What in the world prompts you to say this? Is it because they can't jump and dunk on people like Rose does? Is it because they don't have the length and hands of Rondo and explosiveness as Westbrook? Is it because they don't have the handles of Irving? Or is it because their names are not Chris Paul? How many people thought that Harden was not a max player and that Westbrook was the better investment (there's a thread on CF arguing FOR Mayo over Harden... lol)? How many people thought Lebron would never get his ring? How many people thought Kobe's career, though a bit overrated, would suck after that airball of his? How many people thought Nash was worthless in Dallas? Or on the other side of things, how many people thought Kwame Brown would be a star How do YOU judge how much potential/upside a player has? To me, it's the amount of time, effort, and hard work you put into your game in conjunction with intelligence and efficiency. My point is that harder work is harder work is harder work. Period. You don't work hard, then you don't succeed in the NBA; and if you don;t work harder, then you don't become the players mentioned above.
It isn't. Unfortunately for Lin and his groupies, when you are only good for 25 games your averages start regressing back to the mean, the longer you play. And this isn't a comparison of 25 game sample to 25 game sample, it was a comparison of their time with the Rockets. This is a comparison of multiple stretches of games. I don't even really want to talk about what players did for other teams, because that is mostly irrelevant, but since this isn't even a discussion without giving credit to Lin for "Linsanity", I will give it too him. In 2011 when Dragic was traded here for Brooks, he was awesome right out of the gate in a limited role off the bench. He played about 20 minutes a game, but was sizzling 60+ TS% and nailing 3s at a 52% clip. This was over a 20 game stretch. That in itself, was just as good or better than so called Linsanity, but whatever, moving on. Going into 2012, he was still a bench guy behind Lowry and was not his best, but when Lowry went down, he took off like gang busters. As a starter, he was shooting 50% from the floor, 40% from long distance, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 3.5 T/Os. This was over 25 games. This stretch was also superior to "Linsanity". But but but, you are cherry picking!! Fine, even if you include his mediocre play off the bench to start the year, Gogi still managed to put up a 57% TS% for the year, this was 66 total games. This was also better than Lin at his best. The amazing part was Dragic was doing it with only a 20% usage, IE, he wasn't dominating the ball. In NY, Lin topped out at a 55% TS%, which was his best. Now keep in mind, this was also with a 30% usage, which is very high and not a sustainable condition here. In Houston, Lin is physically playing the most time he has in his career and is shooting at a TS% of 52%, which is not good. He is also only getting about 6 assists and 3 T/Os. So if you want to get specific about comparing samples (From best to worse): 1.) Dragic for the Rockets in 2010-2011 - 22 games, 2.) Dragic as a starter for the Rockets - 25 games 3.) Dragic for all of 2011-2012 - 66 games 4.) Linsanity - 35 games 5.) Jeremy Lin for the Rockets, 55 games. Credit to Lin though, he is young, and he can get better. But it is also certainly possible that he has been scouted and this is just who he is. Furthermore, Lin was at his best when it was just him, no Melo, no Harden, no whoever, when he has free reign to have a usage in 30% range. That is not going to happen here, because that is not the path to a championship. So if he can't be effective and modify his game, something is going to have to give. So this really has nothing to do with 25 game sample sizes. It has to do with how Dragic and Lin have performed as Rockets (with credit to Linsanity, since its all Jeremy really has to stand on atm). It shouldn't be confusing to anyone who was here last year watching the Rockets. Anyone that has extensively watched both can easily tell Dragic was the better player for the Rockets.
i want to make a comparison as to how francis was a better player in houston than when he was in Orlando and New york, therefor... Steve francis> charles barkley, because francis played better and longer as a rocket.
Before Dragic even showed up in Houston, he played 3026 minutes + 237 minutes in the playoffs. Lin, by comparison, has played 3023 minutes total in his career, including this season. Point being, its a little unfair to make a comparison at this stage.
This isn't true. Check out Lin's Sport Science. The guy stacks up with Rose and the most athletic PG's in the NBA. When the Knicks ended up testing him he was as good as anyone they've ever tested. That's one of the reasons why it's so frustrating for me when people say Lin will never be more than simply average or above average. They overlook his physical attributes. He already has the athleticism, passing vision, ability to get to the rim and draw fouls. You can learn to cut down on TO's and play smarter. You can improve your jumpshot. There's really no reason why the guy couldn't end up being really good, if you look at the big picture. One minor thing, I was just watching that Sport Science again, and Lin looks a little bigger in certain games with the Knicks. Looks too skinny right now.... Would like to see him add a bit of bulk, I think it could help out overall.
