So you are telling me that teams do not sag off of Lin (a 27% 3P shooter) & double somebody else when he shoots 3's instead they close out on him?
I think that some of the Lin fans defend everything/anything said against him blindly and, sometimes, with no thought. That part is quite annoying. Not everyone needs to be convinced that everything that is not right with his game is someone else's fault. I like Lin's improvement of late. I was beginning to worry that his fluke stretch, last season, was just that. Hopefully, he turns into the player that most want him to be.
Thanks Roxxy. This kind of info helps us evaluate players better and points out where Lin has to improve.
He played great in way too many games last year for it to be a "fluke". From Wikapedia: "In his 12 starts before the All-Star break, Lin averaged 22.5 points and 8.7 assists, and New York had a 9–3 record." Without Carmelo and Stat they were 7-0. Lin played 35 games last year and 25 as a starter. For the 35 games he averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 assists in only 27 minutes per game. His 38 points against the Spurs this year without Harden reinforced the point it was no "fluke".
lol, IKR. If a guy is a known poor shooter, they will keep giving him those looks until he can knock it down consistently in a game aka having the hot hand. This is not a YMCA game in your neighborhood where people don't have a scouting report for their opponent so your average joe will "instinctively" close out on people if they suddenly hit a shot, lmao. Most people on this forum don't even know about how player synergy affect the team as a whole. Having two ball-handlers will not help the team. People can talk about how Lin gets open look and how he should knock down those open looks. Fact of the matter is that the guy have been shooting off the dribble since his HS days. Will it help if he is a better catch-and-shoot guy, sure, you can say the same thing for most of the NBA players these days. If you suddenly expect he can knock down those shots despite the fact he's been a poor catch-and-shoot guy, then you're delusional. I can see if Lin goes on another good run, they will try to trade him ASAP (for an expiring) so they can get a guy who is a better complement to Harden's skill set in the offseason.
Actually, teams were sagging off Lin last year even when he was hitting his shots. It's simply good basketball to sag off a quick Point Guard that can drive. Given the choice between giving up a 3 point shot and a drive to the rim to a fast guard, teams will always go with giving up the 3 point shot, regardless of the player. The 3 point shot is the 2nd most efficient shot in basketball, BEHIND shots at the rim. The only real change defensively that a team will make off a perimeter shooter that's good at driving to the paint is how they play the pick in the Pick and Roll in that they may choose to go under the pick versus over the pick. And even then, 27% from 3 point range still translates to a Efg% of 41%. In other words, it's still NOT a shot that teams like to give up. Watch some of the games more closely. You'll see more often that players will ignore the Roller (Asik, Morris, Patterson), slip the Pick and instead hedge both sides of the Pick cutting off Lin's driving lanes. They do this not because Lin isn't a great outside threat, but because they don't respect the Roll man as much as they respect the ball handlers. They do this to Harden as well and he's a 32% shooter from beyond the arc. As for generally packing the paint, it's not just Lin's responsibility to make outside shots. When our players aren't hitting their 3's regardless of the position, the paint becomes congested. When our players aren't moving off the ball, cutting and screening each other the paint becomes congested. When our Roll man isn't catching the ball or finishing the paint becomes congested. Lin isn't shooting well from the outside this season, but to put his 3 point shot as the entire cause of paint congestion is not only unfair to Lin, but letting the rest of the team off with a free pass. Opposing team after opposing team has noted that beating the Rockets is about two things. Slowing down Harden and slowing down Lin. It's really not much more complicated than that.
I don't disagree with anything you are saying. Anyway, this was my point from the very beginning. They are cutting off his driving lanes. Dudewah disagrees, he says that those driving lanes are there Lin just choses not to drive. Makes little sense to me, Lin knows what he is good at I don't understand why a player would willfully work against there own talent. I never said any of this... But anyway thank you for providing a more detailed analysis to Dudewah as to why Lin drives. Hopefully this ends this back & forth.
If this seasons performance is the bases for this thread than the Lin Haters are winning. He is playing horrible this year.
it depends how you look at it. if you put a general in a frontline to fire a machine gun and same time you put a soldier in the army headquater to guide army, what do you expect? you always try to maximize a player's strenght to benefit your team. you might try to improve player his weakness during offseason just like to send the soldier to an army academy (west point) to learn how to lead an army during peace time.
Yes, they both fuel the fire of this thread and LOFs just mindlessly continue to reply making thread even bigger and larger than it is. Half of the posts on this thread are probably LOFs, maybe more than half. You have no idea why the thread has not been locked? Why should it be locked? I'll tell you why it shouldn't. Lin's storyline is unfinished. Let's see who is right and who has to eat crow admitting they were wrong. Locking this thread won't stop people from posting the same back & forth in a new thread or other existing threads. As was said, the extremes of the Lin conversations are being somewhat contained here within. Will locking the thread stop someone from criticizing Jeremy Lin?
<br> You're putting words in my mouth. <br> Situations where Lin gets the ball on the 3 point line are usually because the ball has been moving and defenders are rotating to cover a man. This gives good opportunity (for most players if they have NBA lvl elite dribbling ability) to drive past their man and get into the lane. Or shoot an open jumper. Actually the fact that you think that this doesn't happen even to Lin is preposterous. He does drive from time to time on these opportunities. How do you think he gets all those travelling violations when he's at the 3 pt line? Furthermore, like I said, a lot of his drives end up being him dribbling in a circle around the free throw line area and passing it back out to Harden. All i'm saying is, I have heard numerous times from fans of Lin that he is rather good at shooting mid range jumpers off the dribble. If he is, he should do that instead of shooting 3's at a 28% clip. Anything is better than just passively throwing the ball like he's playing hot potato with the next guy. so: 1) he should either drive and penetrate to the basket (if his penetrating abilities are elite like some here say) 2) he should take a few dribbles and shoot a pull up J (if he can shoot off the dribble like some here say) <br> <br> The driving lanes are there. If Lin is as good at penetrating as advertised, they will always be there. As for the part I put in bold, that is a huge cause of confusion for me when I watch Lin play because that's exactly what I think he does a lot of the time. <br>
Makes perfect sense. Too much Lin love, and haters will try to tear him down just because it bothers them for who knows what reason. Too much Lin hate, and lovers will defend and build him back up because he is their hero. I guess it's kinda like if you're single and it's valentine's day and you see so many couples making out, you just wanna huck some cake at them. :grin:
I find his posts nonconstructive (polite way to put it), but he's not a LOH. He's a long-time Rockets fan who just doesn't like Lin. There's a difference between that and someone with a 2012 join date who joined CF just to troll and bash Lin. There have been a few of those, but really just a few. It's OK not to like Lin. It's even OK to blame him for everything wrong with the Rockets. It's sports, people have their irrational likes and dislikes. So what? I dislike Carmelo Anthony. I don't care how well he plays, I just don't like the dude. I also hate Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and their flopping. So what?
I agree totally with what you saying, especially the part about Lin not being a catch and shoot player, being a bad fit to Harden and thus being traded. But careful with those arguments; you might end up being labelled an LOF who is providing excuses for lin and not recognising that the guy sucks/ is a joke.
