James Harden is as good a playmaker as Jeremy Lin.

I agree with this. Hardens first instinct is to score, Lins is to pass, teammates know that so guys tend to move off the ball when Lin is doing his thing more so than James.

 

I agree with your post. But the thing about CP and Nash _ they have other players on the team who are great scorers themselves (The clippers are loaded).

Other than Harden _ the Rockets don't have anyone averaging over 15 points a game.

 

Unfortunately true. I think our guys respect Harden's scoring ability so much that they try to "get out of his way" by spacing the floor and standing at the corners of the 3 point line. That puts more pressure on Harden to create on two fronts: 1) his teammates aren't cutting or setting weakside screens to get open and 2) the opposing defense will focus even more heavily on Harden.

 

I've always thought James Harden was a great/borderline elite passer off the pick n roll in terms of finding ways to passing it to the roller. Jeremy doesn't have great craftiness in terms of his bounce passes in the pick n roll game.

 

I define playmaking as an intent to create or direct the movement of the offense to the team's benefit.I think playmaking has a very mutual dependence between the off ball movement of your team-mates, and the person directing the play.

From the playmaker's perspective, you need to have a deliberate spatial awareness because this paints the image of the current play and thus be more able to anticipate its development. Being able to know where your team-mates are and their motional and positional tendencies (how fast they can run, where and when they like to receive the ball etc). A good sign of a player who has great spatial awarness are players who tend to play with their head up and frequently scan the court.

So comparing Lin and Harden's playmaking based on this context, I would say Lin's game and how he likes to play requires more spatial awareness. My reasoning is because Lin is a pass first point guard, and if so, therefore it is necessary to have excellent court vision and intuitive knowledge of your team-mates and their off ball tendencies. Harden's style of play on the other hand, requires less because he is more scoring orientated. Because of this, he can take more pressure off in the development of an inclusive offense which requires good off ball movement from the team, and thus he appears to be a lot more direct in his play. Therefore, because of Harden's direct style of play, he has less dependencies on the team and thus requires less spatial awareness in order to be effective. Thus, Harden creates plays from the collapse of the opposition's defense, and this often leaves a player who is open, as we see in a lot of Harden's playmaking.

The downside to this is that Harden becomes very predictable, but since Harden is so talented this does not deter his game. Another concern would be how this sometimes encourages players to become stagnant and takes emphasis away from good off ball movement, allowing players to just occupy the perimeter in order leave more space in the paint for Harden to playmake. Doing this often would have an adverse effect on the rhythm of the team and we become prone to turnovers and off-shooting.

Where Lin and Harden's playmaking overlap is their abilities to draw defensive pressure and being able to create from the defensive attention they demand when attacking the paint.

Lin's style on the hand is very dependent on good off ball movement, and a lot of his playmaking comes from players making excellent cuts in order to receive the ball in great positions for scoring, and again this needs very good spatial awarness and the coordination of the team-mates.

Playmaking is also reading the defence, knowing their mind-set and exploiting their weakness. This could be as simple as taking advantadge of a defender's innate proclivity to reach for the ball, as we see Harden do so often, to Lin anticipating how the defense will react to him when he cleverly drives to his left because he knows they will block his right side. It is to know the intentions of the defender I'm pretty hungry now I might get a sandwhich.

 

When Lin was in NY and he was the #1 option for the shot, the ball still moved more and ppl run hard and played hard because they knew Lin will share the ball. That was Linsanity time without the super stars and everybody having a chance to be one ...

 

I rather have Harden have the ball every possession and do the euro step lol

 

His pnr passing does need some more work but its coming along. His high pnr passing, passes to cutters, full court outlets, transition passing are things of beauty though. Every game, there is a gem or two which as a pg I have to rewatch several times.

Harden is boss, no doubt. But, Jeremy is clearly a pg who makes an offense go, whereas Harden is a bigtime scorer with great passing skills.

Let the boys play their natural positions, please.

 

Great, well thought-out post. Thanks and enjoy the sandwich.

 

love this backcourt! if we can find a balance between lin and harden, the Rockets will be a very dangerous team and full of energy.

 

Lin is the GOAT

 

Sorry, Lin is not good enough to design an offense around for him to initiate; hence why Coach has us running a lot and, in half court, playing a weave more than PnR.

For the greater good of the team, we should be doing what Coach has us doing right now. It is our perfect offense; the best we can do. Lin doesn't need to initiate half court offense more than he already does.

 

Torocan with the WORD as usual.

 

No. Harden almost never score at the expense of a teammate. Both Lin and Harden's instincts are to get the best shot available. The difference between them is, Harden is a much better scorer and therefore the "best shot" is more likely to be him than a teammate. While a lesser scorer like Lin's best option on any possession is more likely to be a pass.

If Lin ever develops a great jumper and finish well at the basket, he'll stop passing a lot because they would become inferior plays. But until then, he'll be a more willing passer simply out of necessity.

 

Trade Harden, LIN will be better than JORDAN

 

Well Lin is currently finishing at a higher percentage at the rim than harden is. Lin is at 0.647 & harden is at 0.637. I agree on Lin's need to improve his shooting, don't think anybody can say that Lin is a good shooter, he is woeful right now.

And what you said in italics is false there have been multiple times where Harden has teammates on the wings & he still drives into multiple defenders when he should pass. That by its very definition is scoring at the expense of his teammates. Or other times where he tries to dribble through a trap when he should pass. I agree that James is the better scorer but that doesn't mean that he always makes the right decisions when he looks for his shot first. He isn't perfect at all. And also, just because a shot goes in doesn't mean it was the right decision in the first place.

 

You should know enough of basketball to know that FTs aren't included in any FG% measure. You should also have seen enough Rockets this year to see that Lin also has tried to score when teammates are open. I didn't say they make the correct play 100% of the time. Just that they generally play that way.

And fwiw, and I know you don't think much of McHale, but he said that every Rocket player require good spacing to operate properly. But the only exception is Harden. Not Lin and Harden, just Harden. Many times, Harden driving into several defenders is a good play because he's James Harden.