Sources: Morey wanted Dragic over Lin, Les forced him to get Lin.

why aren't lof even self-aware that they're lofs? I can't imagine any such persons rising above the level of manual labor or most ordinary technical work. if such a person sleep-walks through life unawares of their own motivation, and cannot catch themselvesf making a mistake, ... geez, such a person could only do the simplest tasks and carry out the orders of others.

 

it's like, I don't much mind a 12yo fanboy (or fangirl). or even an 18yo or 25yo who acts like a 12yo fanboy. but what is it with being completely unaware of one's motive, and also that everyone else on the forum can see you're navel-gazing lofs?

 

it's definitely calculated. undercover PR

 

i agree there's no excusing lin's turnover. a boneheaded stupid move that came at the worst time possible and cost us the game. and it was such a dumb move that it's not defensible.

now that's out of the way though.

how much do you blame harden? aren't you a big proponent that the best player on the team should lead us to victory and no one else should really get the blame? based on previous posts, i'd say that is your stance. would you say harden has done that?

 

There were actually articles published clearly stating that Alexander was on a mission to get back Lin. We even had a thread about it. Les was letting Morey have it for cutting Lin. Linsanity was just pissing Les off to the point he would hang up on Morey.

Les wanted Lin over Dragic. The team was going hard after Lin "no matter what".

But I don't think any article articulated what Morey's preference was. It could have been PR to pump up Les. But acquiring Lin was being sold as a Les driven move.

 

This thread is as weak as hardens commitment on defense.

 

But everyone does make mistakes. Howard is clearly playing the best playoff ball on the team. But he's made quite a few boneheaded plays. Beverly didn't even show up last game. Parsons disappeared in the 4th except when he tried to force a dumb layup over Aldridge that hasn't worked all season. And don't get me started on Harden. His defense was pathetic and then he forces a layup over Aldridge instead of dumping it to Howard. Any one of those guys not named Howard steps up in the 4th and we win.

Yeah Lin should have secured the ball but his poor decision was also everyone else's poor decision and especially McHales. Run on the court and call a timeout if you think that's the thing to do. And why even play Lin if you do not trust. The bottom line is Lin was hustling harder than anyone not named Howard on the floor

And this money argument is the most ridiculous of all. How much money did we pay Barkley, Yao and Tmac when they were injured. They contributed nothing then. Lin didn't ask the Rockets to offer him that money, they threw it at him. And Lin's only making 5 mil. I agree he is over paid but that's on stupid Les if you believe the OP. We could have Dragic right now. Nothing would be different only we would have Dragic over Lin. So why all the blame on Lin.

 

That and Lin's not the franchise players for this team. If anything, he's basically just a role player. I don't care very much if Rockets trade Lin but to place the blame on him for losing just isn't fair. More than anything else, Rockets should look for a better coach next season. McHale isn't cutting it... And trade Lin/Asik/Parsons/TJones for that fabled 3rd star.

 

Once again I have to repeat this. Every position is not equal. A turnover at the 5 minutes mark of the second quarter is not as damaging as a turnover with under a minute left.

The fact he hustled does not change the fact that with under a minute left, with the lead he made a boneheaded decision.

If Lin himself can accept that his decision on that important play is the reason why the game ended up in overtime. This is one of the reasons why I admire Lin. You could see in his post match interview how hurt he was by that mistake. He knows how costly that posession was.

Things would be different with Dragic. Here is why. There is no doubt that one of Lin's biggest flaws is handling the ball under physical pressure. Dragic not so much. Overall Dragic is clearly a better player than Lin, it is the way it is.

Off course everyone messes up and overall it is a team defeat, yet it doesn't change the importance of certain posessions.

Also you are wasting your time talking to tinman, the guy isn't rational and when he is right it is often by chance rather than through critical thinking. The guy still blames T-Mac for the playoff losses with David Wesley and Juwan Howard as starters.

 

Great post. One thing you can't never blame Lin is lack of effort.

 

The number one rule in sports: Never let the team owner dictate player moves. Period.

So the owner wanted to bring Lin to a system that happens to scorn the midrange game... But Lin's midrange game happens to be the core of "Linsanity".....

So after getting Lin, with a contract that is now an albatross, everybody was banging their heads against the wall regarding why Lin "wasn't performing"..... He was first a starter... Then started getting benched.... Then no longer was the starter.... And now seems to be D-League material.

Lin wasn't performing because he was forced to play out of his element. With no flexibility. The few times he has shown flashes with the midrange game (including Games One and Three of this postseason), it is promptly stifled later on. Lin's tenure here was a train wreck waiting to happen.

Lin's once-promising career as an NBA player may have been permanently wrecked by the sheer ignorance of this organization. And now the fans have turned on him. I just hope Lin can recover with his new team.

And finally, I do believe had Dragic stayed with the Rockets, his game wouldn't have blossomed under "Moreyball" either. "Moreyball" is poison to playmaking point guards. A big reason why Kyle Lowry wanted out. And I'm not sure if even Rajon Rondo or Chris Paul would excel under this system.

