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

Lmao. then the result is well predictable and now only fun part of watching rox's game is to check his response to the epic fail of his genius plan.
cant wait them get rid of this clown.

 

Nash said it was Bev.'s D to make him he can make a double screen.
He was supposed to shoot the 3, not Blake.

 

Holy crap, for the last time, the play was to switch 1-5, as stated by McHale.

But its ok, just choose to observe and believe whatever fits into your rhetoric.

 

Right, they were supposed to switch everything, It was bev who didn't switch, he should have went with blake.

 

A few my comments. Posted on another thread. It took a lot of time so want to share with many CF fans.

1) I agree we should enjoy the game. Rockets is currently 4-2 and the sky is not falling.

2) I also agree that the situation in Rockets is somewhat mind-bugling, especially the way the coach staff and management handle Lin ever since he joined the Rockets. Like many other fans, I am not an insider so I don't have any insider information to explain what is going on. So many, like I, just speculate and draw our own conclusions.

3) From bits and pieces, I am sure that Lin was bothered by the way he has been treated. But so far he has been very professional. I am glad that he handles it well. His improvement is really promising.

4) I am a long-time Rockets fan. In the past, I came to the CF, just browsing. You may notice that I only recently increased my posts. The reason is that I was a little frustrated by the Rockets organization and the way Rockets started the game for the past 6 games.

5) I have a different opinion on the starting line-up. I actually like TT starting unlike most people on CF and THE media. The two losses we had were mainly due to the hot outside shooting of two LA teams but the paint protection has been good except for the 1st half of Utah game. I also saw a glimpse of brilliance of TT line-up during the last two preseason games and the two 2nd halves of Utah and Portland games. TT totally changed the complications of those two games. If you go back to watch the two 2nd halves of Utah and Portland games and compare with the 1st quarter of all 6 games (Rockets trailing big). You will notice the ingredients for TT to be working to our favor. On defense, the perimeter defense must be tight and don't let other teams' perimeter players to have 3 pointer shot. Let them drive or shoot contested middle-range jumpers instead of spot-up shooting. One of the bigs must move up and defend pnr. This is why I was so critical of JH's defense even before all those threads ridicule his defense. JH does not have to play good defense for the TT lineup to work. But his defense must be acceptable. You can't leave shooters open and shoot uncontested jumpers. I have lost the count how many times he lost his man. That's ridiculous for a PROFESSIONAL basketball player! On offense, one of the bigs must come out and set pnr, which can create much-needed space. Not to mention that we have three of the best pnr players in JH, DH and Lin. If both sit up in the paint, we are doomed. Also the other three must be offense-threat. This is why I argue for Lin as starter. The opponent is not afraid of PB's offense and to a little less degree CP's at all. They simply clog the lane or double-team JH and DH as we saw just from the limited time PB was starter. The coach can try PB and TT starting. But I don't see how it is going to work with that lineup.

6) I don't buy the "fit" argument of Lin not starting at all. If that's the argument, Heat won't have Lebron and Wade in the same team and they wont win btb. In the current NBA league, you must have dynamic perimeter attackers to set up the offense. The age of post-up big man is over. Look at even Spurs. Duncan, arguably the best post-up big in NBA, only posts up situationally. Most successful bigs play off perimeter attackers. This is why I am a big supporter of Lin's starting. Don't tell me Lin doesn't fit with JH. The evidences from last season, especially after ASB, support otherwise. Both JH and Lin played well together in majority of the games. With Lin's clear improvement this season, that argument is garbage. If Lin is going to be used as a 6th man, JH and Lin will have to play significant minutes together. JH and Lin will have to play off each other no matter what! This is where the speculation comes in. Lin is playing so well so why leaving him out the starting lineup. The only reasonable answer is the coach and management do not think highly of Lin and Lin is not in the long-time plan of Rockets. They want to assess if PB is.

7) We also need to accept the fact Lin and Asik is untradeable in short term, even for the next two seasons with their poison deals (LOL, initially poisonous to Chicago and Knicks and now to Rockets). Look around the league, which team will accept them? So don't fool ourselves. The best solution is to make the best out of it. So with the current lineup, is Rockets a Champaign-caliper team. Arguably, yes, only if we play team ball in offense and defense. Thus my argument. Our strength is TT and perimeter attacking. So why not taking advantage of the strength? Or did I say JH must play acceptable defense? Also only ISO situationally!

8) Lastly, stop all the name calling. It does not help either sides' argument. Just simply childish.

A long post. Wish everybody a good weekend! Go! Rockets!

 

Here's something interesting: Lin on the Rockets is like Linsanity in reverse. In New York, they had a coach who preached a quick pace run n gun offense and try as they might, the offense stalled because they had.. a ball dominant scorer in Melo which constantly kept the offense sticky and became mostly Melo isos. The point guard at the time was.. Toney Douglas, known for good defense even since college and excellent 3 pt shooting. The problem was TD was not a pg he could not facilitate the offense so D'Antoni tried Melo as the point forward. Still the losses piled up until Lin showed up and showed everyone what was wrong and showcased to the world team basketball at its purest. No names just running wild under a quick point guard with court vision. Funny how life keeps repeating itself.

