It wasn't just sportswriters. - Isiah Thomas http://on.nba.com/12nGrPM (2:15 in) * In terms of Lin's ability, a few other notable guards had this to say: - Kobe Bryant http://huff.to/185pZwK - Magic Johnson http://bit.ly/12UK3Nw *** Lin still has plenty of work to do, of course. Plenty. But he was not "right" for most of last year with his knee. I think people forget this, or want to overlook it. Lin's knee wasn't at or near 100% strength, supposedly, until like mid-March or something. His April stats were big. Lin has shown and done things Beverley has not. That doesn't mean Beverley can't do them or won't do them, but he hasn't done them. Doing well for a couple of games as a starter against a back-up is good, particularly in the playoffs. Still, I don't think what Beverley has done so far in his short NBA career really matches-up with what Lin has done. I don't think there is any realistic argument to be made along those lines. As Zdrav said, I think the Lin/Harden backcourt has the potential to be very special. Before we start trying gimmickry and alterations, I would hope we would begin by simply allowing the (presumed) first unit to play together and see what that yields. Making adjustments is ok, once you've already tried something and evaluated it. Since the new lineup with Dwight Howard hasn't been tried yet, I can't see a real good argument for making adjustments to that lineup at this time.
I think Morey bit the bullet taking Lin and Asik, both being 1st year starters. While Asik has grown and grown, I think we have already witnessed lins ceiling. He could prove me wrong, and I'd welcome it, but I think it may be too easy to key in on him. Of course I called it on twitter 10 months ago but I believed Lin needed a scoring type of center. He may get that with Howard.
i guess i should clarify that this is when lin has the ball. the point is that he has options now with dwight whereas he had none with asik. while i fully expect harden/howard to have the ball most of the time, the other time really should be lin trying to replicate linsanity because all the conditions are there now with dwight. if he cant do it with dwight, he'll never do it ever again.
Generally, teams don't play their best playmaker as 6th man role. In Harden exit interview, he said he will improve his post game, finishing, off the dribble, mid-range, which mean he planed to be a better scorer. (didn't mention ball-handling and playmaking)
I hate that people are acting like being the 6th man is a terrible thing, it's actually a great resposibility and it is needed on contenders. It would actually be a larger role for Lin. We would not have to play harden sooo many minutes with a legit 6th man.
Can't agree with this at all, both based on Lin's recovery from knee surgery last year and based on analyses like this one: http://nyti.ms/10K9IYB There is too much data and too many opinions of Lin from knowledgeable, well-respected people for me to buy that Lin has come even close to reaching his ceiling yet. I mentioned this the other day. If someone watched Chris Paul in the 2010-11 season, the year after his knee meniscus surgery, they never would have thought he was anything close to the player he was previously and is today. You can't judge players when they are not at their best physically. Last year, at least for most of the year, Lin didn't have anything close to the burst or speed or vertical he did while in New York. There is a chance Lin will never quite be the same player he was in New York, physically. But unless that turns out to be the case, I can't see any reason why we haven't already seen the worst version of Jeremy Lin we are likely to see for the next decade or so. Things should be all downhill, in a positive way, from here.
lol....im a big lin supporter, but those are the wrong questions. Jordnnn has been pretty fair with is opinion on lin. you may not agree with everything, but he brings up good points. What your inferring about harden is wrong.
Linsanity consisted of PNR with Lin and Howard with kickouts to perimeter shooters. We already have that match in harden and Howard. Lin would have to be great at passing and being a 'you' first player to remain on the team. This year's offence will roll through harden, then dwight, then lin/Parsons etc. With both Lin and hardens turnovers It is hard to fathom Lin handling the ball significantly this year. If you gave me a choice between harden and Lin handling the ball while being prone to turnovers, I'd stick with harden. Ppl forget Lin was still very turnover prone during Linsanity. You're sourcing HoF greats who uttered those words at the start of last years season?
The OP is based on a wrong belief that the team is best served to let Harden handle the ball the majority of time. MJ, Kobe didn't do so. LBJ functions primarily at least initially fully as point forward to initiate ball movement. A good team ball doesn't want to have Harden and Melo type of iso-ball dominate their offense, particularly not so with D12 on board. The best quality of Harden, Kobe, MJ's caliber is to bail the team out once the initial plays fail to yield good shots. How many of you got disgusted by Harden holding the ball for 15 sec. then deciding to give it up with 3 sec left later in the season and in the PO? And you want to force more of those by starting Beverly? Ball movement is crucial for the team. For that you need your best decision makers at with the ball as starters, at each position and particularly at PG.