And if we continue to deny that "Moreyball" is a major part of this team's problem, we're going to continue to have high expectations of talented teams excelling in the regular season but falling hard in the postseason, due to this gimmick offensive system.

 

Kyle Lowry wanting out had absolutely nothing at all to do with "Moreyball" and absolutely everything to do with Dragic being made the starter. Happy Kyle became Cancer Kyle when Dragic was made the starter in his absence.

Further from that, take a look at Lowry's career 3 point percentage and tell me if you notice something.

If you'd ever watched this team, that wouldn't be necessary, but i have my doubts you even watched basketball prior to your fanboi period.

 

No you don't. I understand and agree. Just also understand the most difficult moment is also in thoselast plays of desperation by both sides and calling timeout at that moment is not as simple as you and others make it out to be and McHale had a much more favorable opportunity to call timeout and made no attempt.

He made no attempt because either everything was even too fast for him or he thought Lin made the right decision. I think he thought Lin made the right decision at the time. He said as much when he stated Lin made a basketball play. Mo made a better one. And we all have to live with it.

 

Saying that Moreyball limits the statistical output of certain kinds of point guards is one thing. Saying that it is this team's "problem" is something else. I agree with the former statement, not the latter. The team has overperformed the last two season and could easily be up 3-1 in a 4-5 matchup against a team with an equal regular season record. If we lose this series, it will be a disappointing end to the season. It will not demonstrate that Moreyball is a failed basketball strategy.

 

Funny how things are with all the what ifs. Had Lin not gotten away, Linsanity would have never happened. Just imagine that at one time not too long ago, Rockets had three pretty decent PG on their roster in Lowry, Dragic, and Lin. Now i love Bev for his energy and heart, but he's really a limited player at this point in his career.

 

Agree on all account. I've always thought that Lin gave his all on the court and had ideas of doing what's right, but his game/body isn't always there to execute his intent. He's not so agile compare to other PG, so in pressure moments, he has the propensity to cough things up. I also think he has issues with his current disposition in that there are more "individuals" on this team. Being the PG and the one who initiates the offense, Lin can't seem to mesh with other ball dominant "stars" as he often defers by giving up the ball.

Mo may have made a heads up play, but he was really bailed out by the ref with his save. His foot was clearly on the line and with three refs on the court and all eyes on the ball, I don't believe for one second that none of them were paying attention to where his foot was. Why was this not reviewable in the last minute of a crucial playoff game is beyond me. In the NFL, the line judge would have to pay attention to receivers having possession and two feet in bound almost every play.

 

???

Weak implies some measurable modicum of strength.

Harden's defense is NON-EXISTENT

 

One other thing a lot of us have overlooked or forgotten was the end of regulation in Game 3. Remember how the Rockets got the rebound but then dribbled the ball instead of immediately calling timeout? That forced them to inbound the ball in the backcourt and pretty much eliminated any realistic shot at a gamewinner. I'm not excusing Lin's p-sspoor play in crunchtime, but it's becoming quite clear that none of these guys seem to know what to do in a close game. Even something as fundamental as calling a timeout seems to elude them.

 

Lin has definately cost us in crunch time. Theres no bones about it.

He is what he is, a good penetrator and PnR player when he's got his mind right and being aggressive, but the reason McHale prefers Beverley (Rightly so) is that Lin is just wildly inconsistent. You never know what you're going to get out of him, and the occasional linsanitygasm just doesn't justify his contract when Harden does everything he does except better.

Unlike all these fukwit 'fans', I'll continue to pull for Lin to play better and develop as a basketball player. But it's not going to happen here, the only redeeming thing for me about Lin is that he is a hard-worker, always gives 100% effort, and always seems to perform at a good level when he has control.

I just can't for the life of me understand how McHale after all this time, hasn't been able to try and develop some better chemistry, run some more plays to Lin's strength (does he not look like a good player when we actually run PnR? doesn't our TEAM look so much more effective when we run the PnR?) For whatever reason, we'll run it a couple of times and then revert back to our 3 and no D system.

I want Lin gone, he just isn't cutting it. Too inconsistent, too unreliable, and his skillset just doesn't align with what the team does. But some of the hate, vitriol thats being spewed is just rediculous, and it isn't even against just Lin.

posters want Lin to die in a car crash, call Harden a fraud when he's in his 2nd year of being the alpha dog, crap on him when he doesn't own up to his mistakes, crap on him more when he DOES own him to his mistakes, to some I guess we were meant to win the championship in our first year. The Heat took ages, OKC are still struggling, Pacers on the brink, just go play some bball, have some sex and relax.

It's just beginning

 

Don't care, Morey made a huge mistake by letting go of Aaron Brooks in what could've been a great playoff run. With Beverley hobbling and not producing much, Lin playing like he's scared sometimes, we could've used a guy with poise and veteran leadership.