http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/nba-z-jeremy-lin-175529097.html More Lin, no haters please.
pretty much the take of most of the rational posters on here. "but if the Rockets have two players taking chances within this ever-shifting, always-entertaining Houston experiment, the outlook could be that much scarier for Western Conference opponents." and this is why i'm a big proponent of the "hardlin" experiment and want to see how that turns out - i still believe they can be a good fit together and the potential for that pair attacking the basket is scarily awesome. but with howard and asik on the floor, spacing is a concern. btw, not sure if mchale is a "wily" play caller but whatever... not the point of the article.
if we play team ball, we will be unstoppable we have too many weapons on this team and with DHo and if Harden starts playing defense, our defense will be great as well cant wait for the season to start!
"Things have to be unpredictable, with this crew. Harden will help in that area, but if the Rockets have two players taking chances within this ever-shifting, always-entertaining Houston experiment, the outlook could be that much scarier for Western Conference opponents. A year and a half ago Lin found his calling in New York as a ball-dominating point guard that thought to score first, and take chances on a pass secondly. If he relegates himself to a more conservative role, or isn’t allowed to dominate that ball, he’ll be a wasted talent on a team he doesn’t fit in with." The author made a logical observation that Harden, Lin and Howard will make the offense to be unpredictable in giving headache to Western Conference opponents. The 122-119 epic win against OKC on Feb 20 already provided a blueprint on how Harden and Lin should play together. The balanced attack of Harden (46pts/6asts/7rebs/2TOs) and Lin (29pts/7asts/6rebs/2stls/3TOs) kept OKC off-balance in the 4th quarter. Asik (9/pts/10rebs) only played 27 min in that game, Howard would have provided another point of attack that OKC had to worry to give more space to Harden and Lin on the perimeters. I remember the ball movement flowed so well between Harden and Lin putting OKC on back their heels, not knowing where the attack will come next. Lin needs to continue to shoot his threes close to 40% like in March and April but he'll get more confidence if the ball routinely comes back to him when defenses are keying on Harden. Harden would keep his legs fresh and his shooting efficiency high plus better defense if he doesn't expend too much energy on the offense by himself. If he intentionally keeps the ball flowing through Harden and Lin, the Rockets would be unstoppable! But will the coaches incorporate Lin's playmaking or will he be forced to be a passive spot-up shooter? I don't see a better option than trying to make Lin shoulder some of the playmaking. If the chemistry doesn't really work, Lin numbers would still improve to be a trade bait. Win-win for the Rockets.
I agree... And in terms of experimenting, I am a big proponent of giving asik 20mpg minimum on average if at all possible, for a couple different reasons... And I think that one of the more obvious situations to play twin towers would be when harden was on the bench... Maybe it's twice a game for 3 minutes at a time... I've Been a huge fan of Asik and hope that if we can, at a minimum, give him 20 mpg (sometimes closer to 25-28 depending on matchup), that, in a winning situation, he may be inclined to stick around, at least through year end and see what we can accomplish... And if we play it this way through the all star break and are sitting in 5th in the west, then sure... Let's start looking seriously at deals in which we can move asik for the best possible piece...until then, the perfect scenario for when harden is on the bench is to shut down the lane with the nastiest posts in the game. Experiment on!
I really like that idea. During those 3 minute stretches, they should be looking to post Howard up and let him go to work. If Asik gets traded, I will miss the guy. He got better offensively as the season went on. I think the next thing he needs to learn is a baby hook for when he is close to the basket but can't lay it up. A mid-range jumper is probably too much to ask at this point. :grin:
The only interesting part of the article was in regards to how Howard supposedly operate best in unpredictability. I never watched a ton of Orlando games in Dwight's prime, but I thought it was a very predictable offense that focused on floor spacing and giving Howard room to operate inside. SVG, afaik was never exactly considered an offensive mastermind. Odd thing to say. Because when fans here made similar opinions during the season, they were labeled Lin haters. Dwyer after all trigger phrases like "Lin had a so-so year", "McHale let Lin run the offense", "Lin after a slow start became respectable enough." All of which are fairly volatile statements when made here.
No haters meaning no need to post if you're just going to be negative and say things just because you don't like him.
i'm sure this question been answered before but i just wanna ask does Lin wear contacts during games?
Lin shot ~49% of his shots in the protected area last season. I would assume therefore that he "had the ball come back to him" regularly last season. And that he was allowed great latitude to attack as he saw fit last season. The only area that every Rocket player is discouraged from taking a shot is the mid to long range 2 point shot. Any claim to the contrary is easily disputed by the evidence. Plus Lin took 897 out of 5542 Rockets shots last season. 16.2% of the total Rockets total shots. A very reasonable number of shots for a non all-star player.
Jeremy Lin is going to be key to winning a championship. Right now even max Harden, Parsons, Harden wont be enough to take out Miami. However, with Lin playing at Linsanity 2.0 and max superstars and a huge 6th player in Beverly, I see the Rockets closing in on the WCF. Lets say Lin fails, the Rockets will still do fine,just no ring.
