I fully expect this kind of thread to come up. One of the biggest issue facing Lin in Houston is lack of fan support - he's not only not loved in Houston, it seemed he can do nothing right. I think even if he's putting up all-star numbers and help the Rockets to another title this board will still be full of LOH making trade Lin threads. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm pretty confident Lin will eventually move to a city where hopefully he'll have better fan support.
Once again people are making this whole thing overly ridiculous to fit convenient story lines that are constantly driving home by the media. Lin needs to be aggressive, Lin has to learn how to play second fiddle. It is quite simple Lin has to learn how to shoot. That is all there is to it. He averaged 15 & 7 or something like that with Anthony in the line up. He tailed off because defenses had more scouting on him, had little to do with Anthony. In fact Lin & Anthony were an effective pairing last year statistically wise but keep on keeping.
Yeah the reason why Lin is playing poorly is because he's not getting enough love from Rockets' fans. Lin excuse #347
I blame him for his petulant knee-jerk reaction to Lin's flash-in-the-panism. Tanking and rebuilding is preferable to fake hype. Hype backfires when people figure out that there's no substance behind it. Les wanted to make a splash; now we're stuck overpaying a role-player.
Every time Lin shoots, he remembers there's a thread on Clutchfans calling him a Joke and that's why he looks hesitant shooting the ball. I blame it on Dei mostly.
Rockets could trade Lin and one if the power forwards (Patterson, Morris, Jones, Montiejunas, White) to the Lakers for Pau Gasol... Rockets get height and a true low post scorer. Something the team currently lacks.
The fan's love excuse is ridiculous. That said, I really hope Lin gets traded away at this point. And it would really benefit both the Rockets and Lin.
Yeah, how dare people conclude that defenses might stop sagging off Lin if some of those wide open jump shots Lin gets went down at a faster clip. How overly ridiculous! Especially when the same thing has been said about Rondo. You mean to say teams actually scout a player to find out that he is weak to his left and lacks a consistent jump shot?! You mean to say Lin's statistical performance dipped around the time Anthony, another ball dominating player, got into the line up?! You mean that if I look at game logs or if for some reason I had NBA league pass and watched NY I would see Lin's play dip below his peak during Linsanity? You don't say, Sherlock! Please go on. Grace us with your science...
Awwww... Well here's a hint...maybe if he was putting up numbers that live up to that contract he just got, he would be loved! I guarantee you that if Harden were some scrub going for 15 and 4 a game, and we gave him a max deal, nobody would like him either! But here's the difference between Lin and Harden...HARDEN ACTUALLY LIVES UP TO HIS CONTRACT. You're seriously just dumb if you think that the "lack of fan support" is what's making Lin play bad. Like that is just incredibly laughable.
I generally agree with you, but the above statement isn't true. You CAN compare FA signings to rookie contracts, because there's value in having money. Mo Williams' contract was traded along with a lottery pick. Jared Jefferies contract was traded long with a 1st + Jordan Hill(a prospect). There's generally a slew of 1st rounder for bad contracts at every draft. Hence, having space that you're willing to use for dead money can be converted directly to 1st/2nd round picks. So the question is, whether said picks are worth more than a FA. And in order to get Lin's current production or better from players age 23 or less, it's not difficult. Lower-end of the 1st round and 2nd round produces several every year. Sure, you do have to factor in the odds of finding a success story over a bust. But to say there's no way to compare is not true.
Melo being ball dominant was a non issue. Lin was still the sole PNR ball handler on that NY team (not the same here in HOU where he shares that duty with harden). Sure Melo coming back ate some of Lins FGA (rightfully so) & as a result he wasn't putting up the same high scoring games as before. Even if Carmelo had never returned you think Lin would have continued putting up those high scoring games? Like seriously. Teams had already started to figure him out before Carmelo returned. There seems to be this narrative that Lin can't play along side ball dominant player which is false or he needs to learn how to be second fiddle (which is a statement that has little meaning) & is also false, needs to be more "aggressive". He is being as aggressive as a player can be with a broken jumper. If the Rockets had a better PF with a legitimate post game wouldn't he demand the ball? If Carmelo Anthony was the PF as opposed to Morris or Ppatt are you telling me Lin wouldn't be able to play with him? It isn't about playing alongside a ball dominant player it is about overlapping skill sets. Lin & melo skill sets do not over lap (one is a PNR player the other is a post threat, isolation scorer), Lin & hardens do (strong PNR players poor isolation scorers). Keep on keeping though.
