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Really hope this kid sticks. I can just picture a Lin/Lowry backcourt combo wreaking havoc on opposing offenses.
Agree completely. Lowry and Lin can play together in the same backcourt, and they would lock down both the 1 and 2 on the other team. Plus, they can both run the offense, distribute, and score so you could break on every single rebound, as there is no way to stop the outlet pass when you have two PG as targets for Dalembert or whoever grabs the board. Or, Lin could come in for Lowry, and the opposing 1 (and his backup) would be locked down the entire game.
Short answer, yes, it is possible, but (sorry for the long post) it all depends on how he develops and what opportunities he gets, plus he would need to have good health like Payton did throughout his career. Remember that Payton was not a worldbeater when he came into the league despite being highly touted but improved his game (in particular offense) steadily and ended up a great player. He always had great steals numbers but early in his career, he did not have great assist numbers or scoring numbers. Payton did always have good shot selection and did not turn the ball over. In analyzing their games, Payton actually gambled more on defense (thus getting burned by guys like Tim Hardaway) and had more PG opportunities earlier in his career (game experience running a team), was a bit quicker, and handled the ball better at this stage of their careers. On the other hand, Lin is a bit stronger, plays better position defense, rebounds and blocks shots better, arguably sees the floor as well or better, might have a better first step/crossover, and is a slightly better shooter at this stage of their careers. I actually imagine the Jordan-Payton matchup in the Seattle-Chicago final to be similar to a Kobe-Lin matchup now. Payton was quick enough such that Jordan needed to post him up to score. Kobe would need to post Lin to score consistently as well, and he certainly could do it, but it is easier to get doubleteam help in the post than on the perimeter or wing, so Kobe would either need to have a high post or a quick catch-post and turnaround to score on Lin. When they actually matched up, I believe Lin stripped Kobe a couple of times, but I did not see that one game.
Honestly, from watching some tape, it's just the style of defense he plays; very aggressive up in his man's face. He looks pretty good doing it because it's always been in garbage time against a 3rd string PG or SG that's playing at half-speed. It's not going to work against a superstar with quicks, or someone like Kobe/Chauncey who can just back him down and shoot over him, but he's definitely not a total zero like KevMart. I am getting just a little whiff of JJ Barea off of him; the way the crowd reacts, the way his teammates get fired up when he makes a good play: that has value not reflected in box scores or advanced statistics.
Lol @ KevMart Look at his defensive numbers.....non existent....it's very easy to play better defense than him
Lin has the size of a very big PG....Barea is undersized.....I doubt Barea is the defender Lin will be
It's not the size, but simply the way the crowd, announcers, bench go absolutely nuts whenever he drives to the basket or does anything positive. Very few players have that, and as good as Ish was, he just didn't have the same wow factor. Neither did JLIII. Barea has that, and if you watched the Mavs at all during the playoffs, the energy of their team goes up noticeably if JJ got hot and made 3 or 4 good plays in a row. Go look at the Summer League video posted earlier and tell me you don't see a similar thing happening. I still stand by my comment that Lin's defense looks very good under observation because he plays so aggressively like Lowry. The Rockets have had lots of either very lazy defenders (KevMart, TMac, Wafer), or guys who rely on positioning and length rather than ball denial (Lee, Battier), so he looks fantastic by comparison. I just don't think Lin has quite the quickness to do it to most of the starters who are going full bore at him; I badly want to, but I just don't see it.
True. In Kevin Martin's case he is just a stick figure.. He seems to be unable to bulk up. So what is it going to be? What's the best and worst scenario for him under the circumstance that he got fair amount of PT?
I love Lin's attitude and work ethics, I hope the kid will get the playing times and the chance to show people what he can really do!
Agree with this post in that Lin revs up the crowd because he always seems a step ahead in doing something unexpected, as he sees the game well. His teammates always seem to play better defense when he is in the game as well, probably because he leads by example and is always willing to help out. I would disagree, however, that Lin could not do this against top starters. Lin's defense is top-notch, and he has been matched up against starters and more than held his own. The John Wall clip is probably the best extended example we have because of his limited NBA PT so far. Still, great offense does beat great defense, so that does not mean that anyone playing against Lin would get zero points, just that Lin would be as good as any top NBA defender against the top perimeter guards. The best chance for Billups or Kobe to score would be to back Lin down, but again, Lin is stronger than other point guards, plays great position defense, and also put on muscle over the summer as well. In the NBA, you can only back down a guy with so many dribbles before a help defender comes and makes you pick up your dribble or make a move. Based on his rate of improvement so far, Lin is only going to get stronger and better.
Lin seams to be our obligatory "Battier" player. Mister intangible. I still think he is a backup PG on a good team at best but we need those type of players. I've never liked Ish. Wings should at least be able to hit a free throw. Ish is worse than Shaq in that regard. In an important game(playoffs), teams would just let Ish shoot as often as he wanted because he can't.
