There is a difference between saying he should play and he has a right to play. If you're saying it is the player's right, that means you're also saying a coach does not have a right to decide which players should be on the floor based on the way he perceives the game has unfolded. You can disagree with McHale's decision while simultaneously believing he had a right as the coach to make that decision.
Did D-Mo earn the "right" play over Howard against Memphis? After all Howard just came off a dominant performance against the Spurs the game before, yet somehow the 2nd year D-Mo who hasn't played many meaningful minutes finishes the game over Dwight Howard. Furthermore, even though D-Mo performed well against Memphis, he was quickly placed back on the bench the next game.
I guess he feels that McHale was obligated to ask for Dwight's permission to keep D-Mo in the game, since (by his argument) it is Dwight's right to be on the floor instead.
Simple: Donatas was used as a specialist in a situational matchup when nobody could contain Randolph and they were winning.
then tell me, how does a player out of collage earn the "right" to get drafted? do they look at him and say..."hmmm...looks cute...yeah, he's earned the right to be drafted"... or do they just measure him "hmmm... 6 foot 5 and 200lbs with very big feet...yeah, you've earned the right to be drafted"... what do they use to gauge a player's "right" to be drafted? from statistics? advance stats? hmmm... maybe.. but guess what...those things came from.. yeah... PAST PLAYS FROM PAST GAMES!! speaking of collage, did you go to one? if not maybe you should or if you did, maybe you should go back... take some reading comprehension and critical thinking courses..
omg, its you again... so tell me... how does a player earn the "right" to play? how does one earn the "right" to be a starter? does he go around giving bjs to everyone? does he go around giving everyone moneyz? tell me, how does one earn the right to play in a game? OMG!!! from past performance from PAST GAMES!!! defending something so stupid just shows how blatantly biased you are and how much you are trying to push your agenda regardless of how stupid the arguments are.
He has earned the right to play in the 4th based on his 2 hot 4Qs in very recent games. If you don't agree, I don't care. He's been a great team mate and soldier and worked his butt off to improve and by putting Lin on the bench, McHale spoiled a lot of the trust he was showing in him that he'll play him through mistakes because he knows Lin can raise his game in the 4th and be clutch. Lin answered his previous challenges of playing defense on Parker and playing a solid 4th, that's earning playing time by stepping up and performing well. I would have no problem with Lin sitting if AB was hitting shots and making plays or if Beverley was healthy and he had a huge impact defensively while hitting some 3s. But the fact is, Aaron wasn't playing well, Lin had those 2 4Qs, so he did earn by his play a right to be in there. If you don't like my use of the word "right" well, so be it.
Game to game, a coach has a right to make the choice of which players will give him the best chance of winning. You and I may strongly disagree with his choice, we may think he should be fired over it, but that doesn't change the fact that its his right as the coach to make that decision. I'd also rather have seen Lin on the floor than Brooks. But saying Lin had a "right" to be on the floor is going too far. If I agree to that, then it follows that Lin had a right to walk up to the scorer's table and just check himself. Player's don't have such rights, in my opinion.
You are playing with semantics. It was extremely odd and almost illogical to keep Lin on the bench for the entire 4th quarter based on his play in the first two quarters and in recent previous games. The announcers that I heard kept on saying "Books but no Lin" with an intonation that indicted they were puzzled when they stated who is on the court. Faigan (SIC) mentioned in a tweet that it was highly unusual to keep Lin benched for the 4th. That's what others mean that he "earned it".
