Jeremy Lin says he's OK with being Rockets' 6th Man

Oh, let's add more. Everything is negotiable!


vi) Lin gets equal interview time

vii) Lin gets to shoot all technicals

viii) Lin gets first choice of seat on the bus and the plane

ix) Lin gets first dibs on big booty Asian chicks

 

Lin and Bev play so well off each other I don't think it really matter who has the ball, they'll figure it out. And if you watched the preseason, even without he ball in his hand, you still see Jeremy directing the offense, getting his teammates to set up screens for eachother, making sure they are in correct position. His contribution does not come from ball-handling duties only.

 

Random thought -- do you guys think any of the players browse the board? I almost hope not. I like the idea of them starting the season thinking Red Nation is united behind them.

 

This. Lin is essentially a back up shooting guard. I've already seen Bev hold the ball and look off Lin when Lin was calling for the ball this preseason (this rarely if ever happened last year). This is a demotion, flat and simple. I disagree with it, but I understand it, as Lin is once again getting underestimated. Every single GM in the league passed up on Lin twice. Lin is acknowledged as a better offensive player than Bev and was one of the top defenders in the entire NBA at one point last year, and still he gets benched. The "sixth man" comment is just rhetoric. First it was "I've got two point guards. Next is sixth man. Next is valuable rotation player. Then rotation player. Then, whatever.

Now why would McHale do this, you say? Of course no coach intentionally plays a weaker player, but it is the subconscious that is just too powerful to overcome. Whatever the stats say, it is too tough for this coaching staff to see Lin as a starting critical point guard of a championship team, because there is no precedent for someone like him. It is hard for GMs and coaches to admit that they were all wrong about him. It is human nature to use confirmation bias to make yourself feel better about your decisions.

Lin will have to play out of his mind to stay in the rotation. Let's see if he is up to the challenge. Just like the Pacers preseason game in Taiwan when the Pacers were targeting him, Lin rose to the challenge and dominated. He will have to do it again like he has in his entire career. I think Lin will always have fans even if he is stuck to the bench in part because so many have encountered what he has encountered in life.

 

This is important, these are indeed a rare breed

 

i used to browse thedreamshake before ages ago, and the general opinion seemed to be that there was more...extreme posters here i guess, this was a long time ago. With that said there are some great posters here, you take the good with the bad, and stay in best ass threads/hangout

 

Excellent post as usual from durvasa. I would be very interested in this. McHale went on record as saying that Bev is the only PG allowed to go after offensive rebounds (which explains Lin's sudden drop in rebounding midway through last season; remember that Lin got a triple double in his only D League game and has always been an excellent rebounding PG).

 

Your opinion, not mine. Also not necessary for his success.

Your opinion, not mine. Also not necessary for his success.

Your opinion, not mine. Also not necessary for his success.

Extremely frivolous opinion of yours, not mine. Also not necessary for his success.

 

Harden is very good already off the ball. Remember his backdoor cuts to the basket for dunks from passes from Lin last year, along with his excellent percentage at catch and shoot threes. He just doesn't do it enough, and I'm trying to figure out if that is by McHale's choosing or if McHale is just a wuss and afraid to hold his star guard accountable. I'm leaning toward the latter given the fact that Harden was never once pulled for poor defense last year. Harden ISO followed by Howard post up is just not as efficient as them playing pick&roll twice.

 

I also don't care for the guards to gamble for steals. Would be neat to track how many of these failed-gambles turned into points for the other team, or a foul on us for intentionally stopping the basket.

 

I have a strong suspicion that the team is going to play with two "core" rotations:

1-2-3-5-5
1-1-2-3-5

I've never been particularly fond of standard basketball positions, but if you think about the numbers as the 2 (starter + backup) players on the roster than it makes the most sense. Both of these formations cater to the strengths of the players while minimizing the lack of a "true" power forward on the team.

There are very few PFs in the league who can run the floor fast enough that Howard/Asik can't keep up with them. This leaves the opposing team's interior players to either attempt a post-up shot (which both Howard and Asik defend well) or a long 2 (which we want the other team to use up all of their possessions on anyway). The only way this lineup doesn't work is when the other team goes small with fantastic perimeter shooters (think the Warriors last season when they ran Jack-Curry-Thompson) or during the times you need to rest one of the Twin Towers.

This is where the other line-up comes into play. By going small themselves, the Rockets can lock down the perimeter while leaving either Asik or Howard to hold down the paint for any attempted drives.

When you look at those two core line-ups, the names are largely interchangeable based on the positions. The only player who actually has to play a "single" position is Beverley, and that's largely because he's just too small to guard any other position. Lin can play with plenty of shooting guards and should be treated as the primary backup to Harden. Harden has shown he can defend some forwards and should be on the floor ~35 MPG (instead of the 40 MPG he averaged last season). Parsons can similarly defend most 2's, 3's, and 4's on any other team, and so should also be playing around ~35 MPG (he averaged 36.2 last season, so no big drop-off here). Casspi and Garcia could fill in for Harden against the larger shooting guards in the league and share minutes as Parsons's backups as well.

The reality is that this team had one of the best offenses in the league, both in efficiency and in production, last season. Scoring points has not been an issue, and will never be an issue unless both Harden and Lin are out at the same time. As long as one of those guys is on the court, the offense will produce more than enough points to win games. The key problem was the lack of defense once Asik was off the floor - depending upon your sources, the Rockets were anywhere from the best half-court defense to Top 5 overall defense when Asik was on the floor, and dropped like a rock when he wasn't. If you take a step back and ignore the traditional positional roles in basketball, a swap between the 1-1-2-3-5 and the 1-2-3-5-5 is actually the best way to maximize the players on the roster because it basically guarantees that the defense will never fall below Top 5 in the league.

I can't think of any teams beyond the Miami Heat (entirely due to LeBron James) who would cause match-up issues if they rolled out their traditional 1-2-3-4-5 players or tried to "go small" against the 1-1-2-3-5. Obviously, no team is going to out-muscle the interior when both Howard and Asik are patrolling the paint, so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

So what you're saying is that what I post is my opinion and that your concern is for Lin's success rather than the team's success. Well, I had no idea. Thanks for sharing.

 

You are seriously going to call someone with a 2007 join date a LOF? Complimenting Lin is like openly joining the Communist Party in the 80's. But your post was funny anyway.

 

Yes, what you are posting is your opinion. Same as what I posted is my own opinion.

You are free to arrive at the conclusion that I am more concerned about Lin's success rather than the team's success. I have no interest in countering you.

Thank you for listening.

 

I think we should toss in 1-1-2-5-5 (Lin-Bev-Harden-Howard-Asik). This to me is just as good or better a starting lineup. I see Lin as being as good a player as Parsons (of course many will disagree), and the slightly smaller backcourt will be bolstered by having two bigs upfront. Bev and Lin can also gamble relentlessly on defense in this alignment.

 

Go to see Lin handling this apparent development with class.

 

Was it real bad in the 80's? I thought it was bad in the late-40's and early-50's. How about late seventeenth century?

People haven't improved much, have they?

 

Ever heard of Yao-only-fans who went away after yao retierd and cameback when Lin came?

 

Nope. This is a first one for me. Any example of such a person?

 

Yes, quite free since your enumeration of conditions are in your own words necessary for his success. I welcome you to boycott the franchise when your conditions aren't met, it's the right thing to do.