His Linsanity 3pt percentage which you think he's skilled at: 32% His spot up 3pt percentage which you think he's bad at: 31.7%
You are right not at the PG position. But Harden is playing way to many minutes in my opinion. One of the things I have observed with McHale is that when he finds something that works we use it for a bit & then he goes away from it. For example, the Lin Harden PNR was nice & effective, havne't seen that in a while now. In the beginning of the season Ppatt was sticking solely to midrange shots, then McHale pushed him back to the 3 point line almost exclusively & there was a lot less of the midrange. Now the Ppatts midrange shots are back (for how long who knows). Also in the middle of the season McHale was splitting Harden & Lin's minutes. So like McHale would sit Lin like with 5 minutes left in the first quarter & then bring him back in to start the second with Harden resting for several minutes & I liked that because I felt that we were riding Harden way to hard. Or like he sits Lin/Parsons, then sits Harden a few minutes later & then a few minutes later after that he puts Harden back in before he puts back Lin & Parsons. Or the most anoying is that he leaves Harden out there when it is clear that we have won the game & its like take James out & put in D-mo or something. And then in the most recent spurs game Ppatt was playing much better than Mook but he kept Mook in when he really shouldn't have. And then he puts in Ppatt in with like 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter. And with Asik I get that it is tougher because of his conditioning but sometimes his use of Omer is odd as well. Like there is a lot of inconsistency with McHale. But honestly he is a young coach. And I doubt he will be the head coach when this team is actually truly contending anyway.
And they are seasoned? In my opinion, it's not a matter of being "raw," it's McHale seeing Lin as less important and as having less potential than I believe he should. The same with D-Mo. I'd give him some burn, strike that, I would have already given him some burn. McHale doesn't think that way. Thus the criticism.
Spot on. But I don't think it's inconsistency at all. McHale's natural tendency and inclination is clear. Every time we have a break and he "coaches," the players stop playing their game and things get worse. He wants Lin in the corner, as an example, not up top doing pnrs. He wants PPat at the 3 pt line. He wants Harden to play the pg role more than he's capable. So, after a while, he reverts.
Jeremy Lin ranks on the Rockets FGAs: 3rd(behind Harden and Parsons) FTAs: 3rd(behind Harden and Asik) Assists: 1st Usage Rate: 2nd(behind Harden)
a dead-end office worker....just as i thought. and coming into garm threads telling people they don't know bball they don't watch bball (in a roided douchebag style) helps to alleviate some of the stress mr. lumbergh's been throwing your way
Incorrect, Lin is involved in the 2nd most possessions, 805 possessions that end in a TO, FT, or FGA whereas Chandler is 794. Looks close? Its a little deceiving because Chandler has also taken 100 more spot up shots, and it also includes the beginning of the season when Lin was even less involved in the offense.
It isn't deceiving because Chandler plays a lot more than Lin and handles the ball too much as is evident by his assists to turnover ratio. Look at Harden's as well. Not good either. These are the FACTS I'm talking about.
The whole Lin in the corner thing is overplayed. Lin (3593) is involved in a ton of possessions third to Harden (4058) & Parsons (3869). Lin is definitely involved. And also with the high PNR thing, even when we do it teams just double Lin & let Omer roll to the basket by himself or they trap the PNR. Look at the Clippers game from the other night. They were double teaming him. Only so much McHale can do. Lin himself has to split the trap or pass out of the double team & make the pass that would lead to the pass that results in the bucket.
We aren't going to play PHX/NYK D'Antoni offense with the PG having the ball in his hand 80% of shotclock. The philosophy this team plays with is to share the ball. Parson's even said in that recent interview that they some practice drills that are completely centered around just passing, where dribbling is restricted. That gives you an idea of what type of philosophy McHale is trying to instill in the players, to always keep the ball moving. If you want to see the PG have the ball in his hands the entire possession, I don't know what to tell you. That's not going to happen. You're going to have to go back and watch old Lin NYK tapes for that. McHale's hammering in his system and he got it across effectively, I mean this team moves the ball beautifully. There's no selfish playing by any player. This team was changed up entirely when Harden came in. We didn't have the time to create set plays. Harden came in like a day before the season started. They'd be bogged down with trying to learn eachother, learn the plays, etc etc. McHale made the decision to instill a philosophy instead, they practice and run drills with that philosophy, and then they have a few plays but the biggest thing is to just space the floor and move the ball and play fast. It was a good decision for this team, apparent by how we're playing and beating out expectations. Spacing the floor is something Lin talks about all the time, he himself would probably choose to go to the three point line because it give's Harden the most space to operate. Same goes for Harden when Lin has the ball.
To add Parson's own words: "We have no set plays. It's a read and react offense." That's why you see Beverly come in and pretty much do random things at times instead of passing to Harden. Not every little thing Lin ever does is because McHale told him to do it.
