Rockets hall of famer "Calvin Murphy" - Lin needs to have the ball in his hands & run this offense Rockets hall of famer & 2 time rockets champion "Hakeem Olajuwon " - Lin and Howard will be a deadly combination Rockets GM - Lin is our best post passer Majority of CFs, people behind their computer - harden needs ball in his hands with a spot up shooter at PG
I'm what would be called a LOF, but Lin's playmaking is just not there yet, and it won't be there until he fixes his turnovers. He has the potential to be a very good playmaker. The court vision is there, the passing skills are there, he's just undisciplined and his ballhandling still needs some work. Hid defense has improved, and even his handles have though (going left), but his turnovers continue to hold his play down.
The problem is that it's hard to trust lin because he makes so many turnovers even with his limited ball handling time. IMO, if the rockets had a pg with playmaking abilities that they could trust, then the ball would be in Harden's hands less.
Exactly as I see it. We have solid players and they aren't even close to finishing their development. Accept that Harden, Lin, Parsons are works in progress and you're more realistic about not only the team now, but what, if kept together, the team could ultimately be. I don't think turnovers are a huge problem either. The team gets steals and transition buckets when they force turnovers the other way and they also don't play so stagnantly when they are playing well which may lead to some TOs. Some folks just want a new PG or put forth that Harden is some sort of PG which I don't agree with. Harden is an SG with some playmaking skills but Lin is better at it as is other PGs Houston have had like Dragic and Lowry. The team fires on all cylinders when it isn't too Harden-centric and needs to find the balance of having the ball go through Harden but keeping the rest of the team involved and showing different looks in the offense with the ball going through Lin or Chandler as well as the post with Dwight.
This is NOT true. The reason we are looking for a PG that can shoot and defend as oppose to being our playmaker is because Harden no longer plays the role of off-the-ball slasher and shooter. Harden rather plays PG and due to him being way, way, WAY more important to our team than Lin will EVER be, we don't really have much of a choice now do we? Either the team gets Harden to buy in playing off the ball a lot more or we start a PG that fits with Harden's iso ball habits. It is really what all this boils down to.
I'm confused. Why would you let your point guard play point guard, and your shooting guard play shooting guard?... ....... ....... .......
Everyone stands around watching when our guards drives this year compared to last, Howard & jones dont set quality screens compared to ASIK, ppat, smith. When harden drives & doesn't have a good look at the rim he flops for a foul if the lane is crowed vs Lin looking always looking to finish or stop & pass which can lead to a turnover. Harden still racks up the same amount of turnovers either way you look at it
How do you think the team feels about that? Chandler's comment on guys needing to be unselfish and Dwight's comments on trusting team mates and playing defense at the perimeter. Then there was P Pat last year that mentioned Harden by name. Harden is a young, developing player and not saying you are but I think some here are overselling him as someone who doesn't need to adjust his game for the betterment of the team.
I think Harden has to play D and you shouldn't have to rely on everybody around him to take up the slack. The most talented players need to play together, not start an inferior player because Harden doesn't feel like playing good defense. You can name all kind of qualities in a pg that would be good with Harden, a playmaker, etc., and argue which ones are the most important. I think that being able to really push the ball and make plays is important for this team, shoot the three, and being able to drive the lane are great qualities to go with Harden. I think Lin is a very good fit with Harden, but his three point shooting has to get batter, I think it will with playing time. The fact that he can drive the lane so well is very important, because everybody is so focused on Howard and Harden that it leaves a lot of opportunity for him to score by driving. Mchale needs to stop fooling with the lineup and let the best players get used to playing together. That's what will give the Rockets the best chance of winning.
Last season stats... JLin total assists: 497 dunk assists: 105 close assists: 158 CP3 total assists: 678 dunk assists: 92 close assists: 140 Do you guys understand now why Lin is so turnover prone?
I think the Rockets has about 7 pg on the team. brook, beverley, lin, harden, parson, tjones, casspi, I see all of them bring the ball up. I don't think any good pg like rondo or d will or others would want to play for mchale and the rockets, no way. lol
I meant the part about CF. We want the team to ultimately win, regardless of who plays what. Since Harden refuses to stop playing point, that means either 3 things will happen: - We go with the offense that our team's star wants to play - We ignore what our star wants and go with a PG playing PG and possibly make our star unhappy - Harden starts reverting back to his OKC days where he did play more off-the-ball Considering Harden is our star and basically our future as far as we can tell right now and Lin is completely not our future, then we have to latch the wagon on Harden and let him carry us as far as he can. Now if Harden changes his mind and lets our PG's play point more, I am personally all for that. However, if I have to choose between letting our PG's play or letting our star play, I choose star all day every day. How the team feels is not up to me. It is up to the team itself and whether or not they can set egos and pride aside. I personally want Harden to play more like he did in his OKC days, but that is not something any of us can control or rely on.
Your post doesn't make any sense. You're saying that ball is in Hardens hands more because Lin makes to many turnovers. Lin is averaging 2.8 to's a game and Harden is averaging 3.8 to's a game. So they take the ball out of Lins hands because he turns it over to much, and give it to Harden because he turns it over more?
