[Y Sports Radio] Calvin Murphy: Jeremy Lin Needs The Ball In His Hands

The two of them would look pretty good together, I think. Lin's passes are more likely to connect with D-Mo and they'd be really dynamic together. I like Asik, but his hands are pretty bad. He his hands remind me of Yao's when receiving those tight-window or no-look passes.

 

Calvin is succinctly effective..

maybe he should coach

 

From one Point guard to another.. Amen Calvin, Amen.

 

It's silly of course to make Harden exclusively an off-guard, he's a fantastic passer and when he draws defensive attention he can find open players for good looks.

The problem is whether it's best for the team for him to have the ball in his hands the majority of the time, with Lin becoming a Derek Fisher or whether the team would be better with Lin trying to orchestrate the offense with Harden choosing when to handle the ball and take over, and getting the right balance.

Michael Jordan came into the league as a ball-dominant SG who looked almost exclusively to score. He posted impressive numbers but was a career loser. He started winning when PJ got him to trust in his teammates more, and play within the triangle offense. Of course it helped that he had exceptional players around him, but the point is that there was ball movement. There's no Scottie Pippen if Jordan doesn't pass him the ball .

Pop recognised the overlap between Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili's skill-sets, which is why Manu came off of the bench because it helped the Spurs. Moving forward perhaps that's what Lin will need to do barring a trade, but even now McHale hasn't even gotten a clue to stagger their minutes. When Manu plays with Tony Parker, he plays off-ball and picks what possessions he will run point, he doesn't choose to ISO on every 2nd possession while Tony Parker stands in the corner.

Kobe played great under PJ within the triangle offense as well, again he had good players to surround him too, but look at what's happened to the Lakers now with their all-star cast. Ever since PJ's departure, Kobe has become a polarising figure amongst Laker fans. There are games he plays like a stud, there are times where the stat sheet isn't fairly reflective on him, but too often the case has been that he would demand to post-up at the elbows, dribble the air out of the ball and take contested fadeaway jumpers one after another while everyone else stood around.

Harden has the potential to be a great SG, the question is whether he'll be the ball-dominant chucker or the one who can play within an offense on a winning team.

 

lol!!

 

I can't help thinking the LOF logic got to him. I'm not saying the idea's right or wrong but I just can't help suspecting where he got it.

 

new here. watched a few rockets games this season, and jeremy use to be on GSW and a local bay area resident from palo alto,. jeremy with his spot up shooting is pretty bad but i believe it could be a learning/developing experience for him so he shouldnt take it as a bad thing. James harden plays like a point guard imo, runs the pick and roll good splits defenders. if Rockets decide to keep the coach, and things are just going to be the way they are, then i believe they should trade jeremy for a point guard that spots ups more, someone like Steve Blake would be a perfect fit for the offense that coach is running.

 

So does everyone. If Lin ain't being productive playing a pg, if we were winning right now playing Harden as pg, then all the people asking for change can eat it, but that's not the case. We're losing and a big part of it is our discontent with our offensive scheme leading to lack of energy and oomph on the court. It's very simple. As much as I'm a Harden fan, his turnovers and tendency for making "the" play is not my type of basketball. As someone previously mentioned, if Lin were having Harden's numbers the last dozen or so games, he'd be getting killed for being TO prone and not playing the pg position correctly, and there would definitely be a call for change considering that we are losing badly and playing like crap. It's not about Lin. It's about the pg playing the pg position and the sg playing the sg position.

I'm sure everyone can know what I'm saying when I say that during my pickup games, I hate it when the center wants to play guard! Who the hell's supposed to rebound, if you keep jacking up 3's and trying to juke the opponent out on the perimeter I always tell my bigs. Let each man play his position. Harden will be and was fine, and will still be a better more efficient player than Lin, without dominating the ball as he is the shooting guard.

