[Podcast] Morey on 610 today: talking Lin, free agency & expectations for next year

I second everything except firing Morey because what other GM does Reddit? Besides Les already extended his contract. Morey forever!

 

Morey is obviously not a puritanical fan, he's not welcomed by them.

Good to know that he is well grounded.

 

THIS^ Thank you for writing the words I had no skill of doing.
I believe as you do that Lin's hesitancy had a lot to do with coaching this year.
The coaches have Harden and wanted Lin to stop being a scorer and more of a facilitator / role player but Lin is best and when he's aggressive and attacking the basket, HE'S NOT A PASS FIRST PG SPOT UP SHOOTER.
I hope Lin can make the adjustment better next year. He was kinda thrust into this unnatural role with the last minute Harden acquisition. Putting up numbers of 14/6 is AVERAGE no matter what advanced stats tell you.
He said he was going to work on his off-ball movement and shooting over the Summer and get comfortable in his role as the SECONDARY BALL HANDLER. I think he can improve to 17/8 next season and compared to other SGs in this league those numbers would be above average.
However, I have the feeling McHale is going to prefer he takes between 5-8 shots next season really reigning in his offensive production and give those shots to Parsons. I think Lin's days as an aggressive scoring PG are over and he'll become more of a pass first, solid D, spot up shooting SG.
It's a pity because he has shown the ability to score, not many players in the NBA have the ability to score 38 points twice against good defenses and 20+ points 15 times in a season as the 3rd option (not even Beverley has this skill).
Unleash Lin? ... Never gonna happen under this system.
But I think Lin will last a long time in this league if he shows he can change positions and make adjustments to his game. Adding a lethal 3pointer and jump shot to his game will be another skill set on the way to an all round game for a flexible player that will make him incredibly hard to stop if he's unleashed sometime in the future.

 

Your concern is justified. I had exactly the same observation that Lin lacked the ability of creating good passing angles, which results from his habits of dribble and driving that is not conducive to keeping one's options open. Only occasionally did he keep the dribble alive which Magic praised a lot during Linsanity. And he has a large turning radius that gives defense time to readjust, limiting his effectiveness unless it's a play always facing forward. So, his skill set currently mastered cannot fully put to enough good use of his good court vision and desire to play the right way at PG.

But I think the culprit is "speed", which can be your worst enemy particularly as a PG. All what you worry about Lin was mostly lacking in the first 3 years Parker played in this league until he developed the teardrop shot and controlled his speed. So, once Lin learns to control his speed, to keep his dribble closer to body while turning corners, develop the Parkersque teardrop, Currysque scoop shots, the regular put and hook shots, he find passing angles opening for him. Here is hope! Peace.

 

"Jeremy was the 5th best pick n roll player in the league..."

"We would be nowhere near the playoffs without Jeremy Lin..."

 

interesting that Morey ranked Lin ahead of Parsons in terms of contributing to wins

 

It's his analytics that did that. Morey is emotionless brain that cannot feel and is indifferent to players fanbase.

 

Sounds like Rox are gonna try to get out of his deal.

DD

 

Yeah, how can they do that?
They must say he breached the terms of his contract somehow.

For being an incompetent git?

Morey must have been gathering and documenting evidence all year.
Wonder what his arguments are gonna be?

 

Waiving Royce White would save us $1.7m

Definitely worth it.

 

Too bad Parsons, Harden and Bev have reached their ceiling too.

 

Would not save any money unless HOU gets the contract legally voided.

 

You mean it would still be a cap hit?

 

At first I was thinking that too. But it would be unprecedented. You can't null a contract just because a guy is stupid. What has he done to warrant voiding the contract. On top of that he has appealed to the media that the league is not supportive of mental illness.

What I think his statement does mean is Royce will never play for the Rockets. Especially since he was freely tweeting about Royce until the final shutdown. Which was coincidentally, synchronous with his last baby mama drama. I think that was the final straw that showed he had more than anxiety disorder, but more like a stupidity disorder. I also really believe they have some legal concerns about him knocking up women in a company Winnebago. So they want to just dump him and not mention his name so they can say this was not a company approved knock up and once we heard of it we removed from the vehicle.

 

Old Man Rock telling it like it is and bring the TRUTH to CF.

 

Clutchfans never ceases to amaze me.

The last time I think I posted anything of significance was in support of AB when he was being bashed and busted up by so many on here, before he was traded to Phoenix.

I guess (to some degree) I can understand the frustration over LOF's calling out Harden or McHale. ('cause if you can't play for McHale, you can't play for the majority of NBA coaches...and even though Harden can drive us crazy with turnovers and his reaching on D, he's by far our best player)

Maybe that causes some to become LOH's, I don't know.

