King1, man. What can I say... you are in EVERY Lin threads, time and time again. Honestly I don't even see you post in any other threads. (I have you on my ignore list; every time I click into a Lin thread, I see tons "red strips" showing up.) "You and I both know you're obsessed with Lin."
Raymond Felton is the Knicks starting PG. Of course he would start over Felton. Isaiah Canaan would start over Felton.
Eh, I don't know if that is THAT laughable. Dragic is having a great year, but Dragic isn't THAT amazing of a PG lol. And the 10 teams thing, I sort of want to give it a try, see if I come close: 1. ATL (I'd start Lin over Teague, esp. given their team roster) 2. NYK (EASY start Lin haha) 3. Celtics prior to Rondo coming back 4. Bobcats for sure 5. Bulls for sure 6. DAL maybe...I could see Lin stealing the spot from Calderon, but this is more up in the air 7. DET...yeah come on, Jennings is sucking it up and DET is doing terribad... 8. LAL for SURE could use Lin as a starting PG 9. MIL Bucks...yeah... 10. BKN Nets (If DWill is out, and for this season, that happens a lot so who knows how much play Lin would get) 11. NOP as Jrue still out...they're starting who, Brian Roberts? LOL 12. ORL could use Lin as a starting PG over aging Nelson 13. 76ers, as nice of a start as MCW had, he's been doing terrible and might still be considered an okay 'rookie' player, but not on the same level as Lin as of now 14. SAC Kings could start Lin. They seem to change PGs every few months so who knows. 15. Utah Jazz could def use Lin in their starting core of sadness. So while some are up in the air, I've just given you 15 possible teams that could start Lin as their starting PG. Knock out 5 of them and you still got the 10!
Yea and I said that with a purpose. He can do both of those two things. He's not a scrub. There are times he plays out of his mind. His only problem is his inconsistencies. But it's not like he's 30 years old and ready to retire, he can still improve. Only the haters say he can't improve.
You can't include injuries... You are wrong about ATL, BOS (Rondo), CHA (Walker has higher upside), CHI (Rose), DAL, MIL (Knight), SAC (Thomas is better now and has higher upside), UTA (Burke has higher upside). That makes 7 teams he could start for.
I never called him amazing. I just said he was way better then Lin. 1. Teague is a better player 2. Agree. Lin is much better then Felton 3. I'd start both Avery Bradley and obviously Rondo over Lin 4. Meh. I don't like Kemba Walker at all but it's at best a wash there. 5. Now but Derrick Rose is their PG so you can't really count that. One could also argue that DJ Augustine has played better then Lin over the 2nd half of the season. 6. I'd prefer Calderon but I will call that a wash as well. 7. Agree completely 8. Very similar players. I don't prefer one to the other honestly 9. Obviously you haven't been watching the games much. No team in the league would take Lin over Brandon Knight. 10. DWill is still their PG though and he's better then Lin even in a reduced state. 11. Again, an injury is the only reason he'd play. Jrue would start over him when healthy 12. I'd call that wash too. I'd take Lin over Nelson personally 13. Hahahaha. Not a team in the league that would start Lin over MCW 14. Doubtful but it's possible. I prefer Thomas. 15. No team in the league would start Lin over Trey Burke
He can improve but he won't get better then Dragic. You are seeing pretty close to a finished product whether you choose to acknowledge it or not
Never said you claimed Dragic was amazing, but it was implied from your hysterical laughter at the notion that Lin could one day be better than Dragic. That's the sort of laughter reserved for when ppl say Lin will one day be greater than Nash or CP3 or heck, even Westbrook. As for the list, even if I conceded to you all your points (which I don't but for this one mental exercise), that's still 9 teams that could start Lin in the nba as of now. We aren't talking a year from now or, to be fair, months earlier (so Rondo starting over Lin now holds, but obviously Lin would start over injured Jrue). But for the few points I would not concede: Teague and Lin kinda a wash for me. I do like Teague better as a player, but not by so much where I can't fathom ATL choosing to start Lin instead. As for the Brandon Knight comment...uhh what? While I will admit I don't watch many Bucks games, statistically the two are like identical players...esp. adjusted for minutes per game. Not sure why you think "no team in the league" would take Lin over Knight. Your comments on 50/50 situations are way too strong and only end up discrediting you (like the aforementioned laugh at Lin being better than Dragic one day). I would have deferred to you on the Bucks point though had you not used the same argument for MCW. Seriously?! No team would choose Lin over MCW? MCW has been doing TERRIBLE. Partly to blame is the 76ers tanking culture, but some 76ers games I HAVE been watching and if my goal were to win, I would put in Lin over MCW for sure. MCW has so many dumb bball moves, and if you think Lin's TOs or shooting prowess are issues, wait till you see MCW! Trey Burke vs. Lin; come on, Lin every time. Maaaaybe Burke because of the potential and development angle, but dude, come on. You'll have to explain to me in what way Burke > Lin right now.
