Patrick Beverley is starting at PG in Manila against the Pacers (UPDATED w/ CF Article)

You are assuming they care about the team?. no all they care about is lin.

 

great move!

 

Gee, and I thought the "big picture" was the Rox trying to have the best season possible. . . .

 

No, it's always been about the Chinese business men in the Philippines. Always.

 

gotta give mchale his dues for having a "i don't give a F**K, i'll do what i think is best for the team" attitude. whether or not you agree, at least he has the balls to stick to his plan and you can't fault a man for that.

and as for "rotating" the starters, lin will start the next game which "happens" to be in taiwan. i'm sure that's not a coincidence. you know, come to think of it, i'd give him a lot more respect if he would just go ahead and start bev for good regardless of where they're playing. if he's only starting lin because they're in the taiwan, that's an insult to lin and people of taiwan, and wouldn't be the right thing to do.

let's face it, lin isn't the pg that he wants. he didn't want him last christmas when he cut him, and he didn't have anything to do with lin coming back to houston. he's trying to make the best out of the situation, but he's never really sold on him, and when you are a coach and have your mind made up about a player, it's very hard to change your opinion of that player.

 

There is big picture for the Rockets, and there is big picture for the NBA.

If the NBA let individual teams benefit more from having a popular overseas player (instead of swallowing all the profits as a league), they would probably grow overseas better than their current method. Interesting question whether that would result in slightly worse play for the higher profits.

 

The Rockets won. Jeremy had a good game. What's there to be mad about??

 

So, I'm kinda tired due to waking up after a 2 hour sleep (beers before that) to watch the game. Still didn't sleep. I'm skimming page 11... all I see is "Chinese Businessmen" and "Big Picture."

 

I kind of doubt all the anger on here is because the Rockets are hurting the NBA global brand.

 

There's actually multiple facets to the big picture in terms of the Rockets and NBA, and none of them are mutually exclusive.

There's the current Rockets team on the floor, there's the Rockets as a financial entity, there's the NBA as a competitive league, and there's the NBA as a financial entity.

Better finances can lead to better teams and competition, just as better teams and competition can lead to better finances.

Just ask the Lakers whether having a huge TV contract benefits them in terms of their ability to build rosters whether the financial picture counts in terms of fielding a better team.

Similarly, the international presence impacts a team in multiple ways, not only in terms of the bottom line but in terms of their ability to recruit better players.

Yes, the ratio of direct financial impact on the Rockets is skewed heavily by the NBA profit sharing arrangements, however it is also impacted indirectly in that greater presence and market share translates into more televised games and international marketing benefits which attracts top flight talent more easily, which in a virtuous cycle results in more local interest and higher revenues for the Rockets at home making it easier to go deeper into the luxury tax to pay those higher profile players.

And then there's the general growth of the NBA as a sport. Higher international presence translates into more people playing the game in more places, creating a deeper pool of talent to draw from further improving the quality of players and the financial benefits of being a player.

It's not an accident that the biggest growth in international players in the NBA came a generation after the first Dream Team played in the Olympics.

Anyway, we could go on about the synergies of business, market presence and competitive sports for ages, let's just leave it at there's always a big picture to go along with the small picture.

 

First, I think the notion that McHale doesn't like Lin is moronic. Lin had his minutes limited last year because he was struggling to mesh with Harden, especially early in the season..not because McHale doesn't like him.

Regardless, McHale didn't cut Lin; Morey did. I'm fairly certain that both McHale and Morey WANTED to keep Lin, but it was a matter of having to make the financial decision due to Flynn's guaranteed contract.

 

hahaha. i'd actually give him more props if he starts bev in taiwan as well. if he's starting lin just because they're in taiwan, that's more of an insult to lin and people of taiwan then anything else. just stick to your conviction and go with it.

 

Response

Yes, if it was another coach, things might have played out differently. However, that's life. It will be interesting to see if Lin wants to stay with Rockets playing 6th man IF Rockets wants to lower his salary from his current pay. I guess it would depend on offers from other teams, but I would not be surprised to see Lin go to another team if he was guaranteed that he would be a starting PG. Oh, wait, that was the case with Rockets before Harden joined.

 

Response

Yeah, he probably thought to himself "I better start Bev in this game and start Lin in Taiwan, because otherwise, I might get killed." I would have more respect for Mac if he started Bev in Taiwan also.

 

Response

I do think Mac "likes" Lin as a person, but I think Mac views Lin's BB game with a "half glass empty" rather than "half glass full" perspective.

 

Coaches use the pre-season to tweak the lineup and see what fits for the regular season. That's what the pre-season is for. For ANY professional sport.

McHale doesn't have a hit out for Jeremy. Stop being so dramatic.

 

i didn't say he didn't like him. just saying that throughout the season, it didn't seem like lin is the type of pg that he wants. i'm sure he thinks really highly of lin as a person.

lin's minutes were also limited for defensive reasons as well.

as for whether or not morey and mchale would've kept lin? we'll never know. but there were reports that les was the one that pushed for morey to sign lin and upped the offer at the last minute. and there were also reports that it wasn't a basketball decision, which led me to believe that it wasn't morey or mchale's idea to bring him back. now have they changed their opinion on the guy after 1 year? who knows.

 

Response

No, the poster is correct that it's very rare that any coach would switch around a starter even during pre-season. However, it goes to show you that Mac was never fully sold on Lin as a starter even from last year. Having said this, so be it. Always good and bad in any situation.

 

If you are referring to my statement I said McHale does not like Lin. I did not say that he hates Lin. I then amended this later by saying that he does not like the way Lin plays, and there is no love lost between them. I think that is obvious. If is was not my statement, please disregard this post. I just wanted to clarify things.

 

The seasons haven't even started yet and LOF's are already going full r****d over literally nothing.