Channing Frye on Goran Dragic: "Unfortunately for the Rockets, they didn't make the right decision."

I've said it a few times elsewhere. Dragic's performance after Lowry went down with that sickness was Linsanity-like. But he never consistently played like that before that season. And he didn't play like that after he joined the Suns in his first year as a full-time starter.

As Mr. Clutch (not Clutch) pointed out a couple pages earlier, his potential looked about the same as Lin in 2012. They both showed glimpses of brilliance, but you couldn't be sure if it would be sustainable.

Morey doesn't have infallible talent judgment. If he did, he would have signed Lin to a cheap contract instead of cutting him in favor of Jonny Flynn AND signed Dragic with the player option. Lin would have been a good backup to Dragic and nobody would argue who should be the starter.

 

How was his 2012-2013 season?

 

In hindsight, a bad decision since Dragic is the far superior player to Lin in most aspects if not all.

But the player option at the time and like it or not we needed to put some butts on the seat with no all star caliber player even considering Houston, so Lin was a fair punt. I feel this was more of a Les decision than a Morey one.

And then Harden happened.....

 

Slightly better than Jeremy Lin's.

 

Channing Frye is just another Baller who is possibly biased towards his teammate. But, Frye is not an idiot, and I'm sure many players around the league watch how other players on other teams perform. His opinion is valid based on numbers alone, but of course, it brings up so much disdain from our very own AWESOME Rockets fan base. Instead of some of us agreeing or challenging Frye's beliefs with true evidence, we find ourselves reading through these same, tired argumentative questions:

Team/Fan related arguments:

Argument: "Lin needs the right coach to be successful."

Argument: "Lin needs the right system to be successful."

Argument: "Lin cannot do well because McHale doesn't give him enough minutes."

Argument: "Lin is inconsistent because James Harden takes a lot of shots (that go in)."

Argument: Lin turns the ball over during penetration because the team cannot move without the ball.

Argument: "Lin is having one of his best seasons so his contract doesn't really matter."

Argument: "Lin doesn't start because McHale is racist and only likes Beverly."

Argument: "If we had D'Antoni, Lin would be an All-Star."

What makes Jeremy Lin or his production shield him from another NBA player voicing his belief that the Rockets made a mistake by letting Goran go?

Why isn't Frye's opinion okay, and immediately dismissed ?

Frye did not really call out Jeremy, but he did imply that Houston's PG situation, in hindsight, suggests that we really backfired going with JLin and offering him a contract instead.

Really, it seems like the posters that are calling Frye WRONG do not understand that not all players are in this league are equal. Production/Wins are everything. There is only one LeBron, one Kobe, One Melo, etc..

Why does Jeremy get a pass with all of the arguments I posted above? I'm sure I missed hundreds more.

I think it would be easier and therapeutic for everyone to accept DM's error and recognize that JLin is being outplayed by dozens of players at the same position.

When the evidence is right in front of you, there's no need to backpedal with the "what-if" / "if only___ were coaching/playing" comments.

Keep it simple. Goran is having another great year and is playing at a higher level than our PG.

All of the other variables could be placed against another successful guard and it still doesn't matter.

Good players produce REGARDLESS of their coach and the 4 other guys supporting them at a given time.

The excuses and false justifications about Jeremy need to stop. Let's just be honest and support him, but also recognize what we REALLY have in Jeremy Lin as a player.

Love ya'll. Go Rox!

 

How is Goran having another great year? This is the only great year he's had. But other than that, I agree with the second half of this statement.

 

While its fair to assume Dragic is better than Lin after watching the Denver game, Lin was by far the most comfortable in the run and gun and any shot goes style on the team.

Also from watching that game by playing style maybe we should have trade for Randy Foye to be our pg. I know it was just one game,but more impressive for me was the 15 assist and just one turnover. Contract wise he's cheap but would be on the books past 2015 so not a Morey move. That said the player fit would work.

 

Yes it was, but was it worth the extra year better?

 

Yes because we knew who he was as a rocket. He obviously fit into our system which is why we almost made the playoffs with Kevin Martin as our best player.

 

the funny thing is, we almost made the playoffs WITHOUT Kevin Martin, but with Dragic and Lee

 

I agree, the familiarity factor should have helped Dragic's case when it came to a new contract. Honestly though, the guy shot a whopping 33% that year. What if Morey had kept him and he shot his 32% from the 3pt last year? Out of 7 or 8 professional years, he's had one good year. We need to keep things in perspective sometimes.

Having said that, I think Morey seriously undervalues the PG position. Letting both PGs go in the same season. Then trying to trade both PGs this season. sigh, I feel like I'm a broken record with this sometimes. All I want is stability at the PG position. Is that too frigging much to ask for? It isn't like this is JVGs system where the PG just dumps the ball down low. This is a run and gun offense that requires ballhandlers who can make good decisions and know where a guy's favorite shooting or post up spot is. Stuff like that requires time. You cant just keep swapping PGs in and out. That might work in the regular season, but in the postseason where a team sees you 7 games in a row, they'll figure that crap out. We're basically a 2nd round team at best until someone figures this out

 

If you think he has had one good year what can you say about lin? Dragic was better than Lin last year too. He was pretty good in 2012 as well when he was starting.

 

2012-2013

Dragic
FG% .443; 3p% .319; TS% .540; eFG% .491; apg 7.4; spg 1.6; ppg 14.7; TOpg 2.8

Lin
FG% .441; 3p% .339; TS% .538; eFG% .490; apg 6.1; spg 1.6; ppg 13.4; TOpg 2.9

Their numbers look pretty even to me. One might argue that Lin actually played better than Dragic last season after the all star break.

People keep revising last season's performances based on what they do this season. hotballer is right. This season is the only season Dragic had a consistently high level production. He was very inconsistent backing up Nash in Phoenix and quite inconsistent backing up Lowry in Houston until Lowry went down.

 

Hindsight requires more time. Last year it would have been debatable. This year Dragic wins. But who knows what will happen next year?

 

well dragic 4 turnovers... 2 of them in final mins of game, jumping in the air with no where to go.

Oh and a airball clutch 3 with 1min left.

Conley getting buckets on him.

-Like I told you guys before dragic is more solid than Lin but the hype was just too real, I was at all the rockets games my first year being a partial season ticket holder down the stretch when the team collapsed. my 3rd year as a season ticket holder this year I will be back in TC watching the rockets in the playoffs, harden carries the team but understand since Lin came with him playing 30mins we are improving and have been a playoff team. Fry needs to mind his business when talking about the rockets. IM SLEEP THO #gorockets #clutchcity :grin:

 

Enjoy your seat at the Lottery drawing Goran! Good decision!

 

Dragic choked, threw the suns season away.

 

As great as Dragic is, he just can't lead his team to playoff.
#BringBackDragic

 

The suns even being in striking distance because of Dragic is a miracle. Never understand why some people choose to bag on past rockets, especially when its unfair.

 

yup, vegas had suns at 19.5 total wins so what they did this season was pretty incredible