Good observations. Lin does the little things offensively and defensively to help the team win; he never cared about stats. He only happened to score alot during Linsanity because his team (all Knicks bench players, some at the veteran minimum) needed scoring, and they were all close games where they needed each one of his points.
Actually, it is debatable. If you REALLY want to get into the details.... Seasons as a Professional Dragic - 9 Lin - 2 Minutes played in the NBA PRIOR to the 2011/12 season. Dragic - 4,638 minutes Lin - 285 Seasons in the NBA Dragic - 6 Lin - 2 Starts in the NBA Dragic - 28 Lin - 25 2011/12 Per 36 stats Dragic - 15.9 PTS, 18.0 PER, .462 FG%, .337 3pt%, .805 FT%, .567 TS%, .518 eFG%, 5.6 TRB%, 2.5 STL%, 0.4 BLK%, 18.7 TOV%, ORtg - 111, DRtg - 106, OWS - 3.6, DWS - 1.5, WS - 5.1, Net Points per Possession - -1.1 Lin - 19.6 PTS, 19.9 PER, .446 FG%, .320 3pt%, .798 FT%, .552 TS%, .478 eFG%, 6.6 TRB%, 3.0 STL%, 0.8 BLK%, 21.4 TOV%, ORtg 104, DRtg 101, OWS - 1.3, DWS 1.4, WS - 3.2, Net Points per Possession - +5.0 What I see are relatively comparable stats. Yes, Lin turns the ball over more than Dragic. I should hope so after Dragic 9 years as a pro. What I also see is that Dragic is WAY more experienced and significantly older, yes Lin's stats are legitimately comparable. Sorry, I'll take Lin. I consider them comparable level players right now, except Lin is SO far ahead of Dragic in terms of similar points in their development not only based upon age, but upon time as a pro, AND even if you complete discount Dragic's european pro career and start with his NBA time.
Lin fans need to chill. It's normal for fans to miss former players they think are better than the replacement, but they would love for the replacement to prove them wrong. I bet there are fans in OKC who miss Harden, but would love for KMart to prove he's better. You would feel the same. It's not easy to move on when it's still so recent. Nobody hates Lin. Bringing up stats to try to show Dragic/Lowry better is not hating Lin. Bringing up Lin's fault is not hating Lin. Saying he's mediocre is not hating Lin. We all want him to excel. Until he proves he's as good as you say he is (on this team), fans will miss the "better" former players. When he does, we'll all celebrate. If he ends up being mediocre, we'll complain just like we'll complain about any other mediocre player.
Oh? Didn't linsanity list down their games today and then compare the 3? You make an entirely new point but that's okay, because you're still wrong. Goran Dragic was a mediocre back up...compared to what? He was asked to play behind Steve Nash and performed as expected. Jeremy Lin played a few games in GS and was a stellar back up point? What are the standards, anyway? Your claim that he outperformed Dragic statistically as a starter is just plain wrong. Dragic shot better from the field (48% versus 45%), from 3 (35% versus 34%), from the FT line (85% versus 79%). They scored 18.2 points per game each. Dragic averaged 8.34 assists versus 7.69 for Lin Dragic committed fewer turnovers (3.38 versus 4.68) I'll grant you this: Lin stole the ball .16 more times per game than Dragic. Furthermore, he blocked people .13 more times per game than Dragic. So much for statistically outperforming Dragic. As for your assertion that Dragic hit his peak, that is speculative AT BEST. Moreover, he has not yet had surgery on his knee like Lin has. We should not have let Dragic go.
Everybody needs to chill. Turn your head and look out the window, look at the buildings and trees, and get back to reality. Your arguing with your own computers/phones. So silly
Good observations guys! Lin also did the little things by bringing the ball to James Harden and getting out of his way today. So much better than Lowry and Dragic!
Like I said, all the stats in the world won't make you a good PG if you can't lead your team to wins and make your teammates better. Last year in NY, the whole team did better as a whole whenever Lin was on the court, and much worse when off. They had a very nice, positive win-lose ratio in the games that Lin started. There are so many stat padding PG's out there getting their 15-20pts/5-8 assists avg, what differentiates the top tier PG from the low tier/mid tier PG's? Wins and how they impact their team. No one cares about runs where the team is losing, hence why Dragic got little attention/respect last year. No one would dare say Rondo is a mid tier PG just because he is avging only 10/8; on the contrary they consider him as a top 5 PG. How did Rubio get so much hype as a great PG last year avging 10/8 with a horrible .357 FG%? He lead his teams to win, and his teammates all did better when he was on the court.