That's completely true. The only person who seems committed to setting good screens is Greg Smith, who also seems to actually want to play Pick and Roll. Lin's turnovers are a problem still. This team and the way it plays is not conductive to his having low TO's, and I can live with a lot of them, but some of them are unforced errors, just the result of his lack of discipline and experience. Him fixing this will raise his game to the next level. But on this team, it doesn't even matter as much because Harden is the primary playmaker. Getting a guy like Rondo might command the kind of respect from Harden to make him start actually playing SG, but I doubt it.
I would have a look at Dragic as a stop gap solution with an eye on dealing him this off-season. For now if he can play next to Bledsoe, he can do the same next to Harden. There's a market for him and that last year option won't be a hindrance. It would take a career threatening season ending injury in 2014-15 for him to pick up that option. The Suns are attractive as a trade partner because of their four 2014 first round picks and they have an unused rim protector C. Kravtsov was a throw in in a deal and hasn't gotten minutes on a Suns' roster that's heavily crowded in the frontcourt. In 2014 the Suns hold their own first round pick, as well as T-Wolves, Wiz, & Pacers. http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/detailed <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rtHeIG6GAek?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I think it's important to note that Rajon Rondo has excelled despite that inconsistent jumpshot, personally. He had an awful lot of help offensively, so his own on-again, off-again shooting didn't rise to become quite the detriment to the Celtics that it probably should have been (although I admit that, if Rondo himself shoots better against the Lakers in game seven of the '09-'10 title round, the Celtics probably win that game). James Harden is an elite offensive player. I've felt from the very beginning that an elite offensive player doesn't need to be accomodated offensively. He needs, perhaps moreso than any other player, to have a defined role in an offense so that his team benefits. One that mitigates his own individual ball-handling and helps to facilitate ball-and-player movement. Most of the time, the reason why the ball stops (with Harden or with practically any other great offensive player) is that they are looking to score. And teammates are almost automatically inclined to allow that to happen...to "stand-around-and-watch" in the popular vernacular. Not anything other than the nature of the game, by and large. A facilitator, though, is much more likely to ensure that everyone is accountable and involved offensively as often as possible. But to facilitate an offense, an offense has to be in place first. I honestly don't know if that's happened yet for the Rockets. But in fairness, first Harden, and now Dwight Howard, have dramatically changed the make-up of the squad in relatively short order, and that has raised the expectation level very quickly. It's going to take some time to sort a few things out. It is the "win now" mentality that favors accomodating James Harden offensively and defensively, that personally, I'm afraid may be exactly the wrong road to take now. This is still arguably a very young team, with only Howard being at or near his prime age-wise. Consequently, there would be some growing pains with the team building...especially since this is a team constructed almost exclusively through trade. If there was ever a time to begin to establish roles and a team identity, now is the time. I think the Rockets offense could be twice as dynamic with a facilitator assuming the ball-handling/decision-making responsibility for Harden and Chandler Parsons. Even though the team's offensive output isn't the most obvious problem right now, balancing out responsibilities on that side of the ball would lead to an improvement defensively, to me. Whether we all want to admit it or not, a relatively young squad like this does need structure, guidance and direction, especially if the expectation (rightly) is to compete for championships relatively quickly. I'm not sold on Kevin McHale not being able to do the job yet. But the team needs to go though a growing phase so that some of the "fit" issues can work themselves out. And a more tradition role-assignment structure (which I'm sure McHale is familiar with from his Boston playing days...and which has him soured on Jeremy Lin a little because of Lin's potentially high turnover rate) would do wonders , I think, for the team. Especially Harden. I don't know if Rondo is the answer to that himself. But the suggestion is more along the lines of delegating responsibilities a bit better, moreso than making sure players "fit" together. Systems don't make players great, of course. But they do make great teams. And the greater the player, the greater the team. Phil Jackson understood that almost immediately when he took over in Chicago from Doug Collins. Collins was enamored with Jordan being the guy with the ball at the top of the key almost every time downcourt. Jackson immediately made Jordan a moving target (wing, post, high-elbow, wherever), gave the offensive facilitator role to Scottie Pippen, which led to the Bulls exploring more offensive options more often, and the Bulls became champions. Alot of the same thing happened right under our noses here with Hakeem Olajuwon. Hakeem began to trust and depend on the guys he was playing with. he shared the ball more and the Rockets won. The idea, though, had to come from somebody other than the players. It might not have to happen that way. Lot of things are happening right now (injuries and inconsistent play, mostly) that may take coare of themselves after awhile. Freaking out about it is constantly what we all routinely do around here. That's what makes it fun to hang out here, mostly:grin:. But the best way to go forward is to have more than platitiudes and surly interviews after embarrassing losses. I don't know what I'm talking (or typing) about half of the time. But I do know that the team needs more than just adopting a win-now mindset without a win-HOW philosophy...
This is a good point. Lin aims for getting his teammates shots in the paint, easy dunks or layups. Most of the other assists we're getting from our other players are from 3 pointers, which isn't bad either, except on nights when we cant make any threes.
