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

A big indicator would be to see how he does on Sunday vs the Lakers. Lin tends to really step it up against them. He's done it during his rookie year and with the Knicks. The Lakers game will also have his former coach, Mike D'Antoni.

If Steve Nash isn't back by then, Lin will be potentially facing Chris Duhon, Darius Morris, and Steve Blake (whose also currently day-to-day). Granted that Dwight Howard is still there to protect the paint, but the Lakers are still trying to find their identity on the defensive end.

 

Sampson will prevent any Linsanity from happening in that game. Trust me. If there is even a speck of it, Sampson will call for a Harden ISO.

 

Most likely, you're a good shooter. How's that sound...

 

Take a look at Torocan's posts, the ones where he talks about the lack of spacing and screens/double screens/back screens etc on the Rockets vs knicks last year. Very good posts. The Rockets don't have the personnel to stretch the defense, and they haven't had enough practice/chemistry to put together proper PnR/screen sets.

People think PnR is easy. Just get a big guy to set a strong screen, and have him either roll to the rim or step out and hit the 15ft jumper, and the slasher can get to the rim at will, find space for a mid-range jump shot, or step behind the screen and hit a 3. But it isn't when your big man isn't yet well developed in that area and not much of a threat, and you don't have shooters to create spacing for drives to the rim.

Don't look at Jeremy Lin, and don't look at the first two games. Just focus on Harden. He shot 40% from 3s last year, 66% TS%, and nearly 50% overall FG. And he did just as well without either of Durant or Westbrook on the floor, and did better without both on the floor. He certainly didn't lose his shot over the off-season due to surgery or anything, as his first two games show.

Harden is shooting 17.2% from 3s in the last 5 games, 33% overall FG, TS% of 45.9%. Don't tell me he hasn't dropped off as much or more than Lin vs last year. And it isn't because he has regressed as a player. It is the spacing, personnel and chemistry around him.

The problem is Parsons is an asset defensively with an improving albeit linedrive 3pt shot, but he is not a knockdown 3pt shooter. And our stretch 4s Patterson and Morris are probably another year away from being able to shoot consistently from the corner 3, and I'm thinking 32-35% to at least warrant attention, not the 38-40% you should really get from the shortest 3pt shot.

So what I'm saying is, don't turn of your TV sets. Watch Lin, Harden develop under heavy defensive attention in this difficult year, and when either the supporting cast improves or Morey brings in reinforcements, this team can be special and Lin/Harden will be a joy to watch again.

 

I watched many Knicks game this year...Tyson Chandler is the BEST PnR Roll man threat in the WORLD!!! INDEED!!! And Felton/Kidd/Prigioni are all benefiting from his existence.

 

Since many people seem to think that Jeremy is just an average defender, I did a short analysis with video capture from the Heat game to show that JLin's excellent man-to-man defense and help defense against 3 Heat players (Wade, Cole, Bosh) actually provided a spark to make 8-3 run in the 3rd quarter. This was part of a 16-7 run to tie the game at 75-75 towards the end of 3rd quarter.

Hopefully this helps many fans to appreciate Jeremy's excellent defense the next time we watch his games. It took me some time to put this together so enjoy

http://toondad.blogspot.com/2012/11/jeremy-lin-is-excellent-defender.html
...
We will look in detail in this 8-3 run, especially in how Lin successfully guarded Wade, Bosh, Cole resulting in 1 block, 2 missed layups, 1 steal, 1 charge. This is not the work of an average defender.
...

 

Like I said... I dont want to watch a Lin shooting 3s for the rest of his career...

that is not his strengths

and there is nothing left to see...as he will never become a premier lights out shooter like Harden can become...

just like when I said Asik is not a back to the basket type of guy....and as you can see a better pick and roll player..

Harden is a better spot up shooter... catch the ball with a defender coming at you...type of player...

now if Morey has crunched some numbers and the computers tell him these players should be doing these things... then ill believe it...

I just dont see it...and its irritating to watch...

up by 8 I wanted the Rox to keep the second unit in...

 

Thanks for putting in all the work. Unfortunately, most of the people criticizing Lin made up their mind about him before he got here and the rest is just confirmation bias. It'll take Linsanity 2.0 to open their minds. And that will never happen while one of them (Sampson (and/or Mchale?)) is running the team.

 

I think his court vision is his greatest asset. His scoring will continue to be inconsistent, but yeah his defense especially weak side defense is getting pretty good. He's top five in steals so far this season.

 

Knicks are doing well because now, only one of Melo or STAT is playing.

That's been the problem for years.

It really has nothing to do with Jeremy Lin, for better or for worse.

 

His scoring will only remain inconsistent if the coaches keep making him play as a spot-up 3 point shooter. Let him play a few games as a natural pg and you can expect him to score 18 PPG and 8 APG comfortably.

 

Not to mention that Melo is actually trying on defense, doing things such as rebounding which he never did before. Tyson Chandler said it himself that Melo was a changed man after last season. Credit to Woodson for making him accountable.

 

Personally , I think this 8-3 run provided a glimpse of Linsanity where everything started with good defense leading to a quick transition and Lin can aggresively either attack the basket or pass to open teammates.

What's still missing is Lin's explosiveness to attack the basket due to his knee recovery and Lin's chemistry with Harden to play off each other. I believe the chemistry will come with more playing time. These two guys are too talented not to learn to use each other well. As for Lin's explosiveness, let's hope it will come back in 20-25 games but Lin needs to continue to be aggressive to take 12-15 FGA per game because good things happened when he attacks as proven in this 8-3 run.

 

Thanks,
Really nice analysis. Which computer tools did you use?

 

Thanks! I simply used Windows Snipping Tool to get quick snapshots and annotate with red/blue lines. Nothing fancy but enough to show the player movement.

I also had analysis of the 8-6 run following this 8-3 run showing how Harden found Delfino for two 3PTs using the same play but the defense by Patterson and Harden gave too much space for LeBron and Wade to hit their jumpers. When I find some time, I will publish it.

 

In an odd way, Lin's defense compliment Harden pretty well. Harden's defense is approaching Martin level in advanced stats.

 

What are the two guards numbers after tonights game?

 

Is it me or is Harden a really below average defender? I think it may be because he's exerting so much on the offensive end.

 

PPP allowed:
Lin: 0.7(ranked #51)
Harden :0.99(ranked #213)
Kevin Martin: 0.95(ranked #200)

Not all players are ranked due to minutes played, so it's pretty bad for Harden/Martin. Kmartin is a better defender than Harden so far.

By the way, Morris is a monster on defense : 0.53(#4). He's playing limited minutes as backup though.

 

Last season he's average defender, and get better in playoff. This year he spent too much energy on offense. However, he got all the phisical tools to be a plus defender unlike Martin who's phisically limited.