they wanna hear what they wanna hear other opinions are hating or irrelevant even words from Lin's own mouth I guess.
A note on the subject of assist numbers and playmaking duties. And while I know Morey's stats differ from Hollinger's, but one can potentially see some logic behind why the Rockets prefer the ball in Harden's hands over the "assist guy" in Lin. If you break down PER, and here's someone who did the job already, assists count roughly 20-30% of a made basket. Meaning Lin gets roughly 1/4 of the credit on any assisted basket, while the player making the basket gets 3/4 of the credit. Overall, the ability to score, and obviously score efficiently, is considered by far the most important component to PER. And while I do reiterate that the Rockets don't exactly use PER, it does align more with their type of thinking than traditional box score stats, which are basically unadjusted. It also explains why Harden was the darling of the stat geek community even last year, despite pedestrian box score numbers relative to what one expect from a star.
But they are putting the ball in Lin's hands now and the Rockets are whooping everyone in the last few games.
No, he was not. Damn guys, he played a hot hand over a small string of games. That does not earn him a superstar label. FFS.
Not every assist has to be a Showtime-worthy assist to be a GOOD assist. I remember one of Lin's assists where he just flipped the ball up for Parsons to catch in full stride in the lane, kind of like how a QB might toss the ball to an RB. Parsons was able to get an easy layup because he had a running start on the unsettled defense. That may have looked like it was just Lin handing the ball off, but the timing and positioning of it all was great.
It's not about having flashy good assists, otherwise the fuhrer would have never gotten rid of white chocolate. It's about seeing the entire floor, knowing your teammates, knowing when they have a matchup advantage, knowing their favorite spots, knowing when to run. Little things like that. You mean to tell me if he shot the ball five more times, lin couldn't get and extra 5 points to add to his avg? shooting at almost 43, of course he could. But that's not the point of the POINT guard. When the offense stalls and it's actually because lin is having an off night, not because other positions are scoring at will on us or teen wolf set, then that's when you bring in douglas to relieve. He's going to have bad games.
I know the general sentiment among 2012ers is that when the Rockets let Lin do his thing, they win. When they don't, they lose. But the actual truth is that Lin gets about the same exposure either way. In wins, 32.7mpg/10.24fga/2.68fta/4.0rpg/6.6apg In losses, 33.3mpg/10.45fga/3.32fta/3.5rpg/5.6apg So on the contrary, Jeremy Lin actually plays more, shoots more when we lose. As for the difference in 1 assist, the Rockets on average make 4.5 more basket in wins. So obviously these would be the days when Asik doesn't have butterfingers and 3 pointers go down. It's only natural that assist numbers would be up.
"many of those assists came from lin bringing up the ball. passing it off and someone taking it to the hoop and scoring." Just for you info, those do not count as Lin's assist. For eg. 1st Q with 11:00 remaining, Lin brought the ball up & passed to Parsons. Parsons dribbled 1 step to his right before he shoot. That jump shot was not credited with an assist. In the next Rockets possession, Lin drove into the paint & kicked out to Patterson who was open. That mid-range catch & shoot jumper was Lin's first assist.
Here is how to spin this: When he didn't have ball in his hand, he didn't have a lot TOs, so the coach kept him in the game longer. When he didn't have ball in his hand, when he got the ball, he had to shoot, so shot more. When he didn't have ball in his hand, he didn't run the offense, we lost.
I don't agree with this assessment mostly because fga, fta, rpg, and apg are not crucial factors in determining how much ball handling Lin is in charge of. Since Lin doesn't handle the ball as much in losses his attempts comes from a lot of spot up 3 pt attempt or last minute penetration that leads to turnovers. Apg being down is natural and rpg doesn't come from ball handling. The factor I use to determine whether Lin was in charge of orchestrating the offense is the # of minutes the ball is in his hand in the duration of offense. I don't have any time to formulate my stat right now (maybe someone else can), but from my eye test I know for a fact that during the winning streaks, Lin has the majority of possessions throughout the 1st and half of 2nd qtr. Harden is usually quiet at these times but because the defense starts slacking off on him due to other threats on the floor, he usually comes hard near the end of 2nd qtr and first half of 3rd. Then at that time we are mostly already up by a lot. So during the 4th it's just a all you can iso from both guards feast. But if someone has the time to put the stats of ball in hand time feel free to prove me right/wrong as I am interested to see if my assessment is correct.
So during the losing streak, you thought lin ran the offense? From what i recall from having watched the games, he was mostly spotting up and harden had the ball at the top of the key on a lot of posessions. Usually when lin is the primary ball handler, we start running and gunning and our pace is through the roof. That leads to wins
Not a superstar in scoring maybe (although right now he's a superstar in steals :grin. But really, depending on your definition the term superstar, Lin's popularity in the world makes him one. He got grandmothers to watch basketball and get their grandsons to explain the rules to them (True story). That's real influence. So if you're arguing that superstar PGs have a certain level of points/assists, then you're probably right in that Lin hasn't shown superstardom. But if we're talking about being one of the most recognized names in the world relating to basketball and the nba, with the ability to fill opponents' arenas, then he is.
i am not one of 2012s. a problem i have with alot of pre-2012s is you all think he is an average pg or a solid pg at best per his stats. everyone here likes to cruch individual #s to prove their points. i am an old school guy. i saw completely different case. he can stack his #s if he wants. if you look at all games he started and played w/o a star along his side, he just put unthinkable #s. it proves he can be a pg with an elite #s if he wants. Therefore, # is really not his focus. the #s you listed can't really reflect how much contribution he made to this team's wins. the best #s we should use to define his pg role is # of wins and # of possessions he initiated offense vs # of losses and # of possessions he started offense. of coz, those possessions that he brought up the ball and then dumped it to harden should not be considered.
The Rockets run an offense where as soon as a good shot is available, the shot goes up. They don't pound the ball for 23 seconds in iso unless the players are slacking off. I don't know why you care how many minutes Lin pounds the ball in any given game. The best offenses are where the ball moves constantly. This is what the Rockets strive for. If you don't like this type of basketball, then you should follow another team. Like Milwaukee Bucks or something. Or watch old tapes of Steve Francis Rockets teams. I'm sure tinman has gazillion videos of them. When you watch a basketball game next time, try to watch what opponents do rather than just watch Jeremy Lin. You'll see how Lin tries to do the same things in both wins and losses, but FAILS much more often when he struggles. This is due to the fact that a basketball game consists of two teams, two coaching staffs, and two group of players. This is not a video game where everyone else is AI and Jeremy Lin is the only person who dictate the outcome.
Hence, why I used fg attempts, ft attempts, and assists. Apparently the Rockets also keep track of hockey assists(pass before the assist) but I don't have that. I should also add turnovers but forgot. If you think about it, in any play where Lin is actually a playmaker and not just sideshow, the above stats should cover it. Unless you want to point out other situations where Lin contributes on offense.
