[ClutchFans] Rockets to begin season with Beverley, Asik as starters; Jeremy Lin off bench

Frankly speaking, that irks me as well.

 

Yes he would and they will. We could go 5-0 but once Bev comes back Lin will sit on the bench.

 

They also made it what you saw in the 3rd quarter while we came back from 16 points down in a matter of minutes.

 

I've noticed this too. This year he seems to be playing his game again; taking the damn mid range shots; driving to the basket without always worrying about creating a shot for someone else; directing things on the court a little more. I think this is much more Lin's natural game; and we'll see a lot more of it this year.

 

Ya. I am glad he took mid-range shots. Take what your opponents give you.

 

No, even during Linsanity it was more balanced. More like a scoring point. Lin's now playing more like Harden in terms of looking to always shoot first. Before Lin has always said he wanted to get other involved.

Not saying it's a bad thing because he's getting good shots. But when he's driving this year, he wants that layup or foul.

 

It could just be health tbh. He is totally healthy right now and probably in a better head space with the knee. Last year he wasn't looking to draw contact as much as he is now.

 

aggression is a good thing for sure. plus he is making those spot up 3s he couldn't when coming off of knee surgery opening season last year

 

Lin +21
asik +12
parson +11
Harden +10
Howard +5

You can't make this stuff up...

 

14 total posts on this board. 14 total posts about how much Harden and Howard suck.

 

Yeah, this is the other side of the Beverley debate. Do we need another good shot creator when Harden is playing?

I've never bought the "Harden and Lin are redundant so we only need one of them on the floor" argument. When we had McGrady, we always cried about that "second creator" we needed.

That said. We can't play both Harden and Lin for 48 min. So we'll have to stagger somewhat their PT and have Beverley fill in the gap. So "fit" argument is not so much about what Beverley CAN do to fit the starting lineup but what he CAN'T do to fit the 2nd unit.

My question is, if the main purpose of "fit" is to stagger Harden and Lin, does it really matter who starts the game? Why does Beverley has to be the starter to make this "fit" work?

 

oh or they?

 

No denying Lin played well tonight, but I think +/- is kind of deceptive in this case. Whenever Lin was off the floor that meant Brooks (not Beverley) was playing point guard, and Brooks was HORRIBLE tonight. I think that was a big part of why Lin's +/- was so high. It would have probably been around the same level as Harden's if we had Beverley coming off the bench instead of Brooks.

 

Lin's scoring is what we need off the bench.

 

I agree with you on this. Parsons was the man tonight.

 

I'm not a fan of using +/- alone without context to argue a point (not saying you are). But I do find it interesting that I've heard at least one Rockets' writer & some fans use +/- to justify inserting Beverley into the starting lineup. But whenever this same tool was used in support of Lin, people brush it off as deceptive or insignificant. As I've said, I hardly care to look at +/-, but the double standard in its application to certain players is amusing.

 

Can't you guys just be happy Lin is doing well? Holy **** are some of you even rockets fans? We are ****ing 3-0 and what's up with this negativity?

 

Bev has always had good +-s as well. This game was by no means evidence that Lin should start but rather that Lin should play decent minutes as he can contribute at any minute especially the 4th quarter.

 

why can't they stagger lin and harden's the minutes so he can be the floor general for the 2nd unit? bev and lin could play the 2nd quarter together with harden resting...

 

Personally I think the discussion of who is the starter is irrelevant in the context of the actual game since it really comes down to lineups and minutes allocation.

So, setting aside who walks out of the tunnel with the first unit (which I personally think should be Lin since he was the starter all last season and has played well both during the pre-season and regular games this year), then I think we need to look at this on a game by game basis.

If I had to break it down, there are situations where it makes sense to play Beverley over Lin with the first unit.

-Teams that aren't good defensively
-Teams with laterally quick guards with strong PnR play that Beverley can contain
-Teams with weak perimeter defense and strong shot blocking
-Teams with weak PnR defense on 2nd units
-Teams with high scoring 2nd units

On the flip side, it makes a lot of sense to run Lin with the starting unit in other situations.

-Teams without strong shot blocking
-Teams with very strong on-ball defenders that can contain Harden 1v1 (Tony Allen, Iguodala, etc)
-Teams with very strong defensive schemes (Bulls, Pacers, etc)
-Teams that run with slower pace (vulnerable to transition offense)
-Teams that are high scoring but without strong lateral guard play (extra offense on the floor to keep pace)
-Teams with 2nd units that are relative weak defensively

So there is some argument in terms of ideal minutes allocation in terms of fit. Whether that means that Lin should be running out of the tunnel with the first or 2nd unit is mostly irrelevant, though personally I prefer to have Lin get those initial starts as I'm a big believer in getting in the first punch in a game.

In my opinion, it's always better to put your opponent back on their heels in the opening minutes then adjust as the game goes on than to go out with a primarily defensive mindset. Play defense from the start, yes, but focusing too much on defense in my mind is equivalent to "playing not to lose" vs "playing to win".

Put up a bunch of points, put them off balance and on the defensive, then swap players as needed.

Just my 2c of course.