You sir give me great hope for the 2012's. Please keep up the good work!!! But new players can only absorb so much at one sitting. Especially without the reps practice provides. This is a learning curve issue.
Hence the reason it's difficult to take a lot of posters seriously. I agree with everything Jeff said here... And the irrational statements made by a lot of people after so few games is why I don't post much anymore. No I didn't leave when chuck did... I simply refuse to argue with snap comments I too would love to see Terrence Jones on the court more... But as I posted to him on Facebook.... Keep working hard and prove in practice that you deserve to be on the court. He has gotten spot minutes and obviously the feel he is close to ready or they would have sent him to RGV
That left hand thing is an excuse. He still ranked top 70 last year with an even worse left hand. He would just use his quickness & still blow by you off picks. His left hand is a lot better now don't even know what Sampson is talking about on that.
You say you have 'valid criticism'. Do you mind showing us the three posts you made about Jeremy Lin being a Christian boy means he need to get laid so he can release stress, and stop hanging out with his male friends or just get pissed on alcohol? Or the post that you play in a rec club and have never airballed a shot even with hand in face. And that proves Lin is not an NBA player? Or when you presume, most likely due to my username, that I'm 5'7 145lb and never played basketball? And in your post, you say 'don't take it personal' You really do need to take your loser mentality, erhhh I mean criticisms, somewhere else, and certainly not this thread which is meant to shut people like you up, in case you haven't realized.
You are a prolific poster aren't you? Are you sure his quickness has returned from the knee injury? Of course I am comparing him to Harden, which may be unfair. But Harden just blows through the defense at times, leaving me with a holy crap moment, did he just do that?? I honestly do not see that from Lin - ever. There could be many causes, but I do hope he gets over them soon.
This is where the logic doesn't line up now. Our two biggest assets now is max contract room for a free agent in a period where not many teams have them and the big market / star destination teams are capped out completely, and a potential young superstar in Harden locked in for 5 years after this year to attract a star. You don't want to win less than 20 games if you want to utilize those assets
I don't think it's misguided to expect more than what we've seen so far from our newly signed PG at over 8mil/year. Most of our free agent/trade acquisitions have exceeded expectations, with one glaring exception.
Casual fans only notice whether the ball goes in the hoop or not. Jeremy Lin has improved in so many ways this year, from pure PG play, turnovers, fast break assists, defense, even left hand, taking the right shots etc. But his shot hasnt dropped, due to a mix of reasons including potentially recovery from injury, change of body type, low usage rate, being turned into a spot up 3pt shooter which he was bad at even during his 25 games last year, team chemistry, poor screens, limited PnR opportunities, team is still putting together play book and focusing (rightly) on incorporating Harden into the offense first. Give it some time. Purpose of this thread.
This response makes no sense. Is there someone out there who expected a lot out of TD? I was surprised he even ended up on the final roster.
This team was gonna suck. But why trade so much for a top 25 player PERIMETER PLAYER? Why sign a over pay for a PG just so you can cater to one section of the Houston population? I just feel something missing in how the Rocks are making personnel decisions. And to not do sufficient research on White and his "illness"...you mean Genius didn't think signing White or any player with this type of illness wouldn't be a problem? Spend a number one pick? I just think something is missing.
On a few plays where Asik/Patterson set a semi decent pick/screen for him yes I have seen his quickness in the half court. Like I said they just need to run sets to get him free from his defender. I haven't seen him split the double team at all this year I think & he was prolific at that. But part of the issue as you explained was that he hasn't been shooting well so defenses aren't playing him tight right. But that is why you have to run multi layered sets for him & he needs to shoot consistently. PS. Don't make me self conscious for posting to much. I usually try to be informative & stick to basketball.
It all depends on what you expected. His passing has improved substantially in terms of his choice of angles, his mixing of passes, his accuracy of bounce passes, and his avoidance of turnovers by forcing passes. His defense has improved dramatically. His footwork is MUCH better, he's anticipating offensive plays better, his intelligence in driving opponents to unfavorable positions are vastly better, his rotations are quicker and more effective, he's using his body better when playing close defense, and his steals have increased. Though a small sample of 6 games, he's currently playing a level of defense that borders between All Star and Elite level. His left hand handling has improved, it's much more solid not only in terms of the dribble control, but his stability in terms of turning corners and driving. His free throws have improved substantially. He's currently shooting 90%. The only area he's having issues is his shooting, which is not unexpected given that he's on a new team, with inexperienced new players, playing in incomplete offensive sets, with poor spacing, and being asked to play out of position a significant amount of the time (shooting guard vs PG). He's also expending far more energy and having to become familiar with how his body is reacting to the increased exertion on the defensive end. And that's aside from the body adjustments he's making that are inherent in the recovery from any type of surgery and rehab. Honestly, Lin is a MUCH more solid player than he was last year in every aspect except that his shooting is off right now. To think his shooting touch won't return is like assuming that he has forgotten how to shoot a basketball. The knowledge is there, the mechanics are there, he just has to put it all together. Given we've seen a very high shooting peak over a decent number of games last season, I think it's very safe to assume his shooting will improve from what it is now. To what degree, we'll find out, but I wouldn't rule out similar shooting, and eventually better shooting because he has an excellent work ethic. All factored in, in my view he's easily worth more than $8M barring injury. How much more will be determined over the next 200+ games in the remainder of his contract.
I agree in the sense that I rarely if ever, paid attention to any "results" during the first month of any nba season, ever, due to the simple fact that the first month is typically a de facto extension of the preseason. The only reason why I've tuned into games at all so early is because of jeremy Lin. I haven't truly enjoyed watching a player play nba basketball for a long time. The game has become so bastardized and the rules eroded so thoroughly (traveling, flopping, endless complaining to refs, endless iso plays, bs lockerroom drama) that it's basically become an athletic exhibition more than anything else. Along comes a kid with a true underdog story, free of the taint of huge egos, huge salaries etc. And goshdarnit, it was FUN watching him play. Nonetheless, now that I AM watching the first month of play, we can still discern trends. The most obvious is that Lin's confidence has almost completely tanked. And there's an obvious reason why. The coaches don't believe in him, and for whatever reasons (coaching dogma, racism, or both), are unable to adapt to the player's strengths, and instead are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. This sad inflexibility is at the root of the team's problems. It is not the coaching strategy per se, as it is the inability of the coaching staff to recognize and incorporate the strengths of each player. It is not a specific system that is weighing this team down, it is the inflexibility of the coaching which is the underlying problem. The sad reality is, the less coaching this team receives, the better they play. That is the biggest and most damning indictment of the coaching staff.
I see you joined in October of this year. Interesting. You also seem to have listed a bunch of 'improvements' that aren't quantifiable. I don't care about that. I care about whether or not he's living up to his contract. So far it's clear that he isn't. Hopefully he will eventually - we can all agree on that. But to say that he has so far is a joke. Don't embarrass yourself by claiming otherwise. Everyone on this team is playing on a new team and having to adjust to new players - he's not unique in that regard.