None of the above. I just think they're both at best average PGs. I've always thought the Thunder should have traded Westbrick over Harden and knew he was going to get a max deal wherever he went. I didn't expect him to play this well in his first year with a new team but nobody did. Everyone knew Lebron would eventually get a ring and I don't know anyone who didn't recognize Kobe's talent. You're reaching on most of this. By watching them play. I don't disagree that hard work pays off but natural talent plays a factor as well. Lin is where he is because he's such a hard worker. Reminds me a lot of Mario Elie in terms of what they've went through. Love the guy personally and think he'll be a great backup
This year: Dragic's TS%- 53.9 Lin's TS%- 52.8 Talking about crappy teammates is just an excuse. Having better teammates can actually make stats look worse in many cases.
Both Dragic and Lin had great 25/26 game runs as starters during the 2011-2012 season. It's funny how Dragic got almost zero national media attention. Both guys changed teams in 2012-2013 and had a drop-off in numbers during their first 26 games. Dragic's numbers continued to drop in the next 25 games while Lin's FG% and 3P% have improved to almost match his Linsanity percentages. Dragic's last 26 games(13-13) as a Rocket all starts. He had only 10 (4-6) previous career starts. fg/fga fg% 3p/3pa 3p% ft/fta ft% reb ast stl blk tov pts 6.3/13.0 .487 1.8/4.8 .376 3.8/4.5 .839 3.5 8.3 1.8 0.2 3.4 18.2 Lin's last 25 games (15-10) w/NYK during Linsanity all starts 6.1/13.8 .445 1.0/2.8 .343 5.0/6.3 .796 3.7 7.7 2.0 0.3 4.7 18.2 Dragic's first 26 games (11-15) this season w/Suns 5.2/11.5 .455 1.5/4.2 .364 2.8/3.8 .745 3.0 6.5 1.7 0.2 2.2 14.8 Lins's first 26 games (14-12) this season 4/4/10.5 .419 0.8/2.8 .297 2.1/2.5 .818 4.0 6.3 1.8 0.5 2.7 11.7 Dragic's next 25 games (6-19) this season w/Suns 4.7/11.0 .424 0.8/3.1 .244 3.1/4.2 .740 2.6 6.2 1.0 0.4 2.5 13.2 Lin's next 29 games (15-14) this season 4.7/10.6 .448 1.0/3.0 .333 3.0/3.9 .768 2.9 6.1 2.0 0.4 3.1 13.4
There is no rule. That's my whole point. Blaming teammates for bad performance is just an excuse, period.
Chris Bosh is currently having the best TS% shooting in his career. Harden's went down when he came over to Houston and had less help. Lebron's went up when he went to Miami and had more help. Point is, a player's scoring efficiency drops if he is required to take on a bigger role on offense, with increased usage rate.
I think Lin is the exception here cause his TS% was the highest the higher his usage was. I would wager to guess it is because he is a natural rhythm scorer and needs the ball in his hands to take a few dribbles before he shoots. His catch and shooting needs a lot of work and he's taken way more catch and shoots this season. You gotta look at the context.
Don't really care much about that. Lin is a role player, and so is Dragic if he was on this team. Harden is going to have the ball in his hands the most because he is the best player on this team, so Lin needs to learn how to catch and shoot. The exact same goes for Dragic if he was here instead. Role players need to adjust their games to superstars, not the other way around.
Lin will never have the ball in his hands the majority of the time here. He has to adjust as Harden is the far superior player and has established himself as a superstar and possibly the best SG in the league
Chris Bosh's is higher SO FAR. But it was lower his first two full seasons in Miami. Besides, Dragic is still only scoring like 14 ppg. It's not like he's taking tons of shots.
Re: the above two comments. I never said anything about Lin not needing to adjust. I'm just stating facts. I'm sure he will work extensively on his catch and shoot this summer because he knows Harden is on the team now and knows his role. I'm sure last offseason he had just watched the Rockets under McHAle and how ball dominant the PGs were in that system and worked on his more ball-dominant PG skills. Hopefully he doesn't take a month long trip to Asia this summer.
