[Feigen] Harden and Howard want Asik and Lin to stay

Of course no reason for Lin fans to find him annoying, but to the rest... Yikes

 

Howard did not say anything about 3rd star, that was a rumor and refuted.

 

It's all Dwight Howard stuff now. Not really a surprise

 

We can live with Canaan being open all day. He is a real shooter that can fit with the Harden and Howard pick and roll.

 

lol, he's as unproven as Machado atbthis point, I doubt they'll give him the license to shoot threes all day

 

Was Machado even drafted?

 

Machado could never shoot. He couldn't shoot worth a lick. Canaan is a shooter. He was one of best shooters in the NCAA. If anything, they tell him to nothing more than stand in a spot and shoot the ball if it comes to him.

 

Nope.

 

Machado can't shoot or play D, canaan by all reports is lights out from distance.

 

oh wow, canaan is the answer! damn CFs, u scary

 

I have no doubt that Harden and Howard want Lin and Asik to stay. Lin probably has no problem in staying. If he can perform, he can be the PG of a mighty team. It's all up to him. However, his salary is in a totally different category compared to the rest of Rocket PGs. He really has to justify that to stay in the picture.

Asik is a different story. He can't realistically hope that he can become a starter in the Rockets in the coming years. Either he settles with being the man from the bench in a potential championship team or he goes elsewhere to look for a starter job.

Asik can't blame the Rockets. There is not a team in the NBA that would pass on Howard when the possibility to grab him comes around. No GM can keep his job doing that. So, whatever Asik does, he should be really grateful to the Rockets for the possibility to improve his market value significantly and being payed for that handsomely.

Lin has to prove he is worth his salary at the PG in a team that adjusts to Howard being there. Asik will be one of the highest payed backup centers in the NBA. Can he justify that is up to him. The problem with a good salary is that you have to perform accordingly.

 

THIS.

THE ORACLE HAS SPOKEN.

 

Actually,I am one of the so called LOFs, and I couldn't understand why the negative feelings toward this term. I mean, seriously ,what's wrong with being a Lin Only Fan? I don't see many would have any problem with Lebron Only Fans or Kobe Only Fans,though. Of course ,Jeremy Lin is not, and possibly will never be, comparable to Lebron or Kobe,or even James Harden from a pure basketball viewpoint, but what makes people so mad at basketball is not strictly limited to basketball itself, more often than not it's the inspiration that draws millions of people to this sport, even if many of them may have seldom touched a basketball in real life. And Jeremy Lin is exactly such an inspiration.

Now let me make my two cents about Lin's future. I think Lin has already proved at Nicks that he can be a very good,if not great, point guard in NBA. His stats have gone down a little bit since moved to the Rockets, but it has more to do with the plummeting of his usage rate. According to ESPN's Hollinger 's statistics, in 2012-2013 season, Lin's usage rate ranked 38th among all the NBA PGs, and accordingly his efficiency ratings is 35th among all the PGs.

Now with the arrival of DH12, Lin's usage rate in the upcoming season could possibly go down further. DH recorded a usage rate of 19.9% last season in LA, which only ranked 15th among all the centers,and he was reportedly unsatisfied with not being more involved in offense. It won't be a surprise that we will see a surge in Howard's usage rate this season. Even a two percentage increase in Howard's usage rate would mean a whopping 7 percentage increase in the usage rate of the Rockets' C position( last season Omer Asik only had a 14.7% usage rate).

So where would this 7% come from. I don't think it would come from James Harden, although his usage rate of 27.4% is the highest among the Rockets, but only ranked 8th in the entire NBA, and one would say he deserved that much of usage rate when considering he being a top five scorer. So I guess the biggest drop,therefore,must come from Jeremy Lin and Parsons. And since Lin's skill set overlaps a lot with James Harden, it's very likely that the next season Lin's usage rate could drop further to ,say, 15%,and that will leave Lin at about the same usage rate as P. Beverly or Mario Chalmers of last season.