Now, when I say that "Lin's vertical (and speed and burst) didn't look 'right' for most of last year," I mean they didn't look like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiwSUxszuN0 or like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-bYeAyWYgs The first time, all of last season, I recall thinking "Lin may finally be getting his legs back after the surgery" was on this play in early February 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfydTo0JnCA That was already four months into a six-month season. And, supposedly, Lin's surgically-repaired leg would not be at 100% strength for another month or so after that dunk on Garcia. People said last year "this isn't the same guy as in New York." Well, no, he wasn't. At least not for most of the year. He didn't have his legs. And if you don't have your legs as a point guard and you rely on speed and quickness as your best weapons, well, you don't have much. I think a lot of people who comment on Lin didn't really watch what he did in New York. I don't mean the "Linsanity" hoopla, but how he did what he did. I think if those people had watched or paid more attention to what Lin was going with the Knicks, they may have figured he wasn't going to be the same guy for probably at least half of last year. And he wasn't. And he was in a different offense. Lin has a lot of work to do in order to be a complete point guard. Shooting work, dribbling work, decision-making work, etc. But stuff like this was embarrassing to read: http://bit.ly/1a7Nfrp That was written in late November of 2012. By Marc Lamont Hill. Suffice it to say, Hill is not a basketball pundit. Now, back to reality: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/pg_takes_out_of_dallas_GCT9DTOuuPwaxU7lX1U4vN That's right, Marc. No one was trying to guard Lin. Not at all. Just open jumpers and little defensive attention. *** The reason why some people like myself react so strongly to what is sometimes characterized as "ABJ" comments is because we've already heard opinions like Marc Lamont Hill's. Ignorant, dismissive, foolhardy, omitting-some-of-the-facts comments. Hill did not mention that Lin was coming off of knee surgery just 7 months prior. That didn't fit his narrative. So, please, even if you don't like Jeremy Lin, don't be a Marc Lamont Hill. Those are the kinds of baseless remarks that enrage people who actually support Lin and who know the game.
You mean Lin and Chandler, not Lin and Howard. I'm sourcing NBA Hall Of Fame caliber guards from the last two years. Isiah Thomas, when talking about Lin and Harden's potential, wasn't talking about New York. You know that, right? As in: Harden didn't play for New York, so that comment couldn't have pertained to the time when Lin was in New York. And it didn't pertain to that. I respect the opinions of all fans, including yours. But if Magic Johnson tells me a guy is the real deal, Isiah Thomas says a guy could be part of the best backcourt in the league, Kobe Bryant tells me how talented a guy is, Nate Silver says that the stats suggest a guy probably has near All Star level of talent or better, I'm probably going to listen to them rather than listening to a fan.
Interesting. Is there also the same stat for March/April? And when did Beverly start to be the primary bench PG in place of TD?
Noone is saying being a 6th man is a bad thing. Many of us are just saying that it is not a good strategy for our team. First and foremost, we need a starting pg to run our high octane offense. To have people leak out, to keep offenses on their toes, to get the ball swingning and distributed to the right spots. As much as I love Harden's old school game (I believe he's top 5-10 in the league at worst!!), Harden is not a pg, even though he has great playmaking skills. Having Harden play pg is the worst thing you could possibly do. It's been done last year and shown not to work. Lin is a prototype up-tempo point guard who loves to run and whose style makes it conducive to run along with him. Harden can get iso happy, as he is an elite sg who should be taking a grip of shots. Second, Harden plays at least 38 minutes a game! If McHale rotates correctly, he can get Lin to be on the floor without Harden even with Lin starting. It worked well, the few times we've done it. And since Harden's going to be out on the floor the majority of the game, it's more important to have Lin and Harden click better when they're on the floor together. And can everyone stop dogging Lin's 3 point shooting. He shot almost 40% for most of the season after coming back from knee surgery!! Jeez, now there's talk of how if Lin doesn't shoot at least 40%, he doesn't belong on the Rockets.. Puleeze!! Third, if you really want Lin to run a big-octane pnr Lin-centric offense (which I doubt you really do), wouldn't you want Lin out there with Dwight? The only way I envision having Lin coming off the bench is if McHale truly does not want Lin out there at all. Not to maximize Lin's pnr ability for 10 minutes without Dwight. No matter. We shall see.
Underrated post. It's obvious that it's important for us to have at least one legitimate attacking guard on the floor at any given time, so people need to stop crying about Lin unless we can find someone comparable in return, and unfortunately Beverley isn't that guy but a great hustle guard he is. People keep forgetting what our offense looked like when Harden & Lin sat out of the game together for prolonged periods of time. It devolved into Parsons bailout threes.
Can't argue logic with haters Phi. I'm a huge supporter of Lin, but wasn't against trading him for something better. There are trolls for sure on here, and some veteran posters that are haters as well. They refuse to be objective about it, and realize that majority of the lin supporters on here actually see Lins flaws, but his potential is for real. Improvements are legit this past season from an injured ACL that was operated on. I truly dont think the haters on this site have seen Lin play POST-Linsanity. He played pretty damn good with melo on the court, and the attention that defenses put on him were no joke. Miami was truly the only team that really shut down Lin, while others actually couldn't. In fact it was harder to stop him when Melo came back, because it was pick your poison. Haters will be haters, no point in arguing. I think this season will dictate whether Morey will trade him or not. Whatever happens the rockets are good to go for a couple years which what im happy about, and Im sure whererever Lin goes if not the rockets he will be successful. You cant hide talent forever. If he regresses, so be it. I highly doubt he will.
