for quite a while now (ever since 2013?) his duds have been 12 and 6. that's what he can give you consistently; and sprinkle in breakout games here and there. considering the start that he gave us, i'd say this is pretty good and back in november would've been an optimistic projection. 12 and 6 for 8mil is just about right. but again, i see this as his floor going forward. he also doesn't play 36min every night. tonight is one of the nights where he played higher number of minutes. that obviously effects his offensive production. i'd say he's been pretty consistent, because his FG% has been pretty much the same since recovering from injury, if not trending up a little. but it all comes down to what it takes to win the game. if teammates are hot and going off, he will almost always try feeding them first before looking for his own shot.
The play from tonight that should be replayed here for doubters is the one where he drove left did a left handed fake crossover dribble, continued to go left, and then passed it off for smith to get a layup.
Ignore for a second whether or not 12/6 for 8mil is good or not, at this level of play, the Rockets are going to have to upgrade the position if they want to contend. If Jeremy Lin in the future cannot improve, like Patterson he will be replaced by someone who can be better.
You mean an inside outside dribble. Doesn't sound as fantastical as a "fake crossover dribble", though. Difficult maneuver with the off hand. He seems to have wonderful handles with left and right hand, but if he just developed a left handed shot (lay up, runner, tear drop...) he would be much more effective. I've only seen him go up with the left a handul of times.
Not necessarily. If we are looking for that position to be one of our "stars" then no doubt it will need to change if he doesn't improve. But if we can upgrade other positions with all stars/superstars, I think he's adequate enough to be a starting PG for a contender. See the Mavericks with an old Jason Kidd, Miami with Mario Chalmers, Lakers with Fisher, and the 2006 Heat.
well said. with our GM he's not going to wait until the end of Lins contract to wait and see if he turns out to be consistant or not. I think if lin does good in the playoffs he'll stay, if he does bad i think he'll be traded. Because honestly if we can get a high rated PG and maybe a better center/PF we'll be some real contenders next season up there with the clippers and nuggets and new york.
Actually, the argument that Lin isn't good enough to drive a contender is questionable at best. Look back at the championship teams of the past 2 decades. How many were driven by Superstar PG's? Not many. Most were driven by superstar Shooting guards, Centers or Forwards. There are plenty of Championship teams and Contenders that did just fine with average to even below average point guards. The formula is simple. 3 All Stars, or 2 Superstars and an average supporting cast, or 1 Superstar + above average supporting cast will get you a shot at a championship. Whether the point guard is central to that or not depends on the cast. Lin today is probably enough on the right team. Lin in the future will most likely be more than enough.
He's trending better in general. 3p% / points per game / mp by month Nov: .263 / 10.2 / 34.3 Dec: .292 / 13.8 / 31.1 Jan : .327 / 12.7 / 33.4 Feb : .424/ 13.5 / 32.4 Mar : .385/ 15.3 / 29.5 The guy went from sub .300 3 point shooting in the first 2 month (that's Monta Ellis bad ), to about .400 in the last month and a half (that's Ray Allen career average.) that's pretty huge. his per 36 min scoring average in March is close to 19 points, that's essentially Knick's Lin, except even more efficient (less TO, getting it down without taking as many shots. )
For fun, calculating Lin's PP per 36 min by month. Nov 10.7 Dec 15.8 Jan 13.7 Feb 15 Mar 18.7 I'ts clear that November brought his number down by alot. It's not exactly a stretch to say that recovering from knee + completely new team on starting day probably were acceptable explanation for that. FWIW, Harden's worst PP per 36 was also November.
Lin is playing his ass off......he's not going anywhere anytime soon. He's worth the money on and off the floor
why do you put such a strong emphasis on points when he doesn't really take more than 11 shots? It should be how well does the offense run when he has the ball? And anybody that knows a little about bball, like the dude with the funny suits at half time and after the game, will tell you the offense is crisper when Lin runs the point. you say 12/6 but one more game and it will be 13/6. 16/8 can be reached just by taking 3 more fgs, and shooting almost as good as harden..that's doable. Unless you want him to westbrick for it and attempt 19 shots a game..points should not be that big an issue.
Maybe, you can compare his stats every month. Feb and March, he showed a lot of promise already even if his usage rate is way below the Linsanity days. I think Lin being compared to Patterson isn't fair. Lin showed potential way better than Pat. That said, I miss Pat. He's a very good rotation player.
Over the last 2 months his percentage is way up....knee probably the problem early....I thnk ast nights Lin s what you will see more than no embers lin
meh's whole comment is moot because I highly, highly doubt this is Lin's ceiling. That'd be just sad.
Most likely Lin won't be a superstar, less likely he will be an all-star, thats ok if we get a superstar or allstar at other positions, prob at 4, but the problem is that when we have two stars, what we need most from our point guard is solid defense, consistent spot up shootings, low TO and high efficiency. From what we have seen sofar, none of the above is quite Lins strength. What Lin does well now, court vision and running offense well, at the cost of letting him has the ball all the time, will become less important when you have two al stars. Can Lin be a good defensive pg? I think in the right defensive system, yes. In a system which can utilize his size, good anticipation, freelancing, and hide his obvious weakness, Lin can be a very effective defensive pg. But we have yet to develop a defensive system, not until we have a coach who actually knows defense.
Lol....what do you guys mean can't be an alstar? He's shooting right now better than most all stars...e plays d, he sees the floor His only problem is e's inconsistent......but that's improving...he's going to be 18 and 8 next year.....over the last 2 months he's not far from that He's playing well
You said it best. Our back court is as good as it gets. All we need is front court superstar and we good to go. Two backcourt superstars would be too lame imo. Having said that, I think Lin's ceiling is higher than this. His smart defense and Ast/TO this season are getting better already.