I think those are possessions that result in a shot for that person. Yeah I was using synergy. According to synergy Lin also has 197 P&R possessions to Chandlers 83 and 95 ISOs to chandler's 39.
imo lin spot shooting in the corner IS the default offense. the system is such that there is no real pg role, for anyone. the ball moves until it finds the open man (ideally for a 3)... when "lin plays as pg" that imo is him "freelancing" on offense. so if he plays well, then mchale will not stop him. but if he starts making mistakes, he will "punish" him by stopping him from freelancing and go back to the everyone is a pg offense. its not necessarily give it to harden. its passing to the weak side. he passes to whoever is there. mainly harden, but parsons as well. its whoever is there. after the pass he moves to the corner to spread the floor. the fact that bev/TD does this also is indication that this is the default offensive set. having said that, there is no such thing as "lin-centric" plays in this offense. in this offense the pg doesnt hold the ball and distribute. it moves side to side, looking for the open man. in short, it IS the system and not mchale, per se, and not lin, per se. the only caveat imo is that harden is allowed to do whatever he wants cuz he is their superstar.
Because there really isn't any controversy, it's only in the minds of Lin's fans. I get that they will complain unless he's the highest scoring player on the team, completely dominating the ball EVERY possession, playing 45 minutes a game, but just because I know they'll always be upset about something doesn't mean that it's not tiresome.
The problem in these conversations is the people often end up exaggerating. No one has ever said or thought that "every little thing Lin ever does it because McHale told him to do it." McHale does have a big influence on what Lin does. If you've ever been to a game, you hear McHale yelling "move the ball, move the ball" as soon as Lin crosses the half court line. He doesn't want Lin to ever break his man down off the dribble. The trouble is that a pure passing offense doesn't work in the NBA. You can watch an NBA team pass the ball around for half a possession with no advantage gained whatsoever. To score efficiently, you have to gain an advantage. Individual players make advantages. Players who can beat their man off the dribble. Post players who can score at will one-on-one or collapse the defense for easy 3s. Transcendent isolation players like Kobe or Harden. Once a single player has created an advantage, and tilted the defense, read and react passing works great. You've got the defense out of position and you find the weak point and exploit it. There are two players on the team who have the ability to tilt the defense, Harden and Lin. Harden has had permission to do that all season. Lin only has in spurts, and then only grudgingly. When McHale is screaming "pass the ball", that's not a suggestion. When Lin was crossing half court and immediately passing to Harden, that was by design. Those of us who said that was bad offense have been vindicated as, since the offense has moved away from that, it's been far more efficient. When McHale screams at Lin for a physical error like forcing a pass or "over dribbling" he is suppressing Lin's aggressiveness which is exactly the opposite of what the team needs. Harden can't score 100 points a game. Harden is better at tilting defenses because he's top 5 in the league, but he simply does not have the energy to win games by himself. No one does. The team needs a clear second best option of breaking down defenses, and Lin is that option. That doesn't mean scoring (necessarily) but it does mean freedom to collapse defenses, which leads to points for him, assists, or hockey assists. Teams know they aren't going to shut down Harden. Opposing coaches know that if they shut down Lin, they win. It's easier to shut down Lin. Part of the reason it's easier is because McHale doesn't harass the refs when Lin is pummeled. He doesn't give Lin as much freedom to dribble. He takes Lin out for long stretches. And punishes Lin for physical errors and mistakes in split second decisions. This last is pretty important. Repetition is where you get better. The more reps, the faster you get better. Screaming at players during games doesn't make them better. It makes them second guess themselves, and second guessing always leads to less aggressive and worse play. Film review is the time to analyze in-game decisions. Punishing individual plays during games almost always leads to worse outcomes. Frankly, I don't believe it's a deliberate coaching strategy. I think it's an emotional reaction to soothe one's own ego. Getting so few minutes as a starting point guard is reducing the rate at which Lin gains experience. It's also probably cost games. A film review preceded the latest winning period. It's no coincidence that right after that film review, Lin became a much more aggressive dribbler, even though there's been much discussion and quotes in the press about how Lin is only supposed to make the "simple" play, meaning don't try to beat your man off the dribble, don't force passes, etc[2]. Simple is not aggressive. The film cut-up surely showed that when Lin was aggressive and when his teammates trusted that aggression, the offense flourished. There sometimes appears to be a cognitive dissonance on the coaching staff. It really can be summed up by what I just said: Simple is not aggressive. Aggressive means taking your man off the dribble one-on-one. Aggressive means making high risk/high reward passes. Lin gets yanked and yelled at for failing on aggressive plays. Overall, high risk/high reward basketball is winning basketball, c.f., OKC. What's NOT winning basketball is safe plays, passive plays. Morey isn't going anywhere. Morey tweeted yesterday that he's a Coach of the Year candidate. Lin isn't going anywhere. Morey told Stephen A. Smith yesterday that Lin is a 23 year old 6' 3" athletic guard who they are going to build the team around. But I can think of available coaches with more upside than McHale and I can't think of available points with more upside than Lin. There are championship level coaches who succeed without treating their players disrespectfully. [1] Everyone knows that about Harden. Some people still argue it about Lin, but the argument doesn't hold much water. Lin was 3rd in the NBA last year in points per play in isolation. This year, he's 9th in the NBA in drives. He was combine tested with best-in-class first step and elite court speed and this was verified by Morey's practice jersey accelerometers. He's also very inexperienced. The more leash he's given the more he'll learn to harness his athleticism to break down defenses. As Morey told SAS yesterday or the day before, Lin is a 23 year old athletic 6'3" guard. The implication was clear. [2] I also seemed to notice more two point jumpers early in games after the film review. Shooting long 2s early in games opens up higher percentage lay-ups and 3 pointers later in the game. During their losing streak, there seemed to be a strict mandate against long 2s by most of the players and from my observations could result in benching.
