He is better. Best defender and rebounder along with Rondo on PG position. Most versatile scorer. Can't knock his desicion making, since he is point guard of NBA's best offense.
If Lin only had surgery for repair, he wouldn't have been out for 6 weeks. CP3 was also out for 6 weeks. CP3 fans thought he had gotten the repair until they revealed that a portion of his meniscus was actually removed. Yes, a meniscus removal is minor compared to anything related to your ACL but if it wasn't serious, Lin wouldn't have been out for 6 weeks.
Everyones body is different. There is no true timetable on all these things. And when you have a repair and you are young doctors are extra conservative because tissue can be re-grown.
Uh, Lin played with Tyson Chandler (one of the best defenders in the league) for the most part and without Amare & Melo (two of the worst defenders in the league). In fact, 71% of Lin's minutes came playing next to DPOTY, Tyson Chandler. Rubio on the other hand had non-factors like Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic protecting the rim. Comparing Lin and Rubio defensively only shows how little one knows about the two (or how biased they are). Also, Lin will be 24 in six days.
You're speculating just like everyone else is. I"ll agree to disagree with you. We were talking about CP3 not playing the same way he did after he got surgery. That could be the same for Lin. CP3 was out for 6 weeks like Lin, just sayin'.
Uh uh uh...let's not give Lin any credit for anything. His success is due to other people, not himself. duh.
Uh uh uh, if you're smart enough to dig deeper than the surface, you'll come to a better conclusion. Duh.
No, last year it was Darko, and Darko is actually a good shotblocker and decent rebounder, though Love is obviously the best rebounder on that team.
No, last year Darko played less minutes minutes for the Wolves than Camby played in Houston and Camby only played 19 games. Oh, did you know Darko had a worse defensive rebounding percentage than Andrea Bargnani? Rubio is one of the best defensive point guards in the league. Lin is below average defensively. Anyone who compares the two on the defensive end is either frighteningly ignorant or obviously biased.
Lin had Chandler, but also had... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2AZqqYW9DQs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Oh, and Melo refused to play anything resembling defense until he got D'Antoni fired.
Amare and melo are not the two worst defenders in the NBA. Amare definitely is terrible and at the bottom of the barrel. Melo most definitely is not the worst defender in the NBA. Second, playing alongside a DPOY makes everybody who steps onto the court better defensively not just the pg. Rubio is not one of the best defensive pg's in the NBA. Sorry I disagree with that. Also Lin isn't below average defensively. He isn't a lawn chair out there. I would say he is average defensively but definitely not below average.
You are right. It looks like Pekovic got the starting job in the 2nd half of the season. However, Darko's defensive boards numbers are obviously stunted. Anyone playing in the presence of Love, who is basically Dennis Rodman part 2, would have lesser numbers. I've watched plenty of the T-Wolves, especially at the beginning of last season. Beasley is crap for D, and only good for chucking up shots. But they certainly had no problems getting boards (offensive or defensive) or blocking shots. But Lin is definitely not below average. I have no clue where that comes from. Other than superstars like Rose and Rondo, I did not see any that anything but average games. In fact, Lin played Kyrie, Rubio, and Jennings all to a virtual draw, if not marginally better. Outside of game box scores, other people have posted also posted Lin's advanced defensive stat numbers too. He is most definitely not "below average".
You completely ignored the stats which is a much more solid indication that Lin is a better defender than given credit for than your armchair analysis based on exact 1 line: " Tyson Chandler!" Try again.
Amare and Melo both rank in the bottom 20 in defensive +/- despite playing with the DPOTY. In fact, when playing together they give up an amazingly bad 113 points per 100 possesions when Chandler isn't on the floor. Lin, thank god, is not as bad they are. Rubio, on the other hand, posted the best defensive +/- of any point guard despite playing with two stiffs in Love and Pekovic behind him.
