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

Wouldn't starting Lin raise his trade value though, if the intention was to ship him out by the trade deadline. If anything, his benching tells me that he is going to be here for the duration of his contract.

 

The drama ..... it's too much even for me to handle. And I usually love it.

 

Another interpretation is that the front office wants to see what they have in the Beverley / Harden backcourt before they trade Lin.

 

So Morey decides the starting lineup?

 

I doubt it.

 

Or there is already an agreement in place and they are just waiting for the trade to come through by the deadline.

 

At this point, there's no way Lin will re-sign Rockets. I am not sure why they didn't raise his trade value now. Things are getting weird.

 

Maybe they're trying to prop Beverley instead to package with Asik out. You never know.

 

I think it's pretty obvious.. Jlin starting 5-1.

Stop the bev experiment

 

Some great posts that describe my thoughts on Lin well:

No one knows what Lin will be like when he enters free agency in his prime 2 years from now, nor does anyone know what type of PG he'll be.

There was a reddit discussion where I found one really insightful post.

reddit wrote:
The problem with Lin so far is that his career has been mired by having to adjust to different coaches and to playing seemingly every type of PG style imaginable.

In Golden State, his was told to work on his shooting and not to drive. Given the lack of minutes, it might be good advice but it prevented him from developing his best skill (which is why it took until now for him to learn to use his left, which he has done very well this season). Basically, they wanted him to be a traditional PG that doesn't score so they can slot him in next to Monta or Curry.
In NY, he got to be an attacking PnR PG under D'Antoni. Then under Woodson, he became more of a tempo pusher / setup PG.
Then last year in Houston, he was set to be a PnR PG again until they signed Harden. Then they turned him into an offball PG (think any PG in Phil Jackson's Triangle Offense except in a run & gun system - makes no sense).
Finally this year, they decided at the END of the summer to tell him that he'd be playing as a 6th man scoring PG (think Jarett Jack but far far less usage rate). thus marginalizing his opportunities to be a playmaker.

In his career, that means he has had to adapt and play to 5 different PG playing styles. Of which, 4 of the style changes happened in under 2 years (one summer of which was spent recovering from injury). And of which, only one style really fits him as an inexperienced player. As a 3rd year pro, I can't think of any player in any position that has had to deal with as much change as Lin. So it is expected in my opinion that Lin should not be a good decision maker at this point.

To rant a bit, it doesn't make much sense for anyone to judge how good Lin is compared to any other PG right now because McHale hasn't decided how to use Lin. We don't know what kind of PG Lin is/can/should be. So it is unfair to compare him to other players who know their roles. I know people are annoyed at McHale for not making Lin the primary playmaker, but I personally am pissed at him for dumping Lin to 6th man and changing his role AT THE LAST SECOND. It is a sign of a terrible coach when you cannot decide before training camp what role to give to your "starting" PG. People can say what they want of the D'Antonis, Mike Browns, and Larry Browns of the world. They may not know how to best utilize all of their players but at least they implement a system and force everyone to buy in. Players know what they have to do and they go out and (try to) do it.
He was never drafted, so he obviously never got the same franchise investment and opportunities as 1st round picks. Nor was he exactly in one of those grooming and player development programs like the Spurs system with Pop. Heck, the D-League team he was assigned to (Reno Bighorns) was shared by several NBA teams because the Warriors didn't own a D-League team at the time. He's been jerked around so much that he's had to constantly adapt his playstyle and role.

I don't know what he'll look like when he hits free agency in 2 years, but he won't reach his potential on the Rockets. His growth as a playmaking pg will be limited since Harden plays point, and McHale wants Lin to play scoring machine off the bench instead of facilitator.

Only thing that's certain is that Lin is a hard worker and very coachable and will adjust. He'll probably be traded with Asik, or walk when his contract is up. He won't reach his highest potential on the Rockets bench, just as Harden couldn't reach his potential on OKC's bench (not saying that Lin is near Harden in talent), and just as he would never have had Linsanity if he stayed on the Rockets the first time around or on GSW's bench.

It'll be interesting to see where he ends up in 2yrs when he's a free agent again, and what he'll look like. I hope he ends up on a team where he can spread his wings and develop as a playmaking PG instead of being pigeonholed as the off-ball scoring machine off the bench that McHale wants. What a waste of Linsanity playmaking, PnR, and passing skills, if he's only asked to be a scorer off the bench playing off the ball.

 

I still don't really care who starts. I just didn't want some sort of unexplicable marginalization to the end of the bench.

 

That's why RA left

 

This must be the all the circumstances lining up for Lin and any player can do what Lin did if you look at their career kind of game that McHale was talking about.

 

If your starting pg has 1 point and your backup scorer scores 31 pts, AND it's not even that surprising. Something is topsy-turvy in McHale's mind. Can you imagine if Lin scored 1 point and Bev scored 31?? There's such a thing as sample size for assessing a player and Lin is not the only what that this applies to!!

 

Do you still feel that? I believe you do...

 

Jlin starting 5-1? What does that mean? Some Las Vegas betting odds?

 

(Bones shaking DangerMouse) Dammit man, get a hold of yourself. It will be ok. When Jlin starts, the rockets are 5-1. When he doesn't 0-2.

 

Lin coming off the bench is fine as long as he averages 30+ minutes. He is playing a lot better this season, no doubt because of his hard work in the off-season. However, some of it may come from a chip on his shoulder from losing his starting spot/a sense of freedom when he comes in. He looks determined to play his game this year

 

Could careless if he is a starter or sixth man.

As long as he's producing he's a Ok.

 

Bill Worrell and Matt Bullard was so promoting this PB starting stuff. Worrell was like saying in the beginning of the game, "well, this is going to be a great pg matchup, PB, and Kyle Lowry." I was like so rolling my eyes. Man, it's like the whole Rockets organization is trying to demote Lin as much as possible, yet PB has not done anything to show that he should start over Lin.