Best to trade Lin and get some valuable assets back. Harden's and Lin's games mirror each other too much. With Harden playing so many minutes and taking up most of the plays, Lin is relegated to an afterthought. You don't need a pg in this system, you need a catch and shoot with defensive skills ala bruce bowen. Sadly, the harden trade was the worst thing to happen to Lin. Martin would definitely be a better partner for Lin. With that said, Rockets are better off with Harden and retaining Lin at this point is fruitless and his contract can become an albatross for a team that does not need his talents. The team would be much better if Lin was to play as the defacto point guard and harden to the SG. Players need certainty in their roles and right now nobody knows who will bring the ball up. Harden is a thousand time better spot up shooter than Lin and I still think LIn is a better creator. But this coaching staff is stubborn as a mule. Things are so obviously wrong but nothing is being done about it. Frustrating.
It would be stupid to bring Lin off of the bench. It would be smart to have Lin on the floor while Harden is on the bench and make sure that Harden is on the floor when Lin is on the bench. It's December and I think you have to give them time to learn how to play together or give the coaches time to figure out how to run the offense better and utilize both of them.
Just let him play with Harden. For goodness sake, the kid is still young and this is their first season. You guys are asking too much for an $8 million guy. He is not Kobe Bryant or Lebron James.
Guys like Lin are a commercial bridge from Houston to mainland China. Les is a pioneer in this field and I don't see him giving up a nice foothold in the Chinese market anytime soon; he just got that sneaker refitted; that's the real 'basketball game' to Les at this point in time. He must have suffered some withdrawal/panic pangs when Yao went down. In comes Lin, 'See, we still got a Chinese guy on the team - you love the Rocket$'. Coaches are going to have to find a way to maximize Harden and Lin's playing potential somehow. It's their problem.
I think it would be nice to have Harden play 20 min without Lin, and then 15 min together with Lin, and Lin have maybe 13 min or so without Harden. While Harden on bench, Lin take full charge on court. (not like now, even when Harden sit, Lin is still not playing PG). And while they are together, they take turns on control depends on matching ups and who have hot hand that day. Rockets could run the same play set for both Harden and Lin depends on who is on court, so other team members would not get confused on their role. Both Harden and Lin practice off ball skills, and they could switch their roles often when they are both on court...... That would be fun.....
I'm for it. god forbid the coaches have to draw up ways too maximize their usage. it would make the coaching easier. It's kind of sad that they can't figure out a way to get the both of them in situations where they can succeed. They're too in love with the undemocratic ways of isolism. truth be told, harden is awesome that he doesn't need to have the ball 70% of the time. He can score whenever he wants, pick his spots to go off like the great ones do. He has that kind of talent. And lin, well, he needs the ball to do, you know point guard things, and get his teammates involved.
I think this excuse has been overstated. Even Delfino is fairly confident in taking control of the rock. He's not held back by the coaches.
This is a pretty small sample size to be suggesting he be moved to the bench. It is a glaring enough trend to maybe tweek the rotation so Lin and Harden have their time to handle the ball but this is still a learning process there's no need to panic just yet.
whether you like or not, i will say that james harden is at the level of joe johnson. this is the best he can be and will be.
We may lose tonight. MSG is going to be crazy, but I wager if we lose it'll be because Camelo, Smith or Novak goes off. The NY backcourt sucks noodles.
Not really overstated, its a fact. I think most people that dont have an agenda agree with that. They are ball dominant players. Especially Lin, who does a terrible Steve Blake impersonation ( that's basically how he is used ). Lin is a terrible spot up shooter and stashing him behind the three point Lin is a joke ( look at his free throws attempts vs 3point attempts. Delfino gets the majority of his minutes without harden and HE IS a spot UP shooter. This is why teams sign him. The only reason. If someone asked delfino to preform open heart surgery he would probably be confident, that doesn't mean he should be controlling the ball. Yea part of this is in Jeremy Lin. He could be more aggressive ( the fact that the rockets have little, if any off ball movement usually means that when he, or any other player gets the ball, its shoot the three or drive into a congested paint area )and he could work to develop his shot. But it is also on coaching. Iso ball isn't too hot unless your name is lebron or Kobe. Even then, I'd rather get them the ball in a good position to score instead of behind the 3 point line with a the defense waiting for them.
He doesn't have to come off the bench, they just need to play him differently when he's on the court. When Harden and Lin are in the game together, let them switch roles from time to time. Maybe 25% of their time on the court together, Lin plays the role that Harden plays and attacks or runs the pick and roll. This might leave Harden sitting in the corner waiting for a pass but it's not for that many plays. Plus it'll put the defense on their heels and keep both players fresh. I don't get the idea that you only make your best player happy. No matter how good Harden is, he also needs to know that it's not all on his shoulders. He has a backcourt companion that is capable as well.
Only a bandaid solution. Lins had less than 82 games of experience. To think he won't evolve as a player and develop is ludicrous.
Until he develops a consistent outside shot, he is not going to be very successful next to harden. Not in this offense. Who know how long that will take.
If harden plays 44 mins, its not really gonna matter weather lin comes of the bench or not. What coachs are going to have to do is limit hardens mins. Give harden 36mins& under, per game allowing lin a full quarter's worth alone. You dont have to bring lin of the bench either, you can easily bench lin or harden at different times to allow them time appart. If non of the above works, i'd go ahead and trade lin this deadline. I know it seems crazy so soon, but its wasnt in the plans to get harden either and if its not working by TD then its time to see what we can get.
Top tier 6th men can have the same notoriety as starters if they really excel in the role, Harden , Terry anyone? Yes, perhaps you experiment by starting Lin and then pulling him early and staggering his minutes with Harden more. But the thing is, if this succeeds, the logical conclusion is to not start Lin at all, or admit that Lin is incompatible with Harden for long stretches. I dont think the later the coaches want to cave in on just yet. The coaches (McHale??) seem to go with the philosophy of starting your best 5 players regardless. While this thought isnt without merit, I am hoping the another idea emerges, namely put you best players in situations where they can perform to their highest level. It is early. It may be a short camp, Lin getting fully over injury, chemistry taking time, the team youth and have been factors that time itself will solve. But with the ball handling and point like approach Harden takes quite often, it very well may be that there isnt room for both guards to want/need to play similar roles in the game at the same time. Perhaps let Harden play point and put someone at the 2 who excels at shooting the 3 and spreading the floor. I do wish we had someone a bit more competent than TD to run the first unit if these ideas come to pass. Maybe TD will step up his game. He has showed some signs of at least being adequate. But it may be, as just pointed out, that a 2 guard maybe the best fit next to Harden. It took Wade and Lebron half a season to figure out how to share and distribute the ball properly, so lets be patient. But I would like to see more experimentation, cleverness and innovation on the part of the coaching staff.
May as well make my first post about Lin, as no one else seems to be talking about him. Lin would probably be fine with coming off the bench, he's a team player. But would he be better, and help the team more? It seems like it takes hime time to get into rhythm, and there might not be enough minutes in that role to do it. His biggest problem is that the Rockets are doing too well in their rebuilding year... just a bit worse and the coaches would be doing a lot more experimentation. If Lin had two or three games as primary ball handler, how would the team do? I assume Harden would continue to kick butt, if in a different fashion, but would Lin finally start to do that too? Maybe, maybe not, but we can't get the evidence if we aren't willing to lose games to do it. And we won't be willing to lose games while we are hovering at .500.