The truth is , unfortunately though, that Lin can't thrive as a true PG at this Rockets team, because he doesn't fit the puzzle very well,given his lackluster 3' shooting and high TO ration. With the arrival of DH, Rockets is now a contender team, thus will have little room for an inexperienced but promising young guard like Jeremy Lin to grow.

I can see a trade involving Lin and Asik happen very soon. But contrary to the common belief, I think Jeremy Lin would be better off to be traded to a rebuilding team, where Lin can have enough wiggling room to hone his skills .If so, perhaps with another 2 or 3 years, Lin can finally become one of the top PG in the league, and deliver Linsanity once more. Besides, with Lin and Asik gone, the Rockets hopefully can land another All Star in Aldridge, so it would be win-win.

 

Agree with the comment! Just would like to add that Lin is paid with an average starting PG's salary and posting an average starting PG's stats. We are not overpaying him. If he plays better than last season, we will get more than what Rockets pays him. For the rocket's benefit, we should keep Asik. We need to always remind ourshelves of how bad our defense was when Asik was resting. Without him, we would see how bad our defense is when DH is out.

 

Yeah, it could be that taking Lin out of the marketing campaign is a move done to appease their new superstar, who seems highly image conscious. It could even be a temporary move, with Lin being added later to the mix after Howard has been allowed to mark out his territory.

But who knows what's really going on.

 

Sure. I didn't say that he is over-payed. I also think that he is a surprisingly good PG. The Rockets need a distributing and well shooting PG more like Rondo style to make this particular team to make the best of it. Rondo is not a great shooter and neither is Lin, but they are certainly good enough for the purpose. Still Lin has to be significantly better than Beverley or Brooks. Otherwise people start to ask questions.

If Asik stays, I think the Rockets are on their way to the title. Dwight is a superb defensive center and having Asik there as a backup would be, as you said, fantastic for the defense. Having two centers like that is a luxury that no other NBA team has. I think that the Rockets starters can beat any starting lineup in the NBA. Having Asik as the backup center, the bench will beat any bench in the NBA.

 

Ironically, the chances that Lin stays on the rockets long term go up if he doesn't improve.

If he doesn't improve, this makes it harder to trade him and I can easily see the rox signing him to a smaller contract once his current one ends.

On the other hand if he does improve that makes him easier to trade. If he doesn't get traded then rox will be faced with a decision to resign him at 8-10m a year. Depending on the situation rox might opt to pursue a 3rd star or use the money on 2-3 role players.

 

If Camby signs, Asik becomes expendable by mid-season.

Brooks has already signed making Lin expendable by mid-season.

Morey is a master at quickly executing deals that provide him the flexibility to improve this roster at any given moment without having to take a step backward to get it done.

No matter what Harden and Howard or McHale say, Morey is the boss and he will trade anyone and everyone if it gets him closer to a championship. I do believe that Morey really does want to keep Asik around permanently but he is the best trading chip we have so he is going to be gone in any deal that makes us better unless Howard learns how to become a PF over the summer. Too bad Howard can't play that roll because our starting 5 would be set!

I think Lin WILL perform at a higher level this next year and my prediction is 15 pts. 7.5 ast. 1.8 steals efficiently. By mid-season we should expect to see the LOF increase and the LOH's decrease if for no other reason than the fact that the Knicks fans who signed up here just to be disruptive will have grown tired and bored with trolling and will have found something else to jump on in their own forum.

 

You think camby and brooks are good enough to make Asik and Lin expendable? Oh my goodness...

 

I don't believe we need a distributing point guard like Rondo. We already have Harden who likes to take on point guard duties half the time and Parsons likes to get in the mix as well. We need more of a Curry type point guard, a shooter. Someone who can help stretch the floor for the rest of the players (like Isaiah). But like you said, if Lin doesn't significantly outplay Beverley, Brooks, or Isaiah _ on this team that makes him overpaid for his on the court play.