Well, we all know he can play much better. Right now you're right, but I think it's more accurate to say he's regressed rather than to say that he always has been a bad player. I agree that he needs to find a way to improve his game but if his known limit is Linsanity, I think he should try to get back there first rather than to go beyond that, fluke or not...
i guess there's a silver lining to lin's current woes. playing form is cyclical. this slump guarantees he won't have a bad playoffs, finally will show up.
I can see where you're coming from and I'm inclined to agree, it doesn't matter how high you're bball iq, if you're not athletic/skilled enough(al Jefferson) to put pressure on the defense, your passing opportunities will suffer. And lately lin has looked a step slow and I'm hoping that's because he's injured. People think Steve Nash was a non-athlete? Completely the opposite, if you watch game film he was exceptionally quick to go along with his skills. Steve Nash of today is still similarly skilled but not athletic enough any more to be effective.
Except we don't know how long this slump will last. Some players go into a slump and never come out of it. There is no guarantee he will perform well in the playoffs.
That's the thing about the injury theory. Even Clyde was surprised that Lin was one of the quickest/fastest guys a few years back, even compared to John Wall. Lin has shown a great first step and quickness to the hoop. I've noticed more contested shots when he hits the rim lately. From experience I know that back problems will DEFINITELY slow you down.
I'm a fan of Lins, but not so much the past few weeks because he has pretty much sucked. I think it is clearly obvious that he is trying to play thru an injury. There is not one up game, then a down game, he is just sucking. I saw a tweet today that said his back felt the best this morning since allstar break, let's hope so because we are going to need him a lot to go deep in the playoffs.
Hopefully it is just an issue with his back, but I honestly doubt that is all that is wrong. Back injury does not explain most of the dumb crap he has been pulling since his funk.
We need Lin's scoring for the playoffs. He needs to snap the hell out of it. I'm tired of him penetrating to the paint only to dish out while in mid-air. This results into a turnover every time. He needs to get his confidence back!!
Linsanity is one thing. The pretty solid year and a half he's been on the Rockets is another thing. I find it doubtful that scouts suddenly had an epiphany over the All-Star break. Lin's game has regressed but I wouldn't equate that with him being a fluke this whole time. It's on him to break out of this funk.
You might be right but I will say that a bad back shortens your arm extension and doesn't allow for explosion...nothing on you or from you moves with the same velocity (I was a shot-putter in High School). That being said I never dribbled the "put" off my leg
Agreed. The larger sample we've had leads me to believe he's a slightly below to slightly above average player. The extreme swings of Linsanity and what we're seeing now are hopefully just that. Extremes. However even if he returns to the mean the inconsistency of it all worries me. For me it's never really been a question of talent, simply a question of reliability and consistency.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Jeremy Lin said his back is feeling much better today than it has in weeks.</p>— Jenny Dial Creech (@jennydialcreech) <a href="https://twitter.com/jennydialcreech/statuses/441983074142650368">March 7, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I am also guessing that it didn't cause you to drive into a lane filled with people or jump up (hard enough as it is with back pains) without a plan after inexplicably picking up your dribble. This is why I don't think it is JUST the back. Sure the back can explain his shooting slump and how he is slower and much less active. I just don't believe that is the only thing.
Regardless though, we NEED Lin to get it together unless someone else decides to beast off the bench. Maybe JHam?