But, the degree of "hate" and criticism Lin gets from some is just beyond ridiculous.

Does he make you scream at the TV when he gets in the lane and pulls up his dribble, then tries some absurd shot or extremely difficult pass "back out" 'cause he's got nowhere to go? DEFINITELY. Without question. No doubt.

Still, if a guy in his first full year of playing signifigant minutes, while learning a new system, learning to play alongside a star player, trying to play the way his coach wants him to play, is able to improve the way Lin did throughout the year, I'll take my chances with him continuing to grow and develop.

This has nothing to do with on court production, but how many players in today's NBA will take the time to go into AN ASSISTANT COACH'S office (McHale was out at the time) after air-balling a three against Miami at crunch time and APOLOGIZE and say "Sorry coach, I'll hit it next time"....? Not many.

While it wasn't the exact same situation, the next two times he was needed in crunch time (vs Portland and OKC) he delivered down the stretch big time - and hit two clutch threes in the win vs. OKC. It's hard not to pull for or like a guy like that.

I was one of the guys defending the team when Linsanity was happening and so many people (especially on here) were non-stop talking about how we could have had him, what a dumb move, etc. I expected the league to "catch up" to him and he'd "come down", and completely understood why the decision to let him go was made.

But, once he became a Rocket (again), it's time to support the guy and pull for him - and why would you not? Great kid.

Yes, I know that has nothing to do with performance on the court. OK, let's look at that for a minute.

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First 44 games of the season - Rockets go 22-22 (.500). Lin is shooting .423 from the field, .279 on threes, .775 at the line... he's averaging 3.8 boards a game, 6.0 assists, 2.0 steals, 3.0 turnovers and 12.0 points per game.

Over the final 38 games (46% of an NBA season), the Rockets go 23-15 (.605, which would equate to a 50 win season). Lin shoots .461 from the field, .398 on threes, .795 from the line... his rebounds drop to 2.2, assists rise to 6.2, steals drop to 1.3, turnovers dip to 2.8 and his scoring increases to 15.0 ppg.

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I'm not saying the guy is Chris Paul, but would you take a PG shooting 46% from the floor and 40% from downtown, while averaging 15 ppg, 6.2 asts, even with the 2.8 turnovers? I think most of us would... (and we DID... for nearly the entire second half of the season!)

I don't get it. The guy raises the level of play down the stretch of the season, the team plays well and makes the playoffs... and he gets crucified like a Tebow or Romo.

Don't think it had anything to do with the schedule - look up the stats - he played much better against playoff and .500+ teams than he did against sub .500 teams (for some reason).

I don't have the date of the video, but I believe Lin's decrease in rebounds (and steals) started around the time McHale was talking to the media about "court balance" and when the PG is rebounding, your likely now in a bad position (after being questioned about Bev's offensive rebound rate). It's almost like you could see him trying to adjust his game to more of what McHale wanted - rebounds and steals decreased as he tried to play more responsibly.

Going forward, we can only hope he's able to continue to improve as he DID this season while finding that medium between playing too cautiously and staying aggressive with his help defense, where he has shown the ability to thrive.

Was what happened in the playoffs frustrating and disappointing? Extremely. No doubt. Big time.

He was playing fine in game one 'til the two turnovers late in the first half, then it snowballed. He played well in the first half of game two and after the injury was a shell of himself and shouldn't have been out there.

The amount of "hate" towards players on this site is often brutal. The knee-jerking is comical. If you support the TEAM, support the players... at all times. I'd love to log on and read stuff like "Man, Smith has got to pick his game up" or "Lin's played like crap these last two games".... But, we don't get that.... we get "Damn Greg Smith sucks!" or "Maybe we won't have to worry about Lin after this season"...lol. Smh.... Really?

 

The stats that matter stay secret Morey does tend to hype up talent he's trying trade, eg T-Will superstar talent, same for Royce :grin:

 

Why does Dork Elvis do these radio interviews?

What's the point?

Whose the audience?

 

well said brother Htown lol! all jokes aside... i think your right.. especially about the part where clutchfans has turned into a hate zone after a loss or two.. i wasn't too impressed with lin at the beginning of the season.. and i think that the reason for that was he was adjusting coming back from injury and having a new team put together in short notice. i really wasn't impressed with how he played in the playoffs but that injury is understandable... im willing to see what lin can do the second time around in houston... i think he would be much better, but if chris paul is willing to come to houston and we have to part ways with lin im not opposed to that either

 

Obviously you for starters...