You can't have it both ways...you can't say don't include injuries and yet include potential growth players with more upside. That's like stacking the deck. If teams choose to play the more potential players, it is because they want to develop them right now. But if we're looking at it right now, then the injured players are also not here. We aren't talking about some hypothetical world since you never know what would happen...what if Rose never comes back the same? What if Burke continues to suck it up hard? etc. So if you choose to keep the players with more potential (I can see coaches choosing them over Lin, even though Lin is young too), then injured players are still injured. And then I disagree about DAL and CHA for sure. Iffy on ATL and UTA and SAC myself.
And there have been times he looks like he doesn't belong in the league. However it's obvious to me that Lin is no scrub. And certainly he can improve. But we've seen some crazy bad stretches of play and consistent mistakes that bring into question his long term future. I think he has a similar skill set to Dragic, but Dragic looks more athletic with better ball handling. Goran also is more polished, but he's had more floor time as you mentioned. Sure, Lin could develop just like Dragic did, but I wouldn't call it guaranteed. Terrence Jones has also been up and down this year. He could develop into a Lamarcus Aldridge type. But again, I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
Honestly, I think both Lin and Dragic are basically finished products. Sure, both of them will improve a little, but nothing drastic enough to close any sort of meaningful gap. That's why I laughed like that at the notion. I don't see the upside in lin that others do. You're given me an honest conversation so I'm going to be respectful as well. Lin was a 4 year college player. It's not like he he was a one and done guy who wasn't ready nor a foreign guy trying to adjust to the NBA. I'm also not saying that he is being used to his strengths here but unless he's starting for a lottery team, he's not a starting pg on a winning team. He's far too inconsistent and turnover prone. He's a solid team defender but terrible on ball. In short, the pluses certainly don't outweigh the minuses. Counting teams who have lost their pgs too injury is a really weak way of looking at things. You need to take each teams legit starting pg and go with that. All I said was Teague was better. I would have actually easily accepted an argument to the contrary. Brandon Knight is a much different story. First, he came into the league after one year at Kentucky and was stuck in a horrible situation in Detroit. No development whatsoever (I'm from Detroit and the Pistons are my favorite team besides the Rockets) and now he was tossed into a another terrible situation where he's done nothing but improve all year for a team that is tanking. He's a great defender and has shown he can clearly lead a team. No chance any team takes Lin over him. That's not even a not on Lin but rather e testament to his growth. I've watched MCW plenty and am well aware of his faults. However, you partially made my argument for me. The Sixers have lost 21 games in a row and if the front office has any say they won't win another game all year. MCW was filling up the stat sheet early in the season when they were surprising people and is still a triple double threat every night. He's a rookie pg who is immersed in the worst of possible situations. I'm not holding him completely responsible for how he's played lately. Not to mention he has probably hit the rookie wall. Again, why would anyone take Lin over MCW considering his upside? It doesn't make any sense. No matter how you slice it lin had his job taken by Patrick Beverley (who wouldn't start for any of these teams either). That's a pretty big indictment in and of itself. Again, the potential makes it clear. Burke missed a significant chunk of time to stat the season and is surrounded by sub par team. His rookie season is kind of a wash at this point. He's a better shooter, ball handler and passer then Lin. I would call them even defensively. Why would bad teams start Lin over young guys with a lot of upside? They aren't trying to win games so it makes absolutely no sense. Like I said, I'd give more credence to the Hawks starting him over Teague as a ticket draw then him seeing the court over MCW, Knight or Burke. Like I said though, I do appreciate the well thought out response and enjoy the commentary
Lin went to Harvard. We all know how great Harvard is at developing NBA players... oh wait... That's right. Most Nba players are developed heavily all the way from their freshman year in high school to the point that they get into the NBA. Lin? Everyone just told him to forget about basketball and stick to the books. No good coaches or trainers or players gave him the time of day. He probably has the least top quality coaching in the entire league. Plus... he was graduating from Harvard with a degree in economics. Lets face it. Most players take cupcake courses n focus entirely on sports. Lin couldn't do that. These are the reasons I thought Lin would have drastic improvements in his game. But honestly, I've been disappointed. He really hasn't gotten that much better. If you look at his stats, they have remained the same. I still think there is a chance that he could have a quantum leap though, like DRAGIC did. I'm staying optimistic. But I think the rockets are gonna trade him anyway, so it doesn't really matter anymore. And since the rockets have made it clear Lin is getting the boot at the end of the season I don't know why anyone really thinks about him anymore. He is a good backup pg being paid 5 mil a year. Last time I checked, no one ever said the reason a championship team won or lost anything was because of a backup pg
