Lin-sanity on NBA TV all weekend! How do we stack up to that team?

Have you seen how much JLin improved his game from year one to two with pro-level training? And how many pro athletes have their best year when they first get starter minutes. Team will game plan for JLin. But you discount him having more experience and time to work on his game.

JLin knows his weakness and I am sure he is working on them this off season( his shooting and left hand).

Can't wait for the season to start to see what's happens.

 

Listen I like the kid a lot. Even when I was watching the Rockets I tried to see as many golden state games I could and I was hoping that the Rockets would have kept him. When he was with the Knicks it was great because my boyfriend is a knick fan so I was already watching games and it made it easier for me to follow just the Rockets and the Knicks as opposed to GSW Houston and the Knicks. I know the improvements he has made to his game like I said I remember him in GSW and compare him to now he is SO much better, night and day. And I know he will get better because he is a gym rat, anybody who uses the off season of a lockout to get better while other "superstars" are getting fat and out of shape is a champion to me. But at the same time, people expecting Linsanity 2.0 need to temper expectations. I don't think it will happen again but that doesn't mean I don't think Lin will be a better player. You can't compare the Knicks roster during Linsanity to the Rockets roster for next year.

 

I said that on the Knicks he can easily average 18 & 8 because that was what he was averaging in his last few games where I feel he played his best basketball. I still think he can do the same with the Rockets without any real "superstars". I would be stoked with 18 & 8. If he can do better ....

 

As a Knicks fan this is my input.

1. PG: Lin vs Lin - Lin should be better after a full training camp and a full offseason to get better. Advantage Houston.

2. Landry Fields vs Chandler Parsons - Landry Fields looked really good his rookie year but his shot regressed like crazy during his sophomore year and he became nothing more than a decent all around glue guy. Parsons is not very good offensively but he is a good defender. Advantage Houston.

3. Iman Shumpert vs Jeremy Lamb - Not really comparable. Lamb is a much better scorer. Shumpert is a much better defender.
(Advantage: Knicks or equal)

4. Jared Jeffries vs Terrence Jones (or DMo/Royce) - Jared Jeffries is a decent defender but he sucks offensively. He is good at taking charges. Hard to say here. Rookies will probably be better but not defensively.
(Advantage: Houston)

5. Tyson Chandler vs Omer Asik - DPOY its obvious who is better.
(Advantage: New York)

6. Steve Novak vs Kevin Martin - Kevin Martin is a good scorer. Steve Novak is a stud 3 point shooter but he gets shut down easily. He needs a good PG to be effective.
(Advantage: Houston)

 

Your saying just hopes for 18 points like that is a bad thing. Averaging 18 & 8 over a full season is fantastic. Think about it this way, CP3 this year averaged 20 & 10 and the year before that 15 & 10. Averaging 20 points is not as easy as people think. But if Lin does it I wouldn't complain.

 

Not sure about the "Lin getting 20 pts a game" thing. He said he wants to be a humble leader and serve his teammates, so he'll probably spend a lot of time trying to set up his teammates. He said a few times last year that as a PG he was shooting the ball too much.

Last season Lin often played his best game in the 4Q. I wonder if it was because he was not playing selfish enough in the first 3Qs, then when the game was on the line he took matters in his own hands.

 

Yeah 18 and 8 would be borderline all star status, you would have to be thrilled with that given that Lin has only played in 64 NBA games in his career. I would love it if Lin played that well. Do I see it happening? Maybe. It's at the upper end of reasonable. Not crazy but probably a little bit optimistic.

Most realistic outcome is probably closer to 15 and 7, which is still a solid starter. If he can just do better than that and show improvement from there year to year I'll be real happy with him at $8M/year.

 

Even if he has 15 & 7 or something around that but he just has some games where he totally dominates which I think is more than likely to happen I would be ecstatic. Like he has a strong 4th quarters more often than not even if in the first three quarters he is off. Or even this season he would have like two off shooting games where his shots just were not falling but then the next game he would have like a double double or close to a triple double and his play was the reason why the team wins. I would be really happy with that as well. Just some sign of growth and improvement and for him to stay as healthy as possible is really all I want. Someone posted that lin said the goal was to make the playoffs so if they somehow manage to that man would I be stoked.

 

I hope he's been practicing with that left hand though

 

He has been. He posted a training video and all of it was from his left. Drives, lay ups, decision making, floaters, keeping his dribble in the paint, all with his left hand.

 

I think that depends on his usage rate. If Mckale uses him in his PNR system as much as D'Antoni, 20+ is definitly not far fetched.

 

McHale I mean.

 

Right. There's not much difference between 18 points and 20 points anyhow. Lin shouldn't be scoring that much in any case, because if he does he will break down physically, a la Devin Harris, Derrick Rose, and (soon) Chris Paul. I want him to concentrate on distributing the ball and staying healthy.

In the "Lin's upside" thread, I wrote that the upside for Lin would be 16 points and 12 assists, or something like that (I'm going by memory here).

The downside would be 23 points and 7 assists. Yes, this would be the downside: if Lin tries to do this, his season will be short.

What I forgot to mention then, but I will remedy that here, is that averaging 12 assists per game would be incredible. In the whole history of the NBA, only 5 players have managed to do it: John Stockton (8 times), Magic Johnson (6 times), Isiah Thomas (once), Kevin Porter (once), and Kevin Johnson (once).

I doubt that Lin will actually average 12 assists/game next season; I'm just hoping he does it eventually.

 

Is it just me or is Chandler a bit overrated now? People talk about like he's some kind of a star but I just don't see it. You look at his stats, he is neither a great rebounder nor a great shot blocker. There is a myth that he anchor a great D and his team's D declines without him. But is it due to more about his other teammates' bad D and him not having a capable backup? Not saying Asik's as good overall as a player, but I really believe Asik's rebounding and rim protecting ability won't be that far off from Chandler.

 

I think the biggest thing in terms of him staying healthy aside from scoring less is playing on different gears. Kidd touched on this a little bit when it was initially anticipated that Lin would be a knick that Jeremy needs to learn to play on different gears. He plays on this 5th gear that is really high and if he can learn to be as effective but on a less intense gear (3rd or 4th) he would be able to stay healthy for longer. Also, he needs to finish at the rim without launching himself to the ground. If you look at the way Parker does it he uses his agility and quickness to get to the rim and doesn't fall to the ground. Lin is a lot stronger than Parker. He uses his quickness and his strength to get to the rim and finish through contact. He gets beating up a lot doing that and often falls to the ground in a desperate attempt to get the bucket. If he could find a way to minimize that well the risk of injury would decrease.

As an aside, if he averages 12 assists a game as a Rocket. Wow. Like I think the city of NY would kill the Knicks.

 

No he isn't overrated. What he did for Dallas was instrumental towards there success. A lot of what he does, doesn't show up on the stat sheet. And his leadership and locker room presence can't be quantified. He is a great player and a great leader.

 

I'd definitely pay to see that lol

 

It doesn't even have to be 12 assists. Think about it this way. Nash is the assists leader at 10 and Rondo is second, behind Nash. Nash has been the assists leader I believe these last two years. If Lin averages more assists than Nash or even close to the figure Nash does in his second year of meaningful playing time...Like realize the implications of that lol. Before the fans get to the Knicks the national media will crucify them. Unfortunately I don't see him doing that he is still a young player.