 

A great summary!

Like to continue on this with my reply on the other thread:

Never understand why people saying J Harden could be the "true" PG at the starting lineup.

Yes he is a great passer and a willing passer, but a great passer is not equal to a great PG. There are just much more layers beyond great passing to define a PG position.

My impression is that he has never been a great count general.

The whole J Harden as a facilitator theory is totally built up on sand...the tow tower experiment is destined to fail, partially because of the above glassy theory...

I also believe the TT experiment could work, or at least much improved from current situation, only if the PG position is truly defined and coached in a much more disciplined way...

 

No conspiracy theory at all, dont need to be in the locker room or have insider knowledge to know Mchale isn't high on Lin. The rockets last season with Bev coming off bench was really effective after the ASB. Bev closed some games, and I agree Beverly should close some games depending on the situation. I'm all for Beverly starting some games depending on the situation. But besides Harden, Lin is really the only player that can create his own shots. Both of them should be starting together, Beverly just doesnt do it offensively and handing the ball off to Harden puts a rediculous load on him and in turn makes him go ISO. Charles was right, we have no half-court offense. With Lin and Harden on the court, DH would get looks once that chemistry starts building, making both lin and Hardens job easier. The defenses would have trouble picking who to guard: Lin, Harden or DH. This opens up possibilities for Omri, Parsons, Garcia, Beverly....hell even Asik. (Pretty much the rest of the team) Watching Parsons bring it up and try to play point on some plays is really painful. Everyone brings up the defense angle, that it will drop with Lin playing start minutes. Thats hilarious when you have a ridiculous offense of Lin, DH and Harden, and he plays decent enough defense. Everyone says it isn't a demotion for Lin to be the 6th, well why not make Bev the 6th man coming in to play 30 minutes a game.

 

What happened to the alternating starts??

 

Not preseason anymore.

 

They're not playing in Asia anymore. McHale has no incentive to start Lin anymore.

 

Didn't he say he was going to experiment with different lineups until December?

 

I think we all know that Houston's most lethal line up is going to be Howard, Parsons, Casspi/Garcia, Harden, and Lin (at least offensively)....if everyone can play all 48 minutes. But that's not the reality and someone has to give for the 2nd unit so that's where Lin comes in.

 

That alternate start was a troll to Lin fans.

 

For whatever reason, Rockets GM wanted to trade JLin, Asik this summer, but this effort wasn't fruitful.

Then in order to create a workable atmosphere, Morey made it public that he was demoted to be assistant GM, and that DH and JH wanted to play with JLin and Asik, etc.

But, still, JLin (and Asik as well) is not on Rockets' long term plan.

So what are you gonna do? Make a transition, that is, promote PB, and make JLin backup PG. Once his contract is up (or before that), Rockets will not be in need of shopping for a PG because Rockets have a PG in PB already.

JLin said in his post game interview that his agent reminded him that two years ago that he was worrying about his making NBA carrier, blah blah. What is the real message behind this? JLin talked with his agent about his current situation. Lin's decision: no matter what, he will always to be a team player, do whatever he can do for the team, and try to have some fun as well. Let time take over the rest.

 

That is ridiculous, it's obvious that our first team offense sucks right now.

 

Our first team is an experiment with twin towers, neither of whom can stray far from the basket if they want their shot to fall. This problem has nothing to do with Lin either way, and it is an experiment worth trying. If it could be made to work in general (as opposed to against only a few lineups) it solves the problem of Asik or raises his trade value as teams realize we don't have to trade him.

So far that lineup is spotty at best. We start the game with a point deficit to make up, and that problem bleeds into the rest of the game. Harden feels a need to take over and get us points, which makes for less team ball (symptom: lower assists). This, plus Harden not locking in defensively on every play is making things pretty tough for the team overall. Crappy 3pt shooting doesn't help.

 

I dunno. Then why is Asik starting? Also not quite sure Bev can develop into a pg on this team if he's only supposed to play defense and get out of Harden's way on offense.

At this point, they might just want to trade Asik and Lin for peanuts and move on. Morey should swallow his own poison pill.

Personally I don't we think will get far with Harden as the defacto point guard. Bev is young and we should let him actually handle pg duties.

Most friends I talk to think Houston is pretty solid at pg with Bev and Lin.

 

As DD said, Harden is suppose to be like the PG running the offense of 1st unit. That is why there is TT and Bev to take care of faster PGs. Howard def, pick and roll, post, rebound. Asik def, put backs, rebound. Parsons slash, shooter, little def. Bev, def, shooter. Harden runs the offense.