I have seen him make numerous mistakes. Defensively he was completely lost, especially in the Nets game... when he had to guard the much larger Joe Johnson. Also, I have seen him make some poor decision. All of these issues are correctable. However, overall I am impressed with Canaan. He has a great center of gravity, he is straight line quick and can move his feet well. All the bode well for him defensively. Being short is not as big a deal at the point guard position, especially with a good center of gravity. Offensively he has a very quick release, he moves very well without the ball and he can shoot. I would like to see him penetrate to the basket more to see if he will be stuck in the role of Aaron Brooks or can become more.
It is too early to tell if he will be an adequate passer... he was passing well in the D-League, and with a ball dominant shooting guard, he won't need to do much other than not turn it over.
I don't know about defender and passer. Lin does a great job of creating high efficient shots for his teammates even though it does have the cost of a lot of turnovers. Defender...I still am very leery of Canaan's defense.
I have been a long time Lin fan. It's been a long time since I watch his whole game, but last night he played like *****! No obvious improvement on his defense, and his body language does not show that he cares about it much either. Seems like he has lost his drive. Just terrible.
He has backed off driving the last 3-4 games, but before that he was driving and forcing a lot of contact. He had a hard time finishing with the contact, but the contact forced the refs to call a lot of fouls. He needs to improve his ability to finish with contact to be a highly effective player near the rim in the long run as I don't think he can sustain his free throw rate as high as it is right now.
i was at the game last night and noticed that same thing in regards to his body language. but honestly, it didn't look any different from rest of the starters. in the first two quarters, they played like they were playing thing 80th game of the season, had the win locked up and were playing a bottom dwelling team. most of the players were playing at 60%, it seems. just a pretty low energy game in the first half. but if you key in on one guy - yeah you noticed the little things. it's almost like he pulled an all-nighter or something.
To piggy back on this w my 2 cents- I think there are situations where Lin could perform better, but I think there are situations where he could actually perform worse. And sadly, most of the situation where he personally could perform better would not be playoff teams. The NBA is mostly about opportunity and fit. Lin has both in Houston but its just not in the role that most of his fans, and Lin himself would want to be in and I think that hurts his play for stretches at times. I do think that if you subbed Lin in for Brooks with Denver he would be lighting it up there as well because of both fit and opportunity, and as you eluded to, he might even be putting up even bigger numbers. However with the Rockets I think Brooks honestly would be performing at a higher level because of fitting the opportunity. Brooks at this point probably is motivated by different things, and has enough experience to form his game around different roles better while Lin is who Lin is, and I dont know if Lin yet has the experience and mental fortitude to be a chameleon like alot of savvy veterans can be. As they say in sports often..... maybe next year. I agree to this for the most part. Other than a few cases (I. Thomas & Dumars/Walt Frazier & E. Monroe) most of the time with ball dominant scoring guards, you have the other guard's mere function be to support that main scoring guard. So in the Rockets case, I'd almost rather use the terminology "Supporting Guard" rather than off guard, point guard, etc. because of the nature of their tasks. However in that supporting role, they do and should still have lots of PG type of duties such as handling the ball, helping get the team into their offense, quarterbacking, etc. But you really need that supporting guard to know that the primary offensive facilitator NEEDS to be Harden just has Bev does this, and Ron Harper did this for Jordan, and Fisher did this for Kobe, etc. etc. Jason Kidd with the Mavs in his last 2 years is the best example I can think of here in a prototypical "Supporting Guard" who has PG responsibilities playing the off-guard position. With a player like Harden, I think that's what you would point to as offensively the best type of fit next to a player like Harden. Also- Being able to take the tougher assignment defensively on the perimeter doesn't hurt as well. Other than a few minor deficiencies that you would like to see better with Bev (higher shooting % mainly), I think you really can't find a better Supporting Guard for Harden than Patrick Beverley unless you could find me a top 3 defensive PG, and add a 40% from 3 stroke, and maybe Jason Kidd like passing/floor leadership. All things being considered, Beverley is a damn good supporting guard to James Harden & about as good a complement they are going to find especially on that type of contract.
