Lin had the hesitation in NY. Hubie brown, Stu lance, Walt Fraser, Magic, they all talked about Lin's hesitation moves and I was also impressed... then after coming back from injury he just lost it. During preseason, I cringed at his mid range game. Hope he regains it. Just like all sports, football, soccer, what have you, the hesitation move is a staple of great movement and losing your man.
I'm pretty sure we had a discussion on that topic in another thread. I remember that statement was somewhat flawed, but i can't remember why. I think it had to do with how they measured it.
As someone I've noticed has been a long term, frequent, and strident doubter of Lin's potential, it's a little frustrating to see you say this. According to the folks that administer the NBA combine tests, Lin's first step is indeed faster than John Wall's. This has been posted many times. If you doubt that, Morey corroborated Lin's athleticism: Morey: “[Lin is]...way more explosive than anyone ever we know...” [source: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50144426n ] Morey has said this multiple times in different ways. Moreover, Wall has a faster top speed than Lin, but Lin beats Wall in a 3/4 court speed. That means that Lin accelerates that much faster than Wall (first step). Late last season, the last time I saw the stat mentioned, Lin was in the top 10 in drives to the basket among all players. Given that he wasn't the top usage guard on the team and he doesn't have handles like say, Kyrie Irving, how do you think that's possible without elite athleticism? John Wall certainly has a higher two-footed running vertical than Lin. I'd submit, however, that first step (along with court vision) is far more important to a PG. John Stockton, Steve Nash, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd: None of these guys had elite two-footed running verticals. We can list lots more names from the ranks of star point guards. Since this is new information to you, will you consider updating your opinion? There is no shame in revising one's opinion to integrate new facts into their point of view.
No, you are wrong. It would be impossible for Lin to beat Wall in a 3/4 court race when Wall has a higher top speed unless Lin has a faster first step. It's physics.
A doubter of his potential? I've been extremely patient with him. Even my sig shows that. Just because i don't think his potential is super high doesn't mean I doubt his ability to improve. You're saying Lin has elite athleticism? C'mon, now. He's is very athletic. More than people think, but elite? That's about as high as you can go and I don't believe Lin is at that top level. There are a whole lot more components of athleticism than vertical running. And drives to the rim, alone, don't signify elite athletic ability. There are ways to accomplish the feat, without elite athleticism or awesome handles. IIRC, the acceleration was measured using a few steps because of where the sensors were placed. While that may work in measuring acceleration, it's not a precise measurement for a first step, which is one step, not a few. In NBA context, it's literally the first step that gets you ahead of the defender and at that point, even if he's as quick as you, he's still playing catch up all the way to the rim. Lin could have a quicker first step or not, the point is we don't know based on the way they conducted the test. If people want to say he accelerates very quickly or more quickly than whoever he beat out, fine, but it's misleading to say his first step is quicker. Since this is new infromation to you, will you consider updating your opinion? There is no shame in revising one's opinion to integrate new facts into their point of view.
at the 26 second mark. Some of our players look like they're stuck on cement when this guy guards them. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GqjvAuvawys?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
But that's how the first step of every NBA players are measured... So basically you can't say any of Irving, Rose, or Wall has a quick first step because they didn't measure to your requirements... Then how can you be so sure that Wall has a quicker first step than Lin since no other measurements are available?
I knew where this conversation would go when i made the comment about Lin wanting their first step, that's why i said "and/or" and included other qualities Lin could take from others beyond their first time, if theirs wasn't faster.
For the Knicks games, I can only go by highlight reels, but it seems to me that during the second half of this past year, Lin looks like a better player than he was during his Linsanity days. Maybe I'm mistaken, and the numbers certainly don't back me up.
Having a quick first step is great, but this alone won't get you too far. After you get past the first defender, you still need other qualities to be able to finish the play such as good vertical leap, strength, one-legged explosiveness, etc. that Lin largely lacks. This is why labeling Lin an "elite athlete" is wrong. He may very well be the quickest athlete in the league, but to be among the best he has to compete with players and plays like this: and this: Neither Wade nor Bledsoe are nearly as quick as Lin, but their other athletic attributes make them better rebounders, defenders, finishers -- qualities that are equally as important as the ability to get past the initial defender (which Lin does with ease). I'm an LOF too, but you don't have to make it a point to counter every single opinion that might seem to diminish him; often times the criticisms are valid and you should try to be considerate of them -- they're not all "haters," "racists," and "doubters". And if you think that Lin will eventually reach legitimate star-status (like me) DESPITE his current flaws and you're truly confident of that, don't let contradictory opinions get under your skin. Only time will show what Jeremy can become. I leave you with one of my favorite Lin gifs: Jeremy crossing over John Wall for the dunk.
Once you start getting into elite acceleration, the ranking really doesn't matter any more. Just based on the amount of time nerve signals take to run from your eyes to your brain and down to your legs, any of the quick accelerating players inside the three point line have an insurmountable speed advantage one on one. At that point you can only beat them through starting too far off them, or correctly anticipating their move. You just hope for good defense behind you. Suffice it to say that Lin accelerates fast enough to be in that category of player. That's why having a good 3 point (for players too far off) and the ability to go left or right (makes anticipation harder) matter so much for Lin. Getting either one of those down this offseason will make a huge difference in his game.
Going back to athleticism....i brought this up earlier in the thread...Lin's reaction time to that light test in the video was slower than i would have imagined. I'm not sure if it was a test run just to get the camera shot, or what, but his reaction wasn't very quick. I wonder what the scores look like on the test, for not just him, but other players, as well.
Reaction time to a light blinking on and off varies considerably depending on where in your field of vision it is. He was standing much closer to that then the camera was, so presumably it was his peripheral vision involved, which slows vision processing down a lot. This is also different when tracking a moving object vs something that appears and disappears like a blinking light.
To clarify, one odd result is that with peripheral vision is that reaction time is not the same tracking fast moving objects and slow moving objects. You would think they would be the same, but reaction time is quicker with fast moving objects.
