board "Linreality." Lin needs to be confident when hes got the ball and make smart decisions in traffic. I think when Harden was traded here, Lin had to change his mindset completely. Therefore weve seen a lot of inconisistency and deferring to Harden. So to make the obvious point, chemistry blah blah, give them time blah blah, lets evaluate when we have a proper sample size blah blah.

 

Tinmans an awesome poster!

 

I think he's overthinking it. To me, I think he's worried that Harden might not get enough touches. I mean during the preseason he had the same issue when it came to Martin but McHale told him to not worry about that stuff.

I think he needs to be confident when he drives to the basket. Most of the time defenses do a good job of stopping him in the lane but I think his confidence can overcome that.

 

He did protected the ball better, but his TO number-dropping is mainly duo to his lack of penetration to the basket. Lin's greatest strength is his dribble penetration, attack the basket, but he has done less and less lately, not sure if it's due to coach's instruction, or his personal preference. Whatever it is, it's not helping the Rockets.

 

Actually, that would be incorrect.

In isolation plays (drive to the basket), Lin had a TO rate of 6.5% last year. It's actually one of his lowest TO% plays. A significant portion of his TO's came in transition (26.5% TO rate vs this year's 7%).

One thing that has changed is the percentage of PnR plays. Last year 42.5% of his plays were PnR, this year it's 28%. Given that it's Lin's MOST effective play, a lack of PnR has definitely hurt Lin's overall stats (and lowered his TO's to some degree).

What has also changed is that he has increased his percentage of spot up shots. 32% of his plays are now spot up shooting. THIS may have lowered his TO's (you can't turn the ball over if you shoot it, hit or miss), and given he's being asked to do spot up shooting (33%) vs off the dribble (49.1%), it not only lowers his TO's but his FG% as well.

It's never quite as simple as it looks...

 

I agree with this. Still it's good progress to know that he is being more conscious about protecting the ball. He either

A.) needs to get better at picking the times when he wants to play conservative or agressive or...
B.) needs to work on making better decisions and staying more under control while playing aggressively.

...I think B is what he needs to work on long term but if we have to take A in the meanwhile until he develops the ability to play under control aggressively I think it's a big win for the team. Agree that he is less valuable to us if he is playing babysitter with the ball - he needs to attack more and keep defenders and opposing teams nervous when he gets the ball.

 

LOL. You forgot Grammy song "the boy is mine", inspired by Kobe. Anyway, this was the year we got the Dream, for our twin tower.

 

Lin is in one of two modes: running back mode, or GTFOHW (get the f out of harden's way) mode.

In Mode1, Lin charges the lane, and gets tackled. He usually gets a couple of foul shots, an And1, or a bucket. In each case, he lands on his face or on his rear end. He is bloodied up. Nasty bandages falling off. Dazed. Hair pulled.

Prognosis: brief career, spectacular numbers.

In Mode2, Lin is....doing nothing. No free throws, no drives, a couple of airballs from 26 feet out. An Asian Toney Douglas.

Prognosis: long career, mediocre stats.

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Lin needs to find a synthesis, a halfway point between the two, where he is able to pick his spots and create, without undue risk of injury.

Right now, he's erred too far in the direction of playing conservative basketball, and it is wreaking havoc on his confidence.

Lin is too polite for his own good. He's got to insist upon a larger role, and then dial it back as he sees fit.

There is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that the coaching staff, Sampson in particular, does not believe in lin. One of the two has got to go: Lin or the coaching staff.

 

Excellent point! Lin is learning to become a more all around player, and during the process of improving his weaknesses some of his strength are being compromised. He can't manage everything at once yet. When everything becomes more natural to him he'll get his other mojos back.

Another thing is in addition to trying to improve his own weakness, Lin is also trying to help his teammates get better. You can see him making the same play for Asik over and over and over again, and finally Asik scored. Lin never loses his patience with his teammates or tries to take matter into his own hands and go iso. Maybe one would say he should, but we're a rebuilding team, players development and team chemistry is more important than a W at this point.

I think Lin was quite nervous about last night's game, playing against the team that "exposed" him last season. I think it's no coincidence that his parents are in town. We played the Heat last night and we're playing the Knicks next week. Perfect timing to get some support from his family. Doesn't matter that Lin says all the right things in his interviews, he's just a 24 year old kid.

Wade has won a championship and he still missed his two free throws near the end of the game. I think it's nervousness.

 

totaly Agree

 

You still do not get it....... he is a CASH COW who cares how good he is.... right Les??

 

Great post..+3

 

It's pretty obvious that the coaching staff aren't creating sets that encourage/involve Lin's ability to penetrating....for now, justifiably so. The team is extremely talented but young and lacking in chemistry (they've played together only 7 games). To be competitive in the Western Conference, they need shore up any ambiguity within their identity and score as efficiently as possible while learning to gel in the process. In their minds, efficient scoring with this young team can be accomplished via ball movement...that's why they keep talking about how players can't be sticky and the ball will find the open man with the high percentage shot. Not having drawn-up plays for Lin to penetrate goes to show that they aren't completely confident yet in Lin's ability to do so RIGHT NOW...maybe they're waiting for his health to get back to 100% and to find that swagger/confidence, which will happen with more games under his belt. He looks to be darting cross court much quicker than he did preseason and his shooting percentage is getting better.

In a way, this is a vicious cycle. Not having plays for Lin to drive doesn't foster his confidence to do so...and if they're waiting for that confidence to magically show up in practice or at a game, they're wrong. It takes game-time experience. I'm convinced it'll come back but it'll come back a lot slower.

You can tell by the way Lin brings up the ball, defers it to harden at the top of the 3-pt-line, and camps at the corner 3 that Lin is just playing the X's and O's being drawn up for him.

You can see the opposite with Harden. He's a proven all-star level scorer without an injury. He's being payed max money and plays are drawn up for him because they're confident in him....maybe a little too confident with all the iso play.

Lin's definitely becoming a better all-around player....or play maker but they really need to give him a more free reign and ball control...especially bring it up court. If they show more confidence in Lin, Lin will show more confidence in himself

 

Agreed, excellent post, but understand the OP's intent on the video as well. My question is why Lin has lost his offensive swagger (his defense is still top notch). I think it's the coaching staff's system. He doesn't get enough frontcourt touches to get into the flow (I don't count dribbling the ball up the backcourt and handing off to Harden as a quality touch). Lin also needs to be used more on the fastbreak and the secondary break. All the Rockets need to look for him on the outlet pass (there are too many who only look for Harden). You don't pass to your top scoring wing as your first outlet pass, unless this was also dictated by the coaching staff.

 

He definitely improved,other than finishing.Some passes I have never seen him done before(last year some ny fans are moaning n his lack of bounce pass),and his defenses has definitely improved.He's still a good rebounder.

Shooting wise he was erratic as before but he certainly make more airballs than last year(or was i mistaken?).He seems to be a rhythmic shooter than spot up.I hope he practices until he can shoot better.

 

Pretty much I agree he isn't getting enough touches & from Sampsons comments it is a coaching decision. It is a really dumb coaching decision to be honest. I really don't know kind of disappointed by everything. Ugh -_-

 

His shooting posture is the ugliest I've ever seen except Marion.

 

Great post, repped.

 

So lin air-balled a shot? Big deal. Poop happens.

He's been playing alright. His numbers aren't terrible for a 24 year old player and honestly he's about where I expected. He will be fine.

People on both sides need to chill. Seriously.

 

He needs to shoot more.