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

So your conclusion: if Lin wants to be starter again in NBA, he'll need to find himself another team.

 

This is what I don't understand. The pg usually gets off the floor at the 4-6 minutes mark and Harden always stay on the court. Harden still leads the second team even when Lin is subbed in anyway so I don't understand the point of Lin coming in later. Lin can easily start, leave at 4-6 minutes mark, comes back in for Harden and get their minutes staggered. So simple but McHale prefers to create unnecessary controversy.

What I see right now is Lin playing the 3rd quarter continuing into almost the entire 4th quarter leaving him exhausted. Real dumb.

 

Agreed, also Lin and Harden had numerous games where they played really well together, so it IS possible for them to play. For the most part, even if Lin is coming off the bench, Lin and Harden will still share minutes no matter what if they both play 30 for Lin and 38ish for Harden.

Bev is a better 1on1 defender, but when it comes to defending Elite Guards, not sure how much better he will be. Unless you mean Bev will injure the Elite guard to take them out of the game like Westbrook, lol then yea.

Curious to see how the season will pan out and how the players will improve and respond.

 

What I saw is Lin got took out of starter position and still playing with starters.

 

I have yet to see Bev's "elite defence" this season. Or is he saving it for the "elite PGs"?

Oh yeah, I forgot he was hurt and "may still be hurting". If that's the case, why doesn't he come off the bench until he's fully healthy?

And to attribute Jeremy's good performance to the fact that he's coming off the bench is a dismissal of his hard work. He played well the games he started too.

I think Torocan wrote a nice sum up why Jeremy starting is important.

 

I don't think its an issue of the Harden Lin combination. Yes, Lin is more tentative with Harden out there, but so are numerous other talented scorers who are paired with a superstar. Lin just needs to put up a reasonable number of shots so that he is considered a threat by the defense. He is getting that number of shots now, and considering he is still playing with harden most of the time (Harden is at close to 40 min for the season), I don't think those shots would decline significantly (or at all) if he was a starter.

The issue is that Beverley's first span of minutes need to approximately match the other team's starting point guard. Bringing Bev off the bench completely wastes his defensive talents if he's playing against a backup point guard.

 

Spoiler

Seriously though Lin is averaging more minutes than Beverley even after coming off the bench. Also Lin is the one finishing games rather than Beverley, are you guys not satisfied or do you want it to go back to like last season when it was Beverley finishing games? Yes Lin wants to start but for what? So he and Harden's game can clash and not be as effective as he is being now? Lin is having a fantastic season and you guys are just complaining about him not starting and wanting Lin to be traded.

Yes Lin has shown flashes he can be "the man" but Harden and Dwight are here so the only way Lin can fit that role is by coming off the bench. Lin thrives in this role and his stats this season show it. Just be glad he's finally doing great this season and stop complaining about starting because he's not going to with Beverley here. Enjoy the ride and take off your Lin goggles I love Lin and hes the reason I became a Basketball fan (when I witnessed Linsanity) and a Rockets fan BEFORE Harden came but some of you guys take it too far.

 

Come the end of next year, if Lin is still benched. He will want to be trade and will be traded.

I just don't think Mchale will coach the same way as Pop does.

 

I mean season.

 

Yup that's what I see too. He still plays with Harden. Lin should rest near end of 3rd and start at 10 min mark in the 4th or something. Give him some time to rest. He turns on Clutch-time in the 4th.

 

I don't think Lin deferring to Harden is his own choice. Rather, he was told by the coaching staff to pass the ball to Harden at half court a la PBev.

It's fine if you want perennial 2nd round exits, but to get to the finals, you need all your best players to be firing on all cylinders which takes time to gel. This is why even though Wade and LBJ play similarly, the Heat does not have Wade come off the bench to be the 6th man. They know how important it is to have multiple attack options so the defenders cannot focus in on a single player.

 

Yeah, Bruce Bowen said it was the first team that chose to embrace what he could do rather than chastize him for what he couldn't.

 

Idk where people are getting that Bev is needed against elite PGs. Or that he is an elite defender. He's a good defender, don't get me wrong, but he's never won a game against an elite pg, at least not to my memory.

And to everyone saying Lin is playing great off the bench, I think he's just playing great in general. Hasn't he started like half the games?

And it appears most of his minutes are with harden on the court.

I just don't think there's enough games yet to say jeremy plays better with either unit. He's playing great though so he fits both roles it seems.

Bev is starting to play better as well and looked great last game.

 

It's close man, really close. I'm 6'3" Taiwanese - Lin is living my dream. And I'm a huge rockets fan, so I love them both.

I'd rather Lin be a superstar starter. But I'm smart enough of a basketball fan to know that he'll never recapture Linsanity as a starter next to Harden, and I'm smart enough to know that Harden is option 1. It serves Lin's and the Rockets interest for him to come off the bench and find Linsanity again. I don't think that's debatable, not by people who know the game.

This title of starter thing - that feels like a eastern thing about "face" and prestige independent of basketball, and ignorant of what it means to be significant in basketball. People wishing for Lin to be a superstar on this team as a starter just don't get it.

 

Do you really think Lin would be as aggressive offensively if he started with Harden? I think that is wishful thinking at best, and somewhat delusional. That's not how the NBA works. You'd be seeing Lin pass the ball to harden, and watching him, just like last year.

 

Other posters need to pay attention to this post, because it raises a good point about the optimum performance of the team, which has to be managements focus for the season.

Harden should spend less energy on offense, and more on defense.

Howard has to take up the slack on the starting unit, and Lin when he comes in. It's not just about Lin and Harden (although folks want it to be). Howard needs to improve as a player too in order for us to be a factor.

 

Nobody said it was. It's a question of best fit of skill set, and Beverly is the better defensive athlete and it's not debatable. That's not to say Lin hasn't improved, because he obviously has.

I have not seen a single cogent post -- within the confines of reality -- explaining why Lin starting is a better optimization of his performance and the team's performance.

Lin and Harden can play together, and do when he comes off the bench. The question is Lin's mentality and role.

Making the playoffs is not the goal. It is about maximizing performance to win a championship.

People around here want Lin to be his former great self, but do it as a starter next to Harden. It's just not within the confines of reality.

 

My conclusion is that Lin should not start on this team, for his interests and the teams's interest. Lin is playing great in this role.

If he (or YOU) want him to be a starter on this team, he'll be left standing around watching harden. If he/YOU want him to be a meaningful player that shines, it won't be as a starter on this team.

If he (or YOU) want him to start and rediscovery Linsanity, then yep, you're rooting for him to go to another team. That's not happenign as a starter on the Rockets

 

Not debatable? You are really smart. I can tell, you mentioned it several times. Eastern thing about starting? Most of the nba players caring about starting look American to me. Asik doesn't look Asian to me at all. What does starting have anything to do with being a superstar? You are Taiwanese and Lin is Taiwanese, you must really know what he is thinking. It's telepathic cause you both Taiwanese. You are full of **** sir.

 

This is going to sound like an insult, but it's not intended this way -- but have you ever played competitive organized basketball? There are roles, not just playing time.

Folks around here keep expecting that Lin will be as aggressive if he starts, when the truth is, he will hit the floor and just watch Harden.

When he comes off the bench, Harden has been shooting/attacking for the first 6-8 minutes. When Lin comes in, he hits the floor in attack mode, and Harden has already burned some of his energy. So Lin is much more aggressive. I can't believe how this is difficult to see or understand. Then you run Lin and beverly, and Lin continues to attack.