The Bench Unit Is Being Misused: A Must Read For Lin Fans! (With A Little Bit O' Statz & Lots O' Kno

I would like to see a 2nd unit offense that revolves around D-Mo postups.

 

Good effort and well thought out thread, also more original than usual "Lin sux donkey ballz" or "McHale hatez Asianz".

#1 virtually every offense in the NBA is a R&R offense since the rule changes in the 90's. It is the key to getting mismatches and easy open shots. Without it, teams would score 50 points a game, especially with zones.
#2 passing the ball in the post is not a deviation of R&R.
#3 the Rockets are and should be weak on the bench after expending so many assets for a Harden and Howard.
#4 you don't just run a seperate system with the bench, that is far harder than I think you realize. It takes a long time to get a system down.
#5 there are 20 games left, too little time to do anything radical and by next year the bench will be addressed by free agency and trade.

 

One hell of a post sir! May I expound on the bench?

The bench has one great underutilized resource. D-Mo's post game. We all saw indications of it last season. Does anyone in the NBA have a more polished and effective post game than D-Mo?

So why do the Rockets not utilize D-Mo's post game? An interesting question. I would speculate that it is because the Rockets coaching staff have not had the time in practice to integrate it into the Rockets offense. It took half of this season to perfect (OK, much to strong of a word - make presentable?) the entry pass to Howard. D-Mo's entry pick points will of course be different than Howard's. They will take time to learn. By next season I would imagine they will be up and running.

The bench will always be subsumed by the starting unit. With three new starters to integrate this season bench development will of course be delayed. A short term problem? Yes. But long term? Definitely not. The coaching staff is more than competent. The job will get done.

But what to do in the short term? There seems to be needless angst on this forum about starter minutes. But on the other hand the Rockets are the youngest team in the playoff race. Harden and Jones and Parsons can actually absorb easily big minutes. Do they get tired? Certainly. But give them three days off and they will bounce back better than ever. Unfortunately last season three days off were not practical.

 

It's because his post game is more flash than substance at this point.

 

That's what I noticed as well. He's pressing, which leads to bad turnovers. When the ball swings to him for an open 3, you get the sense he doesn't want to take the shot.

He's playing scared.

Think about it - Linsanity happened when he had nothing to lose. He was sleeping on a couch.

This leads to another inevitable conclusion. He's got the weight of the world on his shoulders for every shot. So, perhaps his poor play is due to so many LOFs.

 

No chance I'm reading any of that.

 

nah jk, good analysis, repped

 

Hilarious and interesting post OP

 

First it's Mchale's fault, then Sampson's fault, then Harden's fault, now, the system and the 2nd unit he is supposed to lead is to blame? The truth is that Lin is unable to adjust to any offense that doesn't revolve around him (even though he has the free reign to run the 2nd unit when Harden is out), and cannot excel unless he has excellent 3 pt shooters and finishers to bail him out. This is basically what you are saying. He's gotten a new role, and instead of rising to the challenge, assuming leadership, and orchestrating the 2nd unit... he not only failed to adjust, he completely regressed. -Or maybe he just returned to his norm.- What you are getting a glimpse of now is what it could possibly look like if he were to be traded to some scrub team. Not the huge numbers or inflated stats you would expect.

Is it possible the NY Knicks cast, so often mentioned, made him better than he was, and not the other way around?

Btw, a system doesn't make you throw bad passes, afraid to attack the rim and pick up your dribble every time an open lane closes up, jump up into the air with nowhere to go, and make you miss wide open shots. I don't believe anyone is to blame as much as he is. The 2nd unit's success relies on his leadership. He needs to step up and assume that role. It's his for the taking. And I agree that more pnr would surely help his game, WHEN he decides to fearlessly start attacking the rim again.

 

Glancing at the OP's (join date: Nov 2012) post, I can't help but think:

Don't some of you have jobs?

I mean, I know the average Lin fan is, um, young. Say, high school or college. I remember being piled on for the slightest criticism of Lin during the holidays but the same caustic wit started to earn me few responses once January 15 rolled around. Literally. So I figured all Lin's fans had gone back to school and were otherwise engaged.

And Lin fans LOVE STATS. STATS STATS STATS, my goodness.

Clearly Lin has issues right now. Is it the back? Has something got between his ears? Was he hoping for a trade at the deadline and despite himself can't push past his disappointment now?

Unfortunate thing is, he can be a good player but he's prone to overthinking and that really throws his game in the toilet.

 

Good analysis, but probably will get criticized for obvious reasons.

Simply put, Lin doesn't fit our system or the other way around. I hope his back gets better.

 

Really appreciate your effort OP.

 

I am not discounting the possibility that Lin is not 100% healthy. IMHO, I think he is over thinking or over analyzing the situation which makes it look like he is hesitant. That one turnover yesterday at the half court line where there was no pressure seems to imply this.

 

It's a good attempt at an explanation, but remember last season when our starting bigs were Asik and Morris and (essentially the same) offense was still brilliant?

Also, though the bench was never a strength per se, there's a marked difference between Lin's play as a sixth man in November and his play as a sixth man in the last month, and I wouldn't say that has anything to do with teammates, he's just lost confidence and gotten so worried about not screwing up that he screws up more. Hence, 29% field goal shooting and a 50% higher per minute turnover rate since the All-Star break.

If the primary thrust of your argument is:
"The bench unit being underpowered contributes to Lin (and for that matter, D-Mo) being less efficient than they would in a lower-usage role with better teammates."

I would agree! However, I would also point out that it is a self-feeding problem. If the guys relied on to drive the second unit hit more open shots and made better decisions with the ball it would grease the wheels and all of their teammates would get better quality looks as well, raising the level of play of the entire unit. Further, changing the system isn't going to suddenly dissuade teams from packing the paint and ignoring the bigs - so I'd call it a talent issue more than a system issue. All that said, I'm glad you made this thread even though I only barely agree with you - it's a positive discussion to have when so much of the discussion around #7 is either super negative or super defensive.

 

Bang on. He should realize or be told it is ok to make mistakes if you stay aggressive. Being passive and not making mistakes is worse than making mistakes but staying aggressive. At least to his plays.

 

If this is true, which it could be, I'm hoping he's somehow reached rock bottom where the expectations are once again very low and he can go out and play without baggage. As a musician I can relate to this - as I got more recognition as a woodwind artist, the pressure (internally) built up to the point where I didn't want to perform much anymore. STill working on it - hope Lin is too. I also wish he could restructure his contract, but he might want to take that 15mil as a retirement fund if his body/game doesn't hold up.

 

Did not read too long.

But if your trying to see Lin sucks...we already know.

 

Wow OP, to be honest I just skimmed your post, but I gotta at least give you props for the effort. Better than 70% of the crap that gets posted here daily.

 

One other note, at this point in the season, I think the bench NEEDS to click for us to have ANY success in the playoffs - against scrub teams I would let the bench play a lot more minutes to get in game chemistry and trust, even if it's not a blowout. They need to be relied on to win games also.

 

great post, I agree with it - i have noticed that the second unit as a whole doesnt play well and i agree it could be the offense that is being run. Also, the second unit has dramatically changed in the last month - Add Asik/Ham/and loose Brooks. The cohesiveness is not there yet. I believe the thought of putting Ham would open up the second unit's paint jam and I am sure that is why Morey traded for him.

Lin's best quality is the P&R which we dont see very much of lately. With Asik setting good screens, lin should be going bonkers... but you bring up a good point that all the other defenders hedge and make sure lin doesnt get into the paint. What I think we need for the second unit is a pick and pop person or run the perimeter pick and roll like he used to do with Harden.