James Harden is as good a playmaker as Jeremy Lin.

Lin's APG is 17th among PGs

Harden's APG is 3rd among non-PGs

 

That does more to show Harden's excellent playmaking ability for a non-PG, rather than Lin's performance among PGs, if that's what you were getting at.

Everyone knows the PG position is as stacked as the Western Conference, while the SG position is a dearth of talent.

 

the stats are all skewwed.
If you wants to compare compare Sampson stats to Post Spurs stats with Machale.

 

Strawman.... Lin doesn't average 18/10 (wish he did) and a "not looking for his shot" is not why Lin doesn't average 24/5 (BTW Harden is 26/5).

Harden is perhaps every bit the playmaker Lin is.. But Harden cannot be expected to be the best playmaker too. He is 23 years old, being a starter for the first time, being the alpha dog for the first time... Playing 40 minutes a night and getting 26/5/5/2/1 while taking a beating... He cannot do more.

Let Lin run the offense, he gets others involved and frankly can carry a bigger load than he has so far.

 

I wonder why...

 

Yea, but a shooting guard is supposed to be a shooter and a scorer and yet Harden making plays w/ assists, and Shooting guard position isn't bad at all nowdays..

Jordan Crawford, Jamal Crawford, Wesley Matthews, Tyreke (when he wants), Klay Thompson, Marcus Thornton, Ellis (for scoring purposes), Ray Allen, Dwayne Wade, Eric Gordan (when he plays), Kevin Martin, Ginobli, Bryant...need I name more? Its pretty stacked imo.

 

And if you want, You can put Westbrook to be a SG also.

 

Deep down, i know who's going to talk what by looking just the username.
it's pretty consistent, people trying to find all the useful information available and interpret it MY way till the moment it's a crystal fact and didn't need an argument.

Something like, I love Harden, he's money, dudes, why you love "what a joke" Jeremy? I love "make teammates better" Jeremy, why I should change my love?

I dare say, people think themselves are always right, STAT my ass, eye test my ass, it's about what I am speaking is money, thats it. Human nature, nothing new!My friend.

Just quote as many stat as you like, and keep arguing, people wont change. AND wfc? As long as they are turning the best back court of Rockets and winning, making the O'brien trophy closer and closer! Who gives a xxxx?

 

That guy is a troll pretending to be a "Lin fan." Please don't fall for it.

Notice his join date, he's probably an angry Knicks fan

 

Then what do you care? Why would you even bother commenting? This is part of the game, 2 of the popular players on the team draw massive attention --- people will comment on their game as they see it, agenda or not, its perfectly normal.

 

ummm. I'm 100% in agreement. What are you disagreeing with? I think Harden 's a bad mothertrucker but that Lin should initiate the offense more as he is the pg.

 

After reading all six pages, I'll stick to my definition of better Playmaker and better Player. :grin:

 

Question does anybody know if Lin knows how to set screens? I was watching the Lakers & Nash sets his teammates up in two ways. Obviously with his passing but he also gets them good looks with his screen setting. Lin should learn how to set screens for his guys. He probably does know how to, he played SF in college & the D-league at times.

 

In sports like soccer or hockey, a playmaker is used to refer to a great passer.

In football, a playmaker is an exceptional RB/WR/TE on offense, or any defensive player who can create turnovers.

When you use the term in basketball, it most likely refers to a great passer. Someone who can "playmake" by creating his own shot would simply be called a superstar or scoring machine or whatever. "Playmaker" is specifically reserved for great passers.

 

it's because the pg is the shortest position in terms of height. you can be "average" height and still play pg. so there's just way more people in the world who have the height to play pg. therefore you have lots of people to choose from and so the pg position is stacked with really exceptional athletes.

once you get to over 6'6" where the other positions are there's just far less people in the world to choose from to play those positions. that's why you can be just an average athlete and still play in the nba if you are 7'2" (although this is becoming less true over time with the globalization of the nba and more international athletes to choose from).

 

17% of Americans over 7 foot in the age range of the nba are in the nba, yeah it's not really becoming less true, lol.

 

Wow, people still say things like this. :roll eyes: Way to stick it to them, yeah!

 

The way people are twisting what the term playmaker means is ridiculous. Playermaker is not passer or assist man. It's the person that draws the attention of the defense and therefore open up opportunities for the whole team to score. Whether through scoring himself, passing to lead to scores, or rebounding lead to scores when talking about offense.

Classic example: Hakeem Olajuwan. 3rd in assists on Rockets first championship game. Behind Kenny Smith. Behind Vernon Maxwell. And if Hakeem played today instead of Harden, Lin would have double Hakeem's assists. But if you use any sort of god damn common sense, you'd see that regardless of Lin's passes, he's not the playmaker that the Dream was.

On the Rockets today, who does the defense fear? Who does the defense collapse upon when that person has the ball? Who creates the most scoring opportunities for the offense? Here's a hint. That person is not Jeremy Lin.

 

Not really arguing in this thread (pointless, really - both players are great and have their roles, but only one 'right now' is a franchise player ... The one with facial hair) ... But

If you look up a dictionary

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Playmaker?s=t

Playmaker actually is defined as setting up a 'teammate'. It has always being presumed so when used on someone like John Stockton or Nash.

You don't hear the term 'playmaker' used to describe Kobe or Jordan, although they average 4-5 assists most seasons (like Harden this year). They are called scorers. Jordan the greatest playmaker of all time just doesn't sound right.

 

Jlin shot blocking.... whoooohoooo!