It is undeniable that Jeremy Lin is struggling right now. Struggling might be mildly putting it. It is not just that he is not making his shots. That happens to a number of players, even stars. It is called being in a slump and players eventually come out of the funk. The state Lin currently is in, it is beyond that. This looks like a player that is mentally broken down. His constant driving into the lane in traffic, picking the dribble and then coughing it up. The unnecessary home run passes that usually waste fast break opportunities. The indecisiveness on the court, on offense as well as defense. The overall lack of confidence. It is like he has forgotten how to play in the NBA. Look at his body language and you will see a rookie given his first minutes in the league. He is supposed to be the spark plug of the bench. Instead, he has turned into a dead battery. If Rockets were, let's say Lakers or the Bucks, teams with really no team goals for this season, the obvious choice would be to just live with it and let Lin just ride out another one of his slumps. Unfortunately this team is trying to win some playoff series this year. So what is the best course of action for the Rockets with the playoffs in mind? Playing Beverley extended minutes at the PG is not the answer. The more minutes he gets, the more his limitations will be exposed. IMO, with his aggressive style of play he will foul out even more. If Brooks was still here, safe to say that he would be eating into Lin's minutes. But since he is not, do we just throw Canaan into the fire? The thing that is concerning is me is that, even if Jeremy gets out of his current mega-slump, what is there to guarantee that he wont get into another one when we need him in the future? What if his next AWOL is right before and during the playoffs? Yes, Canaan is a rookie and he will undoubtedly make mistakes. And yes, we are less than half a season away from the playoffs and it might not be enough time to battle-test him. But half a seasoned Cannan would be better than this current Lin.... should it happen to show up during the playoffs. A rookie guard has delivered for this franchise before, so it is not completely unprecedented. Spoiler
Jerry Lin is notorious big game/playoff underperformer and he isn't that good to begin with, so yeah, limiting his minutes in PS can't be a bad thing.
I think if we were the Lakers or Bucks THAT would be when we run our prospective players. There's no reason to believe that Canaan isn't getting his fair opportunity to prove he can play during practice. So far he clearly hasn't shown he deserves to play more than Jeremy Lin.
It's time. Canaan played four years of college ball and did work when he was in RGV, he's clearly more NBA-ready than your average rookie. As poorly as Lin's playing, it's time to see what the kid can do.
Should he? That can be debated by we, the fans. Will he? No. No coach will bench Jeremy Lin in favor of a rookie when a normal NBA player goes through spells of slumps like lin is going through. McHale himself down played the situation in a recent interview. And there is a reason Cannan was a second round pick, (and no it doesen't mean much he is lighting up the D-League) Unless Bev or Lin gets injured I expect McHale to roll with the players that got him to a 40-19 record. And yes that includes the "terrible, awful, broken" Jeremy Lin.
Another 5 star thread! People seriously wants to throw Canaan to the wolves? When he had proven beyond doubt that he does not belong in the NBA yet! From the few games in the preseason to present he had not proven a thing and you want him in the Playoffs? *SMH*
Not yet. But like any roster decision, a team should always consider the data as they accumulate. Lin's been bad for 6 games, a bit early to make a decision, but if Lin's struggle prolongs for another 6 games, it's a different story. Also, I am sure that the coaches are looking at practice scrimmages as additional data (how they decided to put Hamilton into the rotation). Jones had also been slumping for the same duration as Lin and he snapped out of it vs. Detroit. These things can come and go quickly. If Canaan is indeed ready to contribute as long as you some NBA minutes under his belt, starting giving him minutes in mid March vs. early March likely doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
No. Lin is a confidence/rhythm based player who showed at the beginning of the year that he could be a high-level 6th man. Right now he's horrible, but by even trying out Canaan in his role, his confidence might just reach a breaking point - and if Canaan isn't ready, we're left with nothing at the backup G spot. Plus Lin's value would plummet, and we'd be stuck with a mentally broken $15mil player next year. In other words, the downside of giving Lin's PT to Canaan plus the upside (that Canaan turns out to be decent), ends up far less than the downside of keeping Lin in there (we're still winning with his poor play) plus the upside (that Lin gets his groove back).
ehh--i'd err to start canaan with minutes against scrub teams...but our schedule won't warrant that until after this 12 game stretch. thing is, we may need to let lin run wild in those scrub matchups just to get his confidence up for better competition. his play was upsetting last night, mainly because it was against detroit. i think we're too far into the season to strip lin of his bench minutes and allocating them to canaan. if its a blowout by the 4th, sure, let canaan run for 8 or so minutes...but i dont see that happening with march's schedule
I would just move Lin to the backup 2 guard spot and let Canaan be the backup point. Give Beverley More rest.
It really doesn't matter what we think. McHale wouldn't play Canaan if all the guards in front of him each had a foot chopped off. McHale: "You ready to play, Omer?" Asik: "Omer ready! Play, good!" McHale: "That's good, cause you're our point guard tonight." fffffffffffffffttttttttttttttt (sound of Omer crapping shorts)
Since he put on a Rocket uniform, Lin is 42-108 from the field against the Clippers, Heat, and OKC. And he's 48-132 (36.6%) if you include the OKC series.
