More likely based on TO because the handling listed all types of TOs. Kyrie gets 5.7 assists on 3.2 TOs this season, doesn't looks like good handling.
The 'hands' rating is a combination of offensive fouls, bad passes, and ball handling turnovers http://www.82games.com/1213/12HOU2.HTM
Bad passes != Bad handles. Can they be a result of bad handles? Yes, but they serve more to illustrate bad decision making. Ball Handling TO's are more accurate. Offensive fouls again != Bad handles, more likely bad decision making.
Rocket fans should be very happy with Lin. He has had his ups and downs through out the season but he has steadily gotten better all season. This is is first full year as a starter and they team is still learning to play together. Hopefully he will still be here next year and I would think for sure that we will see him play more consistent and improve. I think it really help the teams flow with his speed and when the other team has to worry about him taking it to the basket so quick.
If anything Lin's handles have improved this year. He would get the ball stripped from him in the backcourt almost every game while playing for D'antoni. I think it depends on the definition of good handles... I agree with your observation that Lin s ball gets stripped quite often last season.. But I think it is partly due to his style of constantly attacking the paint and STOPs at the paint... His pass to DMO tonight really illustrate how he makes his teammates open by dribbling into the paint and into two defenders... You do not see many players who constantly do that. I agrees that if he protects the ball better, he will be lethal . On the other hand, he is one of the few players who can keep his heads up and read the defense while dribbling in the paint. I just love that.. I want to know how they calculate this. It seems like its weighted towards assists. I take anything with a grain of salt that has Lin's handle's rated higher than Mike Conley, Jason Kidd, Kyrie Irving, Ricky Rubio, oh and Derrick rose during his MVP season.[/QUOTE]
Just use Occam's Razor. Given the scarcity of Asian basketball players, as well as the racial stereotypes of Asian men as being weak and effeminate, it's pretty logical to conclude that beginning at the collegiate level, Lin was overlooked at least partly due to his race. You can say that Lin wasn't drafted b/c he went to Harvard, but that was also probably an outcome that was affected by his race. Out of all the Mr. Basketball finalists in his year, Lin was the ONLY one who wasn't offered a scholarship to a good basketball school. That's an awful lot of convoluted coincidences if you refuse to consider the racial angle.
An Asian guard just takes more than others to pass the eye test, so you should buy into the race thing in the NBA. Even during Linsanity, "experts" said Lin at best will be an average player...which goes back to Asian guards and the eye test. If Lin was a black player and put up Linsanity numbers, "experts" would talk non-stop about the kid's potential. You do know that after Lin led his team to a state championship and even won the North California Player of the Year award, his very own Harvard assistant coach didn't want to recruit him because in his eyes, Lin was a D3 player...
Also, I failed to add that Dragic and Lin are pretty much the same player. Similar size, skills and athleticism (although Lin looks to be a bit more speed and more of a natural floor general, and considering he's a couple of years younger, Lin's ceiling is probably a better Dragic. It's a fair assumption to assume if Dragic was Asian, he most likely would have gone undrafted too.
He'd get stripped in the backcourt when trapped. Pretty much because he sucked at dealing with traps last year - didn't know how to anticipate them, didn't know when or how to counter by passing out of the trap early. The guy is actually good at splitting doubles off the pnr so he would try to split the trap like he would a hedge and would get stripped. His handles aren't elite and he's inconsistent - sometimes he'll give the ball up 2-3 possessions in a row. But you can quantify how much his handles hurt his game by TO's. And since TO's don't tell the whole story, you can qualify his TO's by his A/TO ratio. Based on that he's not elite but he's not a train wreck either. Biggest question mark with Lin's TO's is even though his TPG dropped from last year, you can't tell how much of it is an improvement vs how much of it is because of his lower usage rate. The fact he's one of the few 1's playing out of position makes it hard to tell. But I know that Nash looks like garbage this year because he went from being the primary ballhandler in the pnr to running backscreens in the Princeton to being used as a spot-up shooter to deferring all pg duties to Kobe.
i agree, lin drives into the paint so much more then other pgs. I don't mind his drive, jump, pass out/assist, its a gamble, sometimes it works, sometimes not. Sometimes its the better option when the opposing team has a lock down defense and nobody no knows what to do. Lins drive and probe creates opportunities for his teammates but also gives opposing teams a better chance to take a swipe at the ball.
This is completely false. How often have we seen Delfino or Parsons playing PG and bringing up the ball or Lin going for long stretches not touching the ball? It's happened every other game seems like. I'd agree that it is possible because Lin has had games where he's put up huge numbers playing with Harden, but in those games Lin had high usage along with James. Thing is this does not consistently happen in this freestyling offense. Harden is the only one who will have consistently high usage. Also don't get how OP came to the conclusion Lin is below avg yet mentions DRAGIC is better...a guy who has higher usage, lower shooting % in every category, less rebounds, less steals. He scores a basket and maybe 1 assist more per game yet doesn't share the backcourt with a ball dominant SG. Put Lin on the Suns in the same position he puts up better numbers. Lin right now is about league avg, somewhere along the lines of Conley.
Lin's ball handling is a lot better than people give him credit for. It isn't perfect & at times he picks up his dribble too early but that is more attributed to poor decision making than bad handles. I have seen Lin split double teams without turning it over & keep his dribble alive in traffic while circling the paint. His handles aren't perfect but they don't need to be his skill set is his quickness. And yes Kyries hands rating is likely low because he turns the ball over a lot while averaging few assists.
We agree on the college level and you do raise some valid points. I can honestly say that I had no idea that Asian men were viewed as weak and effeminate. I had to google to confirm that was indeed a widespread stereotype. I've actually experienced the exact opposite in business dealings but thankfully I can consider myself fortunate that I don't have to deal with ignorant racism. I'd like to hear a little more about what Lin considered a good basketball school and what offers he turned down. A kid who can get into Harvard is likely not going to have much interest in a team that isn't landing consitantly in the Top 25. Especially as he was probably not expecting to play in the NBA. Any links to interviews or articles regarding that would be much appreciated. I'll read them at some point today and follow up tonight.
Maybe I'm being naive in all of this, but I just wouldn't expect a scout to be that foolish. I don't put much stock in media opinions (I rarely can even stomach ESPN anymore outside of player interviews) but I will acknowledge that if Damian Lillard went through "Linsanity" he would be billed as the next superstar. I actually didn't know that.
Did anybody watch the postgame? Who is this calvin murphy guy? apparently dude is such an LOF, suggesting that the team plays better when lin takes all pg duties and that harden will still get his points. Dude is so clueless!
