Jeremy Lin needs to get to the FT line, FFS

He can't get to the FT line and he doesn't use a floater. Teams will pack the paint like they have been and leave him wide-open to shoot the 3. Lin passes the ball to Harden so he can do his thing while it leaves Lin as a spot up shooter. That's what the coaches want, and that's what Lin will do.

 

The coaches need to stop making him a spot up 3. It's not his strength. He's not a SG.

 

Lin has to tell the coaches to F off.

 

Combination of offense and the way we have been shooting the three. Noone is hitting the three and we have no post up option so the paint is always congested. In addition, Jeremy Lin's role isn't to score but to facilitate. Honestly, his assists should be much higher if we weren't shooting piss poor sub .400 on everything. I'm fine with him not scoring; as long as everyone else is moving well and getting good shots at the basket, I'm happy.

But seriously. Why are we number 2 in three point attempts and number 28 in makes? Sounds like we are trying to make the players fit the system instead of making the system fit the players...When did that ever work??

 

i think you hit the nail on the head. Jeremy Lin is suffering from a systemic problem and so is the entire team. I think neither Jeremy nor James Harden are being used correctly and neither is playing to their strengths. One of them is not getting the chance to move without the ball a la Manu Ginobili since he always has the ball in his hands for some inexplicable reason and the other is no longer playing aggressive basketball that made him Linsanity to start out with because he is now relegated to passive player status.

The coaches need to do some serious rethinking about their strategy right now.

Another crazy thing is how many shot attempts Omer Asik is getting and his low FG%. It makes no sense that a player with little to no offensive capability appears to be getting as many touches as Jeremy Lin.

 

He's not aggressive looking for his shot anymore. He says he studies Nash and stuff, and he has to realize that deferring is not equivalent to a good point guard. You have to always be an offensive threat-- passing and spacing is only part of it.

The reason he was so insane during Linsanity was because he combined all those things. Now he just looks scared to do anything. It could be coaching, it could be something else-- but he can't keep doing it.

 

The guy is obviously still recovering from knee issues. He currently has a minimal first step and can't get by anyone. He's still a solid pg as is and a great defender but he needs to actually initiate things. I'd much prefer if, you know, 40% of the time we were running Harden off screens instead of having Lin just spot up. But we'll figure it out. Our squad is obviously young and inexperienced.

 

It's his role. Harden or the coaches need to share the lead guard duties more with Jeremy. Coach Sampson doesn't believe in Jeremy.

 

This. The coaches have Harden playing pg and Lin is being used as a spot up shooter. Makes absolutely no sense at all.

 

Both Harden and Lin aren't getting to the line like they used to last season. Is it the anti-flopping rules? Refs seem to be letting players get more physical.

I'm disturbed by the change in Lin. This is not who I saw in Knicks games last year. Even after the coaching change to Woodson, he still played well -- and his knee was getting worn down too.

Now he's supposedly recovered, and this is how he plays?

I have no idea if it's a chemistry issue, incredibly bad coaching (but surely NBA coaches can see what all of us here can see??), or something's wrong with his knee, or mentally he's just out of it.

 

Time for more 3 practice from Jeremy Lin. He supposedly hits 75%-80% in practice so he just needs to do it in a game situation.

The only way this team gets into the paint is by hitting their 3's. I think it makes sense that we're 2nd in attempts but 28th in %. Until we hit our 3's the lane is not going to open up. We realize that, and our opponents realize that. So we keep trying.

 

Manu Ginobili handles the ball as the playmaker for the Spurs more than you think.

 

Thing about Asik's touches is that when Lin/Harden do a PnR w/ him, the two defenders usually stick with the ball handler most of the time leaving Asik open. You gotta give it to him to dunk/lay-up. If the defender didn't come off him, then Harden/Lin could penetrate and get a shot off themselves. Opposing defenses are just letting us/forcing us to use Asik.

 

Honestly, I suspect it's a combination of factors.

1) In order to drive, you want the lane open. To space the lanes, you need 3 point shooters. We're shooting alot of 3's, but the hit rate is low outside of Delfino who's very streaky. This means that teams constantly sag off the perimeter. That makes it MUCH easier to rotate on defense.

2) If want to play the PnR, you need a Big man who can set a pick and roll to the basket. The picks I saw were pretty weak, and for most of Asik's drive to the rim it was a straight drop in pass, NOT a pick and roll.

3) We don't execute alot of screens. A single screen is easy to get past or switch off. I don't see the sorts of complex screens, double screens, or screens and drops that create space for Harden or Lin that you see on other teams.

So, if you allow an opposing team to double Harden as well as pack the paint, you take a tremendous amount of efficiency out of Harden and Lin's scoring games.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lin's play was the result of several factors.

-Lin reading the defense and seeing the paint is ultrapacked, then deciding to pass the ball in order to find a higher percentage shot.
-Harden feeling the need to score as the "franchise" player, thus pushing harder to score instead of passing.
-Coaches pushing Lin to focus primarily on facilitating while they work on specific offensive sets. The dump offs to Asik were clearly premeditated.
-Coaches telling Harden to be aggressive and score vs passing the ball (non-democratic play) due to the lack of developed playsets.
-Lin passing on some open shots as he knows that while he's finding his shot that they'll be somewhat low percentage makes.

I am hoping that much of this will work itself out as they finish developing the offensive sets. Asik as an effective Pick and Roll player will help substantially. As for 3 point shooting, I'm not sure that will resolve itself easily.

I don't think we can underestimate the impact of being light on 3 point shooting in terms of spacing. For example, the Knicks currently have 5 players shooting over 40% from behind the arc. The Rockets have ZERO.

Right now, we have limited options to create spacing for our players.

Hopefully the Coaches add some tools to the toolbox or we won't see Harden or Lin's maximum potential.

 

Yeah pretty much. The Rockets need a PNR big man that rolls hard to the rim & forces the opposing team to adjust. They don't have that right now.

 

Thanks torocan.Do you see an additional plays coach implement today?I've lost my count on other things lol

 

Actually, there were some. Most of them were centered around Asik (dump offs, drive and drop offs, as well as passes into the post). There were some off the ball back cuts. As well as some distraction plays to the corners.

Still, they're pretty rough.

The lack of smoothness in the offense is pretty clear sometimes, especially when you see ball movement get clogged when passing around the perimeter. It's one thing for passing to stall because the defense has adjusted. It's another entirely when you can see players stopping momentarily and consciously thinking about where the ball should be going next.

There really is no excuse for ball movement to lag when it's moving side to side other than the defense adjusting. I think they're lagging because they're not always sure on what is supposed to happen next.

There was at least a couple plays where passes were made to the corner/elbow and completely missed because the player had moved incorrectly (broken plays).

That said, our ball movement has improved dramatically over the last 5 games. Hopefully they'll continue to improve as the players get more reps and as they continue to add sets.