Oh ok, so you were just being sarcastic in order to make your point when you were comparing percentages. Good, like you are saying, there is more to it than just the numbers. I thought you were genuinely comparing the two as scorers. To your point then, it's not unreasonable for Jeremy to be able to make a couple open threes. When Jeremy is running a play, Harden camps out too. Harden is a playmaking guard, that's one of his biggest strengths. We aren't going to ignore that fact. Right now, Jeremy and Harden both get chances to be playmakers. If Jeremy's inability to make wide open threes because "he's not a catch and shoot player" is hurting the team, then he simply needs to improve on his shooting. I doubt you are so forgiving to our other players. We have five players, we can't play to all their strengths all the time. It's a team game. If we were playing to Patrick Pattersons strengths, he would get better stats too but that doesn't mean we would be better off. Players need to adjust in order to best serve the team. You think Miami's chief concern is playing to Chalmer's strengths? No, Chalmers needs to do his job as a support player and make the three's Lebron and Wade get him, otherwise he'll be the subject of criticism, not Spoelstra. Stop deferring blame and put some responsibility on Lin. Lin not making wide open threes is something he needs to work on, flat out.
Yes, but obviously he isn't good at making the three. He is at 28% and we've already played half the games. I think we will only see changes (hopefully) next season after he's had an offseason to lock himself in the gym and shoot threes all day.
Kidd and Rondo have been criticized to no end about their inability to shoot. That's the sole reason many people leave Rondo out of their top 3 PG list. Kidd is also a bad example because he is a solid three point shooter. He's actually been credited for working extremely hard on his 3 point shot. And this season he has been asked to make those open threes on the Knicks as a support player to Melo, and he's been doing exactly that, shooting one of the highest 3p %'s he's shot his entire career. Stop excusing Lin. Shooting, along with passing, is extremely important for a PG. Stop excusing Lin. He needs to learn how to shoot. When people can't shoot, they get better or they get criticized.
There's no point in trading Lin. Value wouldn't be high enough for a good return. It's still too early in this experiment. Rockets made their decision in the offseason. Time to ride it out for longer than just half a season and see what happens.
Lakers probably want him. (Mike D Antoni). Regardless, I think Mchale would be gone long before Lin would be.
WTF are you talking about?!? God, the weirdness of the posters and posts here is infuriating. WTF x 1000.
Yeah, that's fine. My only issue is this bubble some people put around Lin. Like he can't ever be the subject of criticism. I started following the Rockets because of Jeremy, but you guys are even making me it hard for me when you treat him as if he's infallible. You're asking to give up one of Harden's biggest strengths so that we can play more to Jeremy's, so that we can make up for Jeremy's deficiencies. That's fine and all and maybe even a valid opinion, but you're essentially asking others to adjust to Jeremy's deficiencies, Jeremy deserves criticism if it's gotten so bad that that's the case(just like any other player would get if they couldn't hit a open three).
Harden's biggest strength is scoring... lins strenght is making play for other people.... I dont see why you have to give up one or the other....
Damn, does this mean Lin's comparisons are going to be Magic and Stockton if he ever can develop a shot?
Mentioning 2 players' names in the same sentence does not mean you are claiming they are equal in skill.
Exactly. Every NBA player needs to be able to make a wide open shot that is within their game. (not dwight shooting 3s)
2013 Poster of the year. Its nice to see objective Lin fans. We need your posts a lot more around here, would rep you to the green bar if I still could .
Harden's not at his best as an off the ball player. We might as well have Kevin Martin if that's how you expect Harden to play. Now initially in the season it was too lopsided with only Harden getting the ball and Jeremy sitting in a corner all game, which was bad in my opinion, but lately they are both getting the ball and are both allowed to be playmakers at different times. You want it to be only Jeremy and that's not fair to ask, especially because we have to prioritize Harden given the fact that he is the star player. Jeremy's getting a decent amount of opportunities. I still think Lin has potential, and I'm not saying his inability to shoot is the reason we are losing, but it's definitely worthy of criticism, just like the fact that Harden needs to improve on his willingness to play defense. There's too much going around the issue, "Lin can't make those wide open three's because he's not a catch and shoot guy, that's McHale's fault"... really? Come on, no matter how Lin prefers to shoot the ball, he needs to be able to make a catch and shoot wide open three because it'll happen in his career whether or not McHale is the coach. You can't complain about open threes no matter what. As a guard, they should be a good thing and if they aren't then that's a problem the player has to fix. & thanks LosPollos
Then it makes it a useless statement. It would be like saying "Hakeem, Ewing, Mourning, Dwight all being 6-9/6-10 and being great centers. Patterson is 6-9." Great. What purpose does that serve?
so to you scorer means player have to move off the ball? so you would rather have harden ISO the other teams best defender than have him move off the ball get picks so he can switch defenders? and how did you know that harden is not good at moving off the ball?
I'd say its not better for either party. Houston is probably Lin's only opportunity to grow and have a career where he can chase some success. For this team, I have a hard time envisioning a move that doesn't kill our flexibility whilst being significantly more than a sideways move in both the short and long term.
Well, at the end of the day, it is all on Jeremy Lin to improve himself. If he can continue to develop himself to the point (no pun) where he is a serious NBA starting-level point guard, then at the end of his 3rd season (or earlier if traded), he can choose to leave Houston for a better place / team (and yes, there ARE better places / teams than the Houston Rockets in terms of opportunity, responsibility, prestige, or even all three). His options immediately get opened up for him. It will be teams chasing for his signature, fans wishing they had him on their team, and him getting respect. On the other hand, if he sucks... then he will have to beg Houston.... or any other team for that matter, for the next playing contract. Fans can continue with their "WTF, Jeremy is such a @#$%#@$# scrub!" He will not get the position or the responsibility that is befitting a good point guard. So if Jeremy continues to improve.... then well, at the end of the 3rd season, if he is still unhappy with Houston's coaching system and usage of him.... it will be easy to part ways with Houston. Morey can look or trade for another point guard. Jeremy can move on to something bigger or grander or more suitable, if it becomes available to him. Would I make a long term bet on Jeremy to improve? Yes, my whole house. Would I make a long term bet for him to improve to a serious NBA level starting point guard? OK, maybe not my whole house.... but still a very sizeable chunk of money. And if he pans out, will there be other teams chasing his signature at the end of 3 years? Yes. Will there be teams where the system will be of much better fit for him? Most probably yes. Will his departure be a loss to Houston then? Don't know... maybe.... hopefully, Morey can pull a new magic trick out of his wizard trunk..... At the end of the day, it is all on him.
The main culprit of the losing streak is Harden, look at how many 5 for 20 games he has, or 2 for 9 3pt shooting games he has recently. The problem is Lin is not a scorer, he is a PG. When Harden struggles, there are no go to scorers which is why the Rockets look vulnerable. What will help Lin is having another scorer who can lighten the load on Harden which would help Lin's game and others. If Rockets thought Lin would be a scorer, we got the wrong PG. It is still early to push the panic button, this is their 1st year. I want to know how did T.Douglas give up his spot to P.Beverly, who I never heard of like Courtney Fortson.