Nice post, agree completely. Let's analyze each player's game and see where they can improve. That helps fuel a good discussion.
Per game stats are worthless as they don't adjust for minutes played or pace of play. Slow half court offense depresses stats. Fast paced offense inflates stats. If you're going to use stats, at least use equalized/adjusted statistics. And don't get me started on context...
With all due respect, I think you're off base. When Lin and Harden were on the court together tonight, the Rockets were just killing Detroit. This is from ESPN: "The two were on the court together for 35 minutes. In that span, the Rockets outscored the Pistons by 23 points, shot 54 percent from the field and were 7-for-16 from 3-point range. In the 13 minutes they were off the court, the Pistons outscored the Rockets by 13 points and Houston shot just 33 percent, including 3-for-11 on 3-pointers." http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop Lin wasn't out there taking a nap.
Sorry if I missed your sarcasm, but your reference to tofu and gangdam (sic) were not racial in intent? Please just come clean; no need to be a politician.
I think you're confusing Rondo's stats with Rubio's. Last season Rondo averaged 12 pts/12 assists, league leader in assists per game.
The most important stat you forgot is Lin lead his team to wins, had a positive win-lose ratio where his wins were almost double of the games he lost when he started. His efficiency rate/PER was much higher than Dragic, as was his +/- stats. His teammates all performed better with him on the court. Lin was in the top 5 in the league for avg of 4th quarter points scored, behind names like Lebron James. What did Dragic do after taking over for Lowry? Lose and let Houston get knocked off the 8th spot. PG's who avg nice statlines on losing teams and lottery teams are dime-a-dozen. They're everywhere, Brandon Jennings avged 19.1 pts/5.5 assists on a losing Bucks team that barley missed the 8th spot just like Dragic; he's considered a low-tier starting PG in most people's eyes. Monta Ellis avged 20 pts/5 assists a game his whole career, considered a low tier, bad starting PG. A lot of PG's can put up similar stats, but the efficiency they can put up stats at, how they affect their teammates, and most importantly, if they can win or not is what separates the elite PG from the mediocre/bad ones.
Nice post, and I agree. Lin does not need to score 20-30 to win, or even 15 most nights. Tonight, he did well distributing, shot well enough (two of his long jumpers were on the 3-point line), didn't finish much but didn't get any calls, and played excellent D; also made sure to feed the hot hand, obviously Harden. People also need to chill on the turnovers. There are different types. Like when someone steps out of bounds for no reason (two Rockets), lets the ball slip out of his hands out of bounds (both Kobe and Harden had this happen tonight, one of the few things that Harden did wrong), doesn't catch the ball, etc. On the other end are charges and end of shot clock plays trying to make something happen. Charges are often no worse than missed shots if you aren't in foul trouble. That said, the weakest area of Lin's game is ballhandling, but he is such a hard worker, that I think he'll continue to improve in that area. Also, he is driving a bit too much instead of taking the pull-up midrange jumper, but I'm hoping that will come with more confidence in his pull up.
Good article from the NYT about Lin (didn't want to start a new thread just for it): http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/11/0...remy-lin-victorious-in-debut-with-rockets.xml
I took Rondo's career avg instead of last year's stats. Rondo has grown consistently better every year, but in those years he was in discussion for top 5 PG, he avged statlines like 11.9/8.2 and 13.7/9.8.
Jeremy lin looked good cause Toney Douglas sucked soooooo bad not even Harden could help him. hence Jeremy Lin's 24 +/- in the stats Jeremy Lin was OK (did his job) tonight, but I think he can do better, he was having problem drawing fouls in the draws tonight. I think players drawing foul trouble sort of threw the rockets rotation plan into chaos.
I'm not comparing Lin to Lowry and Dragic. I think all 3 are good point guards. We can argue who will peak at a higher level. Bottom line is that Lin does whatever it takes to win. Getting out of the way of Harden and letting him handle the ball was the right thing to do. There are plenty of players out there trying to get their stats. I hope those guys stay away from Houston.
