Isiah on Harden and Lin: Could be the best backcourt in the NBA

Disagree, I think handles along with jump shot are one of the easier things to actually work on and improve vs things like defense, court generalship, or vision(which never really improves).

 

So let me ask yall,,,,the system that was being ran in New York didnt play a factor in Lin's success??? Mike D'Antoni offensive schemes made a lot of players look good.

 

Dude, you're trying too hard to give credit to everyone else but Lin the player himself.
D'Antoni had tried multiple players to run his PG driven offensive system. All of them failed except Nash, Lin and maybe Felton. Lin took that system to a whole new level during Linsanity.

 

Yes DAntoni's system pretty much made Linsanity. But his system needs a good (not average) PG to execute. He's not a good coach just because all his teams sucked at defense (I never understood why he can't make his players play d). Lakers would be a lot better if Nash handles the ball and distributes instead Kobe taking all the shots. However I hope Lakers don't change their offense and let Kobe chuck away vs Houston the last game.

 

harden will improve his matador defense to average/good just with a little more effort.

Contrary to popular myth, our offense doesn't drop to 75 points a game when Harden isn't playing. We've seen that you can plug in players and still get a high production. All the coaching staff has to do is get it across harden that he doesn't have to carry the load unless necessary, that way harden can focus more on defense.

Francis became a better defender that one year he spent with jvg. ok bad example.
But tmac improved.

I actually have no problem if an nba all defensive team member like Tony allen keeps harden to 20% shooting. What I don't like is when tony allen goes 8/12 on us.

 

I would say curry is pretty much already ay his ceiling and Lin is probably border line allstar if he was a starting pg in a different situation. Still dont think he would average over 20 points a game like Curry. I guess its possible since ab did it when he ran the show. Curry is definitely better in the role he is in ( their offense is literally designed around he and Thompson ) but I like what Lin could bring to our team once he and harden settle in together. And I prefer his size and defense to curry as well, especially next to harden.

 

Again, I wish people would consider this. Curry wasn't nearly the player when he had to defer. Its his team right now and that makes a huge difference. Comparing the two is pointless.

 

Agreed. Harden is an offensive Superstar shouldering too much of the team's offense on his own. I hope he realizes that the team can carry some of this offensive load, so he can divert more of his energy towards defense.

 

As a playmaker and defender? Yes. As a scorer? **** no.

 

Of the teams who have top 5 assist point guards, there is not a legitimate championship contender of the bunch. And 5 of the teams with top 10 assist point guards are not even in the playoffs. Very rare a team even wins a championship with a high volume assist point guard. Which makes a better scoring and better shooting point guard always more valuable over one who is not.

And Presti did the NBA a HUGE favor by trading Harden to Houston instead of Golden State.

 

Peopla attack Isiah as a GM and rightly so but he picked a lot of all stars. They just didn't work out in NY.

1. Zbo, all star all nba player, took Mem to the 2nd round
2. Jamal Crawford, 6 man winner, went to 2nd round with the Hawks. Doing well with LAC
3. David Lee, all star. Good scorer and rebounder for GSW
4. Gallo. Very good player.

These are just 4 of his guys. There are more


Isiah actually had a good eye for talent.

 

Amen, keep preaching the truth my brotha

 

True but the argument can be made that he's had some good games here as well so the kid does have talent. It's just can he be consistent.

 

Your kinda cherry picking the numbers there. There are only 3 legitimate championship contenders: Miami, OKC and San Antonio. Of the 3, 2 of them have pg's ranked 7th in assist, only being .2 points away from being in the top 5. So, in reality 2 of the 3 contenders have high volume assist pgs.

 

I don't know if he would avg. 20 either. I know it's too small a sample but it's interesting to note that in the 4 games without Harden, Lin has averaged 22pts and 7 assists per game. With 3 of the 4 games against top 10 defenses.

 

i Think Isiah was right after watching the Rox vs Grizz game

Harden/Lin can be deadly IF they can play defense like they did in the 4Q against the Grizz

 

Good post, poor overall GM but I can see that as being his strength

 

lol big IF

 

I wouldn't say that is poor ball handling that is more like poor decision making which improves over time with more experience.


And I disagree I think you can apply a number to ball handling. I wasn't saying one is better than the other just saying I am not sure why you think his handles are elite. TO's are a number that are indicative to poor ball handling. Curry has JUST as many TO's because of poor ball handling as Lin.

Ball handling is nothing like court vision. I agree you can't measure court vision but I don't think it is crazy to say that you can numerically measure ball handling particularly if TO's are at the center of that formula.

 

Agreed. I think the Rockets just keep getting schooled because they're playing 4 on 5 due to the hole at the PF position.