Something to remember about Kevin McHale for folks who don't understand the "benching" thing...

Great post Carl. So far LOFs have proven immune to logic but I admire you not giving up on them.

 

It's always just taken for granted that the way to maximize a team's productivity is to have the best players at each position starting. I wonder if analytics shows this to be true.

What if the starters all come out and you have no playmakers in your 2nd unit?

 

I don't see cutting Lin's minutes as anything other than trying to get rid of him. He's playing another PG with him anyway. What does that spell?

 

Emotions aren't flying all around, they are flying from one predictable direction. Everyone else is perfectly OK with it.

 

My lord man. There's only one man that has ever lived with a wider more efficient arsenal of post moves than McHale.

 

Why are there no videos of McHale passing?

 

It's not so much a "Lin" thing as it is a McHale and a PR thing. Myself, I could care less who starts, and probably having Lin as the sixth man is not too a bad idea...however ,"experimenting" with the point guard position on your Asian goodwill tour is about the dumbest and most insensitive thing that a coach could do.

People may not realize that the NBA is the least popular of the four major sports at this moment in time and that there is a reason why NBA stars get paid millions and that we have these nice arenas and blog sites: it's because of the fans. If no one shows up to the games...the NBA wouldn't last too long. Ever notice that the NBA seeks to reach out to the community with initiatives like "NBA Cares" and other community outreaches? Basketball is a business, and in a business you respect your customers. Asia right now is a huge potential market for the NBA and Jeremy Lin is the selling point. Considering how it was a mere exhibition game, didn't matter who won, McHale should have waited till afterward "to experiment'.

 

Unbelievable. people like you should be ignored.

 

I've often thought of his sixth man of the year awards when reading posts about Lin and rotation controversies.

Thanks for the blast from the past with the video link. Gosh, he was good, wasn't he? I remember hearing or reading Bird say in an interview that the thing that disappointed him about McHale was that Kevin never had the drive to become MVP (implying that he had the talent).

 

Nice post from one of the nicest posters!

 

Dude it's preseason. Only way it would be disrespectful if McHale doesn't play Lin at all during the Taiwan game after parading the dude around in the press.

 

I would argue that McHale was the most technically skilled post player that ever played the game. Dream was better of course, but that was largely due to the fact that Dream was a balerina on the court with ridiculous strength and hops. McHale moves didn't even require him to jump for than 6 inches of the ground. I wish we had McHale to teach Yao when Yao was healthy.

 

That was McHale's only real weakness. He was never a good passer and rarely got assists. In every other major category he was solid to excellent.

 

McHale's incredibly long arms did give him a huge advantage over other PFs, especially playing next to Parish, who was just good enough to command defensive attention from the opposing center. So in effect he was a 7'0"-7'2" player often being guarded in the post by guys 6'7" to 6'9".

 

Nice thread, Carl.

 

Lin would be a combo/3rd guard coming off the bench. He can play both the 1 or 2, in fact he's large enough to defend most 2s. Just because another PG is on the court w/ Lin does not mean that he isn't facilitating/setting up players. (Remember last season, Lin brought up the ball but harden mostly handled it). Also, Lin's the only guard I trust enough to backup Harden and give him rest. Lastly, I love the Lin/Beverley backcourt in the 2nd unit. Those two have great chemistry.

 

Did you just compare the greatest post player in the power forward position to a pedophile?

 

That's a very good point. But I would assume that's because he lacked the experience to unseat the starting PF which happen to be Larry Bird. Now Its is hard to unseat Larry in general. They traded Cedric Maxwell - A Small forward- for Walton then slide Larry Bird into the SF spot to open up the starting PF spot for Mchale. So the truth is not that he wasn't talented but he was behind a great player that is proven. Now back to Bev and Lin. Jeremy Lin has been in the league longer than Bev has and skills wise with the exception of defense I would give it to Jeremy. Bev can shoot the 3 but Jeremy Lin was shooting close to .400 at the arc toward the end of the year. Jeremy Lin possess the creating ability that Bev doesn't. Its an entirely different situation given there were proven champions caliber players in front of McHale how can he not take a back seat.

 

"SOME OF" lof, not all i think