I didn't see today's game, but there is definitely a serious problem with Lin's integration into the offense, or more specifically the lack thereof. What I've seen in past games are entire quarters and halves where Lin basically disappears. He might dribble the ball up past half court, at which he point he hands off to harden and then basically disappears. Lin will literally stand in the furthest corner away from the action and do nothing, but stand and watch. This is as clear an indication as any that the rockets coaching staff does not trust lin with the ball in his hands. --- As far as his 3 pt shooting, it is not necessary for Lin to become a top level 3 pt shooter to contribute to the offense. It is only the dogmatic and unbending insistence that he play this odd role which is the problem. While many coaches have inflexible beliefs about how an offense should be run, they should at least have the ability to choose the right players for the right roles within their offense, ie parsons, delfino, harden and douglas beyond the arc, and lin within the arc shooting mid range jump shots and driving to the lane. This isn't rocket science (no pun intended), it's just common sense. There are many nba games and nba coaches which leave me bored. Mchale and his staff are unique because they make me laugh in disbelief.
I disagree. Lin and Melo are both ball dominant. Melo definitely had a huge problem both with Lin's dominant role within the offense and of course with his enormous popularity (which I won't discuss in this post). There were several points at which Melo literally jumped in rage in the middle of a play or shot clock because he didn't get the ball. Guess who DID have the ball. It was Lin. As far as his drop in numbers, Lin had been run ragged by Dantoni. He was playing an absurd number of minutes, in a condensed schedule, and was taking some of the hardest hits I have ever seen anyone take on a basketball court. Lin was beginning to miss games, and eventually had to sit out for a prolonged period. But even prior to that, Lin had stated that he was completely exhausted by an unbelievable schedule, and by a huge jump in minutes basically from zero to playing nearly 40 minutes a game. I also disagree with your assertion that his jumper is broken. Lin is an effective scorer and shooter, but not when he is forced to spot up. He is far more effective creating his own shot whether it's within or beyond the arc. Can Lin play with a volume shooter and scorer who demands the ball? Absolutely. Can he give up shots, touches and time with the ball so that someone like carmelo or harden can score 20+ pts a game? Sure. But the problem right now is completely different from the carmelo/lin dynamic in NYC. In NYC, Lin was clearly the point guard who made decisions about who got the ball. In Houston, Lin is completely out of the play. He dribbles the ball up (and he often doesn't even do that), hands off to harden, then stands in the furthest corner away from the ball. There is absolutely no resemblance between Lin's role in NYC and his "role" if we can even call it that, here in houston.
Its mcfail system. no screen. no pnr. The team that we play against all screen and pnr. Mcfail conspiracy to let everyone know that he was right cutting him last year Just how stupid is that. u let you pnr pg be a sg all game.
The only sense that I can make of mchale's "system" is that every play begins and ends with harden, at harden's discretion. It's very close to becoming a one-man show.
You can't be a good pnr ball handler without a good jumpshot, you can just go under the screen all day, that he was hitting those shots and/or they didnt know much about him meant they would go over them in Linsanity allowing him to drive repeatedly, no one does anymore. It shows though that if can solidify the weaknesses in his game, and for example force the defender to go over the screen, he might still get there. As for Melo, he's one of the best pnr players in the nba (he's about 1.1 ppp as the ball handler in a pnr), he just doesn't need to use it play after play after play because he has an extremely versatile array of moves. As much as I like the kid, he creates the same problem the Broncos had in Tebow, a cadre of whiny loyal groupies who think he's significantly better than what he really is, and the situation that creates is toxic for the club. That Les and/or Daryl didn't learn from Denver's experience is their own damn fault though.
The weird thing, was last year he had a great mid range jump shot and had one at Harvard, but for some reason this season, he's lost it. Maybe because they highly discourage in this current system and he's not putting in enough reps to practice it, maybe it's his knee. Who knows? The fact is he's shooting very crappy this season and it's definitely affecting his effectiveness on the court. I hope it's just an aberration
