I think Lin starting would be the more popular move, but thankfully Mchale is immune to such nonsense and pressures. This is the result of his hall of fame playing career. Like Lin himself said, the logistics don't matter too much. Its about the team winning. GO ROCKETS.
There are two interpretations of someone coming off the bench. 1) That the player is uniquely able to contribute from a reserve role 2) That all players coming off the bench do so because they aren't good enough to be starters. Everyone including sports journalists and SAS subscribe to the latter. Lin may very well be a fantastic 6th man, but if coming off the bench means people are going to claim Beverley is superior then nuts to that.
In any case, let him play and use his talents will benefit Rockets. I hope people give him some respect. Hope the coaches come up with a good plan.
The opposite. My mood shifts constantly on his potential. Right now, I'm actually thinking his potential is too high to leave him as the starter. I mean 30 minutes of playing time; but as a 6th man leading the bench group and hopefully finding a way to raise his game consistently rather than in spurts. He doesn't and shouldn't get the ball enough to do that when playing primarily with the starters.
And if he played like crap that means he should have to come off the bench also right? So on the bench either way ya? Ur logic does not make sense
Lin should come off bench. He is lucky to still have a job. Harden and Bev have better chemistry together. And its the coach's job to test different scenarios in pre-season, why so much complaints?
Yes Solaris. Lin is lucky to still have a job. The way he's played so far this preseason- I'm surprised the Rox haven't released him already.
completely agree with the sentiment. that's why McHale would need to clarify why he would want Jeremy off the bench. On OKC, we all knew Harden was better than Sefolosha. Ginobli better than Bruce Bowen. But I can see how the sentiment would prevent the Rockets from benching Lin. The bucks started both Ellis and Jennings, when clearly they don't mesh well together. you couldn't bench either one. that might be in the case in this situation. the NBA is an entertainment league, and the Rockets might want to preserve Jeremy's reputation as a starting PG.
It would be obvious based on minutes per game and finishing games. McHale wouldn't have to say anything at all.
I am ok with him being 6th man seriously. but chances is that they will give up on the project of developing him with the starters for the close of the game. Then its as good as being a harden backup.
I find this to be an unfortunate post. First of all, a person discussed in this manner isn't "lucky to still have a job:" http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/03/life-in-the-fast-lane/ http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/jeremy-lin-is-no-fluke/?_r=0 If you're trying to argue a point, you may want to stay within the realm of the believable. If you don't, you could risk losing any credibility you might have. Second, the "no chemistry" unit of Lin and Harden put up these numbers in Taiwan: JL -- 17/2/4 JH -- 21/3/5 Which reminded me of this stat line from last year in a win over OKC http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400278524 JL -- 29/6/7 JH -- 46/7/6 That 46 points is a career-high for Harden, I believe. So, if Harden and Lin don't have very good chemistry, then I'm thinking we may want to stick with the "poor chemistry" formula. * Also, as I have stated previously, Patrick Beverley still has never scored 17 or more points in any NBA game in his career. For the people talking about "Houston needs a 3rd star," my question would be something along the lines of "Why would you want to take another scorer off the court, a guy who has shown he can coexist with James Harden and they can both put up points while doing so?" * Someone mentioned above that the game in Taiwan showed Lin should come off the bench. I had the opposite conclusion. My concern with Beverley was that he could not lead the bench effectively. Yesterday, he actually finished with more assists than Lin and did a great job directing the second unit. With this ability demonstrated, I now feel much more comfortable that Lin is not needed to handle that task. So for me, this is another reason why it is acceptable to leave Lin in the starting lineup. * Patrick is a rugged player and that is a very good thing. However, he can be volatile. As this clip suggests: <object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/AdXtTJakI6k?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/AdXtTJakI6k?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> Dwight Howard is also a highly-volatile player prone to technicals. I am not sure that the starting lineup would be best-served having two players in the lineup who may be prone to those kinds of situations, particularly in big-game instances. * I can see Beverley finishing games rather than Lin, when Beverley's defense might help close the door on a trailing opponent. During this preseason, we have seen an improved Lin 3-pointer, improved Lin overall play, and Beverley's ability to direct the bench to a strong performance. With Beverley's excellent work with the second unit yesterday and the demonstrated ability of Harden to get his points while starting with Lin, I find myself rapidly losing supposedly-valid reasons why it is that Lin should be replaced in the starting lineup by Beverley.
I don't see the merit in this argument at all. During Linsanity 1.0, Jeremy started. And he had the biggest numbers of his career. Similarly, Jeremy put up large numbers in the starting lineup last year. Such as these: 21/10/07 on 11.02.12 19/03/08 on 12.01.12 38/03/07 on 12.10.12 22/04/08 on 12.17.12 And so on. So, unless you think Jeremy is going to turn into Wilt Chamberlain as a 6th man, I find the argument "he can be more effective as a 6th man" essentially laughable. There was a case to be made that THE TEAM needed Jeremy as the 6th man if the bench could not do well with Beverley leading the second unit, but after Patrick's performance last night, I find that problem apparently solved.
Its not only about the offense, its the defense! Howard almost fouled out when lin was in and some lin fans dont get it how important the 6th man is.