 

GSW fan, new to forum. IMO Rockets either need to get rid of coach for a new one or get rid of jeremy for a spot up PG like steve blake to fit in the offense coach is running. obviously coach likes harden playing as the primary play maker. So those two choices are up in the air, choose wisely Rockets FANS.

 

Probably, but the players defending a lin/harden pnr generally have no clue what to do, and it has been pretty much unstoppable when they use it. Look at the Dallas game ( a loss but they were down, had some unfortunate calls an harden simply missed a bunch of shots he will generally make. Plus, free throws were terrible that night and Dallas had 41 attempts I think ) . The got something out of it, either Lin or harden, pretty much every time.

 

Last year in NYC JLin averaged 7 assist and 4 turnovers a game during his 26 game stretch. So me agreeing with a statement doesn't make me bias when numbers support it.

And actually in the process of you assuming I'm bias, you pointed out yours... But it's okay.

 

That was a beautiful forth quarter though, despite the lost.

 

But that's where I disagree. I think the ball in Lin's hands or under Lin's direction would move around a lot more and everyone will start getting more points. And there should be less turnovers for everyone albeit with a slight uptick for Lin. That is a good thing. An added benefit is we'll hopefully get the confident/aggressive version of Lin which is like trading for another player at this point. Harden ball is not the way to go.

 

I think if you read through my posts, you would see I don't have a bias, other than in biased against anyone who thinks are shell of an offense is going to the team anywhere. Weren't talking about assist/ TO ratio either...... You agreed with a foolish post, and a poster who is biased.

 

That post said nothing horrible about any player. And I just through the numbers out there and you're still calling other people's post foolish. But yet you state no concrete information to support your opinion.

And speaking off offense, Lin had a much better team around him and much better coaching in NYC, and he still averaged 4 turnovers a game (had games with 8 turnovers). On this team with less talent and with these coaches with no talent, if he had the ball more it's not foolish to think he would have more turnovers.

 

so obvious yet so true. Lin story continues... i will not abandon you, Lin.

 

it's about looking at your personnel and see what type of system best fit your team. it took miami more than a year to figure out that lebron is best used not as a big pg that plays above the 3 point line with occasional drives into the paint, but as a power forward that plays down low, and create the offense for that spot.

every team is different, and have different make up. kobe and mj were in the triangle. your analogy of lebron/chalmers and harden/lin is simply apples to oranges comparison. lebron is a better all around player than harden, and lin has better pg skills than chalmers. it's about knowing the strength of your team and design a system accordingly. for example, how would miami do if you keep the same system they have and just insert harden where lebron is right now? not very well i'll assume.

and nobody is advocating that lin has the ball the whole time only passes it to harden when he is open as a spot up shooter. if you actually listened to murphy, what he is advocating is that lin be the pg in a traditional sense and initiate the offense, get the ball flowing, with harden being the #1 option, getting the ball in the spots where he is most effective and can get an easier shot and drive the lane, rather than iso and trying to score over a double team.

 

I think Lin should have more TO's he should have the most on the team IF he is playing the actual PG. Everyone else should have no TO's or very very few.

If Lin has 8 and the rest of the team has say 2-3 total that is still a hell of a lot less than 20 -23 TO's that it has been lately for the team.

 

Calvin is 100% right. I'm first and foremost a Rockets fan and the truth is this team needs to be allowed to run through Lin first and foremost as a PG if we are to have long term success. He will make mistakes for sure but he will grow and make sure this team has TEAM success.

 

Have you ever thought maybe LOFs' logic sometimes has its value? Have you ever thought maybe it's you, maybe you are just too prejudiced against anyone who ever says anything good or even remotely appears to support Lin, even if it's a constructive suggestion from a life-long Rocket HOFer?

Thank goodness Murphy has impeccable record when it comes to what's best for the Rockets. Thank goodness, he is not in anyway related to Lin. Otherwise, I'm sure you would simply dismiss him as an another fanatic Lin only fan.