[ClutchFans] Rockets to begin season with Beverley, Asik as starters; Jeremy Lin off bench

Lin Has been consistent so far starting from preseason......

 

How could you possibly have anything else to say about his defense? He held his individual opponent to zero points, yet you are still not satisfied?

He is a ball watcher, that's why he held kemba walker to zero points, calderon to zero points? Yet when it comes to Beverley, he automatically gets the DPOY while letting kemba score at will?

Maybe Lin is sick and tired of people hearing his defense is horrible, and he is trying to prove his doubters wrong again (like what he's been doing all his life?).

 

Turnovers are still a huge concern, I still find myself cringing every time Lin dribbles into traffic. Assuming Lin can be a 15 and 5 guy this year, those turnovers need to get down to at least under 2.5 per game.

 

If you actually think about the entire concept behind the +/- stat, you'd know why there's a difference between using +/- of half a season as opposed to one game.

Just like I can use Parsons' PPG stat from last season and there would be logic to using that, but it would be utterly illogical to use Parsons points from just last game.

 

I also think his defense is underrated like crazy BUT his points were right on. Lin does have issues with drifting and ball watching. Were I his coach, I'd chew him daily and hope to get him to be better at that. His pnr defense needs work as well. He runs into picks like it's the thing to do sometimes. I'd work him on that every day were I his coach. Having said that, his defense has the potential to be great. His hand positioning is awesome. He is super quick even when beaten by his man he recovers like a cat. He does not gamble contrary to people's mythconception of how he gets his steals and contrary to how Parsons and Harden get steals. Don't dismiss any criticism of Lin as hateful as not everyone here thinks bad of Lin.

 

He's still young, we should give him opportunities to learn from his mistake. And you're only talking about the scoring part, he gets his teammates involved consistently.

But then the first unit's offense would suffer. Lin has good chemistry with Parsons and Asik and we should heed Dream's advice, use the Deadly Combo! (Lin and Dwight)

Having a good scorer off the bench would be nice but I think his facilitating is more important for the first unit.

 

I think Jeremy is getting bored playing the good boy..
deep in his heart, he is probably more a shooting guard rather than a point guard.. when he and Bev played together, Bev played the point...
when he was together with Harden, they did well when both are playing combo guards..

 

In the Jazz game Lin was sagging repeatedly. I kept yellin at the screen to man up. But then it dawned on me, the jazz are not a particularly good passing team and possibly they game planned this strategy. It seemed he got burned a few times by Burks but then he made some nice disruptive play as well - on Hayward thrown ball into the backcourt and the ball where they had to waste a time out.

 

He was a shooting guard in college and probably highschool too.

 

Nah, he's a PG. A scoring PG.

 

I dont think JLin mins will decrease when Bev comes back.The way he is playing right now it be crazy if coach Mchale dont let him on the court with dwight, parson, garcia and harden.JLin is more aggressive now and doing whatever he can to win.. Last season he was coming off from a knee injury.As JLin continue to play more games his going to get more and more comfortable just like last season ..I see JLin assist going up as we progress through more upcoming games..

 

I really have no problems with Beverley starting, I like Patrick Beverley as he adds much needed depth to this position. Nothing against AB, but we saw how erratic he could be last night. Having 2 good PGs in Lin and Beverley is a luxury that most teams do not have, this could be the element that separates us from the rest.

The only thing that irks me is how Kevin McHale handled this situation. He would never publicly say that the decision was made for the best fit, instead saying things like we have 2 starting point guards and will continue to alternate starts. When the alternating abruptly stopped, one would reasonably conclude that Beverley won out the role due to competition.

I don't know if you guys heard the Jazz broadcasters when they talked about Lin, saying that Lin was outplayed by Beverley in preseason and therefore is coming off the bench. Most of the media outlets have been playing this angle as well. Only after the Bobcats game did McHale "slip up" and mentioned best fit, but the damage has been done. In this regard, I don't think it's fair on Lin as most of us know that he didn't lose his spot in preseason. He's still a young kid and improving, I don't understand why they would continually rattle his confidence even if unintentionally.