Right on point with this.... It is up to the coach on plays and who doesn't play... Doesn't make it right or wrong, it's coaches choice to put the 5 players on the court who he feels will give them the best chance to win... Every game, every half and every quarter is different... T_Man
Look, the bottom line was that McHale was not happy with Lin's play in the third quarter so he took him out and put in Brooks. The issue is obviously about not putting Lin in the 4th quarter and what McHale said was the reasoning behind not putting Lin back in the game. 1. Parsons and Harden were on the floor in the third quarter during the same time Lin was and it was Lin that got "benched" when we saw Harden and Parsons failing the same way at defending the perimeter player. The commentators even chastised Parsons for coming out to fast and had replays of Parsons getting burned and having to foul. Did Parsons come out? No. 2. Inserting AB with Parsons, Harden, Jones, and Howard yielded a -3 for the rest of the third quarter so the play stayed continually bad and/or did not improve. So you "benched" Lin and got no improvement. Logic would dictate that Lin was not solely responsible for the poor play in the quarter. 3. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, McHale substitutes Smith and Garcia for Jones and Howard. The Rockets came from 8 points down (against mostly backups for the Knicks, who btw was missing Felton (not much of a loss) and Martin already). Smith's box score was a bunch of zeros and Garcia made one three pointer. This is good, the team got back in the game against the Knicks backups. 4. McHale goes on to put Howard back in the game leaving Jones on the bench. Now if you believe McHale when he says he was staying with the guys who were playing well, he should not have put Howard back in the game. Next, the Knicks went small to match up with Anthony at the PF spot. Another opportunity to bring Lin back in along side AB. What happened? Both teams score a whopping 4 points each for the next 3+ minutes. 5. On top of all this, after being killed on the defensive glass all quarter, McHale finally brings in Jones with 17 seconds left for match purposes. But of course it never crossed his mind for matchup purposes (offense/defense or whatever) to bring Lin back in. What happened? AB missed a drive with 50 seconds left in the game. Not saying AB isn't competent to score here, just saying you have a PG KNOWN to be a good driver and scorer at the RIM, 3 inches taller, 40 lbs heaver, and you don't put him in even for offense/defense substitution. 6. Okay so when NY went back with Bargani @ 17 second mark, McHale follows with Jones. Good matchup. But Garcia, the guy you left in because the team was "playing well" during the jump ball does a stupid thing and fouls Chandler and allows the Knicks to tie the game with 1:01 left. Of course, does Garcia gets benched? The Knicks were playing small so McHale could have gone with Lin afterwards with the score tied 100-100 for offense since the team needed a score to take a lead but he left Garcia in or he could have taken AB out and put Lin back in. What happens next? AB's missed lay up. Again, I am not saying putting in Lin would have made any difference, made the Rockets win by larger margin or even lose to the Knicks. The issue is the reasoning McHale makes all these moves are illogical to me. Garcia coming into the game was 1-8 from three pointer and shot .297 for the month of December from three and you leave him in to "stretch" the floor? (it's not that Lin was much better a .318 but he doesn't shoot a majority of his shots from three) so McHale is basically coaching by feel with no game plan no offensive schemes or sets, just by who "happens to play well together" which is subjective to him and him only. he is the coach so you have to let that be. I am a fan of the UNC Tar Heels and just earlier this season, coach Roy Williams was upset at the starters in the 1st half of a game that he started one starter with 4 subs to start the 2nd half. the point was made. the rest of the starters came back in 4-5 minutes later. Dean Smith would yank all his starters and put in the "Blue" team when he felt his players weren't playing well. The key here was that they held everyone accountable. The one starter that Williams left in was Paige who is the only consistent player for the Heels this season. You can't say that for Harden. If you're going to make a point, do so to everyone. Take them all out. Then put them back in. At least then if they continue to struggle, you have a reason to yank them again. McHale tried to discipline his team by putting the discipline on Lin and to a lesser extent Jones, because he could get away with it. He can't do it with Howard, the precious FA signing. He can't do it with Harden, his beloved superstar. He can't do it with Parsons, the rising star. Everyone else is game. That is not how you maintain a locker room. But alas, he's the coach. It doesn't have to make sense.
What he's "earned", according to this, is the trust of many observers that he would have been a better option than Brooks in the 4th quarter. But this is opinion, and people may disagree. Calling it a "right" really implies that its something beyond opinion -- that its fact. You think I'm merely "playing with semantics", but I think its an important distinction to make. Its unfortunately too common in this forum for people to (knowingly or unknowingly) formulate arguments in such a way that their opinions get turned into facts, and thus others who deny those "facts" must have some other agenda.
People earn the privledge (right in this case because we have a semantic confusion in communication going on.} for a position to be granted ,when their record indicates that they are the best choice or close to the best choice. If they are not given a chance one begins to wonder about how the choice was made. If it is not made by past performance than it is incumbant for the individual who made the choice to explain his odd decision. Fans (customers)support the Rockets and pay the salary of everyone employed by the Rockets, including the coach. Their concerns should be addressed in an honest and forthright manner. Dolan has alienated Knicks fans by making decisions that no one understood. He refused to give interviews and now the Knicks are losing their fan base rather rapidly.
ton, i have not agreed with a lot that you have posted... But the statements I highlighted are on point... I understand that a lot of Lin fans are upset, but as Durvasa has stated; Lin does not have a Right to play... It's up to the coach... What McHale did is not a new concept, a lot of old school coaches, coached by fill (most did have a game plan)... If a player was hot they kept that player in the game and made sure they ran plays for him... You are correct he is the coach and as long as Morey and Les are ok with him, he has the right to play or bench whom ever he likes... We as fans can debate it but the coach has that right/ T_Man