The first half, I thought Lin played as bad as I've ever seen him play. But this leads to a perplexing question: What in the Hell have the coaches been telling Jeremy Lin, in regard to his development as a professional basketball player? I mean, aside from maybe his left hand and shot trajectory (the latter item still a work in progress), I believe every facet of Lin's game has regressed relative to how he played with his former team. His shot selection has gone awry, his court vision has become ordinary, his overall decision making has regressed, he's developed some bad habits defensively, he no longer sets any screens, he looks less and less confident with each game. I realize that Jeremy Lin has been a disappointment with the Rockets... But I find it troubling that it seems like our coaching staff might be giving this once-promising player some questionable advice.
I'm not really sure what you are getting at here. I highly doubt "advice" is the culprit behind Lin's regression this season.
Until I start to see an assist to TO ratio that's even higher than 1! (Canaan's is .76) I'm not ready to start him.
It is kind of weird saying this, but Lin has no place on this team when it comes to meaningful minutes. I would rather play Canaan in a short rotation for his 3 point shooting. As bad as he is defensively, I do think he meshes better with a shortened rotation for the Rockets.
I'm a fan of Jeremy, and have been since he got here, but the coaching staff doesn't tell him to pick up his dribble when surrounded by a herd of defenders, which leaves him spinning like a top on his foot, desperately looking for a Rocket to pass the ball to. I don't know how many times I've seen him do that this season (which is quite frustrating to watch, by the way), but I know he does it more than I've seen a Rocket point guard do it in a long time. The "coaching staff" isn't making mistakes on the court, Jeremy is, when he makes them. Thankfully, I've seen Mr. Lin play very, very well enough to know that he's capable of playing at a much higher level. My hope is that we'll see that version of Jeremy during the playoffs. We're going to need him.
Thankfully Lin (and Bev) have played pretty well against POR - this will be a great series for them to both get some playoff confidence/success. The only thing that worries me is that Lin looks a step slower than in the past so I still wonder about lingering injury.
IMO Canaan's 1 v 1 defense is much better than Lin's. Lin is not hard to get by at all. He gets lost on simple cross overs..On picks...forget about it... Canaan stays in front of his man much better and does a much better job of fighting through picks to get back in front of his man. And I do think Canaan is a better passer. Canaan is still a rookie, but I'm going to say that if Lin is on this team next year (I don't think he will be), there is no way IMO he gets playing time over Canaan. I think Canaan is the better player hands down. Just needs experience and playing time. I think he'll get better and better the more he plays.
small sample size, but cannan looked really good this past few games, better than lin...but if got it right lin is still troubled by that back injury?
Ya... he's been injured this whole year that is why his production is down from previous year. It also accounts for his ****ty play. Spoiler JK!
im all for trading LIN with a pick to free up room to improve our bench. but the thing is we have to relaize yes canann and bev are solid but when harden sits its a whole different story. who will be the playmaker and hold us down, when harden sits or is having a off night ? lin skillset is not needed most of the time I agree. but canann 3 and bev D is not whats needed when harden doesnt play or is having a off night. Lin usaully plays 38+ mins when harden sits and is PROVEN to lead us to plenty of wins.
Canaan is a really interesting prospect. Speed, ball-handling, and a reliable jumpshot (especially from distance) are a combination of tools that will allow you to last in this league for a long time. Canaan seems to have all 3 tools in his repertoire despite being a rookie, not sure how he dropped this far down the draft.
Not a big man prospect - Teams need big guys and teams bad at drafting will historically take big dudes that have a low probability of sticking in the NBA. 8 7-footers drafted before him. Too old - Perceived to have little chance to be a star player. Small - Teams shy away from guys that don't meet prototypical measurements for their position. Small School - Tough to judge how well small school guys will do in the NBA. Basically, over half the NBA is swinging for the fences for that home run pick every draft pick and end up with a lot of Royce Whites (Morey swings for fences occasionally, but he also had two more 1st round picks that draft). Sometimes you got to just go opposite field for a guy like Canaan.
