I am in an argument with a friend, who happens to be a Pacers fan. He says Lin is not a top #20 PG in the league, and he would take DC, DJA, and GH over Lin. Now Im not a huge Rocket homer, and Im not sure how I feel about that line up, but there is no way in Hell anybody can really believe this right?
GH= George Hill Well, I'm a Pacers fan too, I wouldn't. If George Hill proved that he's as good a defender as he looked in the Spurs system, I'd consider him over Lin. But for now, all three have a lot to prove.
I would've loved the Pacers to go after Lin or Dragic btw. We had the cap space. Unfortunately, the team always goes with the "bird in hand" strategy.
Even though Lin is not an top tier PG, he is definitely a top 20 PG. A lot of people would discount his ability because he was undrafted and didn't play much last season. Its almost like many wants Lin to fail or find ways to criticize him. Little things people would criticize is that he isn't strong, turnover prone and can't go left. What they don't realize is that those things can be fix with training. Lin is 6'3 and 205 lbs so he have the size for a PG. I think he can go left but he prefers to go right. The turnover thing is a big deal to a lot of people but honestly, any young PG that doesn't have a lot of experience in the league will commit a lot of turnovers. But as time goes on and he relaxes and get comfortable with the game, his turnover will go down. I'm not going to say he will be a top 5 PG in the NBA but he will most likely be a top 10 PG someday soon. The thing about Jeremy Lin is that he is fearless at attacking and he is competitive so his ceiling could be endless. He is not going to be the type of defender like Lowry or Westbrook but he is most likely going to be a better defender than guys like Aaron Brooks or Nash. Lin is still young and this is basically his 2nd year in the league because he didn't have a chance to play in his first year at GS. But at the end, there will be people that will find any type of reasons to criticize Lin and there will be people that will stick by him til the end. There are plenty of people that wants him to fail but the majority are the ones that support him. He is a smart young player with endless possibility to carve out a great fairy tale career.
Collison:Lin annihilated him in their two head to head matchups. Collison has made no progress since his rookie year. George Hill: Not even a point guard.... Average all around SG with little upside. DJ Augustin: Average but has some decent potential but he plays for the Lolcats which is just a terrible franchise to be in. Very hard to develop in that kind of franchise.
We'll know more after this season. No one really knows how he'll do leading a young team over an entire season.
Kind of hard to make any sort of argument for Lin about anything given the lack of playing time. Collison had some games like Lin had as a rookie and never really developed into that consistently, perhaps Lin does the same.
Could you tell me a bit more about George Hill?How he compared to DC?I'm curious about him but didnt watch much about him to make a judgement.
Collison's main issue is lack of basketball IQ though. he had some great games playing within the system, but never displayed a great court vision / creativity. I don't think that's Lin's problem. With Lin, it's more about skillset flaws.
Hill is a better individual defender than DC. Also stronger, which helps beating screens better. That said, both DC and Hill tended to get lost in team defense last year, got stuck on screens. But with DC, it was more painful, since he's weaker and it seemed like he was hitting walls at times. Neither has great court vision / basketball IQ for a point guard. But George Hill keeps his cool offensively, you can see he's a vet and has been on great teams. DC is one of the fastest guys in the league, but he also tunnel visions a lot, especially on fast breaks, doesn't see open people way too often, turns it over quite a bit. Overall, I'd take George Hill, smarter, stronger, more efficient, a better defender, though not as fast. Neither is really a true pass first point guard right now (DJ Augustin is), but I could see Hill developing into a Derek Fisher type in the future.
Another thing is that DC doesn't have Lin's size or athleticism. Those two factors give Lin the advantage.
Don't waste your energy. Doubters will always doubt, haters will always hate. Lin will always be "unproven", "overrated" and "over-hyped" to many people.
If people agree, there's nothing more to say. If people disagree, neither side is changing its mind until there are new games to see and talk about.
So someone thinks Lin's not a top PG. Big deal. IMO, I'd prefer to fly under the radar before people realize how good of a young group we got. Meantime, let people think what they believe. Arguing won't open the eyes of blinds.