Imo, his starting role for Beverley was decided by McHale and Sampson after the playoffs last year, I think they should have went with this instead of creating a smokeshow that's causing more confusion and controversy.

 

While all this is true, the MOF lovers will never admit to it.

 

I love what I'm seeing from Lin this year.

He's playing like he was when he was on the Mavs summer league team going up against John Wall. We need that Jeremy and McHale is a genius for making him fight for his minutes.

 

I agree with everything that you said except that McHale is a genius. He has made Jeremy fight for his minutes since Toney Douglas was here.

The only thing McHale has done with this point guard controversy is keep the team from developing more chemistry with Dwight earlier. We had enough to deal with already with Asik being hurt in training camp, so if Jeremy had started all preseason games and practices with the starting unit, it would have been much easier to gel Asik in once he came back from injury.

I think the team will continue to get better offensively over the next few games while Bev is out hurt and Lin gets to play and gel more with the starting unit. I hate that Bev is hurt because I believe that he is an important piece for us to win a championship this year, but it may be a blessing in disguise for McHale's coaching career so that he doesn't mess up this team's potential.

Lin attacks way better than Bev so it helps our first unit, and when Bev plays against second string PGs, he will EAT THEIR LUNCH and continue to shine as a defensive superstar. No knock on Bev, I love him...but NO WAY he eats CP3, Parker, Rose, etc. PGs lunch like he did against Jtrue or lesser PGs.

 

We have to agree to disagree.

I LOVE Beverley in the starting unit, because our defense is suffocating. I want Beverley to defend Westbrook, Conley, CP3....I want other PGs to get annoyed knowing that Beverley is defending them (I'm sure they already do). Bev is like a hounddog the way he pressures opposing PGs, and he'll sink his teeth in you if you're caught napping. I feel like a suffocating defense is more important than adding more offense to an already offensively potent starting lineup.

Plus the stats show that Lin and Harden play better when the other one is off the court. Now you add a 7ft center who also needs the ball and the effect will be even more pronounced.

With Lin off the bench we'll have great offense for 48 minutes, plus he'll get to play with Howard and Harden in the 2nd if we're really struggling.

But the biggest reason Bev is starting (imo) is because of his grit and tenacity. I know I would hate to match up against Bev as an opposing PG.

 

Lin is a poor mans tony Parker (as of now) ??????

-Lin is slightly quicker off the dribble, and looks to push pace more

-Midrange game is alike but not as consistent but Parker but Duncan has been setting those screens for years

-more turnovers due to lack of experience, if you notice they both do the exact dribble around the goal or baseline looking to see if they have something and will dribble right back out if they don't, Lin however will stop at times which can causes some turnover

-Lin three is more consistent however

-Parker is better coached and has more of a green light, gets to have the ball more he's never had to adjust to ball dominate SG

-better defense & plays passing lanes better

with all this being said Parker is of course the better player no way am I saying they are on the same level, but if Lin improves works on his weaknesses and gets coaches trust, he could have a game that is very similar to one of the games best known playoffs and finals PG

Parker once said before.....

Lin reminds me of my first few years in the league - Parker

It's all coming together why he made that quote, what y'all think ???

 

Honestly, Beverley and Lin are essentially equals in terms of their impacts on the game. If you put Lin and Bev on 32 NBA teams, half of them would start Lin and the other half would start Bev.

You can't say one is definitely better than the other. What McHale is doing is he's using their greatest strengths when they're most needed. Bev's best strength is his defense and tenacity which is why he should defend starting PGs, and Lin's best strength is his scoring and playmaking which is much needed in the 2nd unit.

 

I'm pretty sure Harden shoots a higher percentage when Lin is on the floor.

 

That was the only area where Harden was better at. Everything else Harden was worse.