He is not playing the point position this year. He is playing mostly off the ball as a scoring 2 guard. That's why the assists are down. If you look at his game log, there are a number of high assist/low TO games and those were the games when he handled the ball more, not less. It's about rhythm. His role has not been consistent all season, partly due to injuries and also due to how McHale chooses to use him.
According to Synergysports, Aaron Brooks already run 111 PNR plays in Denver. JLin 185 this whole season. Kinda crazy.
Agreed, and I'm not sure Lin has the capability to be an elite, or even great, defender anyway. Those guys are generally long, laterally quick and have a certain mentality.
Agreed, the one thing that I would change is that he is not a passer in half court sets. In the open court, on the fast break, I have seen multiple fantastic passes.
Lin isn't a good passer. Really, this is Lin's game: He hesitates with the ball, he'll either pull up for a shot that mostly doesn't go in, or he'll drive into the lane and stop and pivot for a fall away high arching shot...or he'll try an ill advised poor pass. He's just not a very good player. He's a back up pg at best. On a team with two good pg's he's a benchwarmer.
Lin throws that no look to the guy running down the lane in the break. That's the best pass in his repertoire and he tries to do it all the time. Other than that he's not making a lot if passes that set up teammates for easy shots.
I think this explains why his assists are down this year from last and even more from New York. Lin can get assists when the focus is on transition offense with the ball in his hands and also on pick and rolls in the half court with the ball in his hands. If he goes to a team where that's the game plan, he'll get plenty of assists (he'll still get plenty of turnovers though). But that's not the game plan here in Houston. The focus is on read-and-react (with multiple players slashing and other players hanging out at the three point line) and also on whatever James Harden (an incredibly efficient offensive player with the ball in his hands) wants to do--and there's also some dumping of the ball to Dwight in the post. Obviously, I don't think the Rockets should focus their offense on Lin, but I think they should run more pick and rolls for Lin and Howard, and adjust substitution patterns so that Lin and Howard play more time together without Harden on the court. Harden doesn't as much need other good offensive players (other than decent three point shooters) to be on the floor with him. He's just that good.
Very crazy. Lin has always been a great Pick and roll man. Hakeem said he was deadly with Howard. He was so successful in NY because they ran a bunck of PNR with him.
Lin couldnt play Bev's role (3 and D) because his 3 point shot is inconsistent and his D leaves more to be desired. Lin is at his best when he's unchained and can freewheel as much as he likes. This makes his confidence go up but he'll also give you a few TO's with this style of play.
This is why Asik is more efficient with Lin. Asik can do dirty work to set up PnR for PG, and our superstar center is not willing to do it.
Lin's assists are down compared to last season, but so is the assist rate for the team overall. The team is scoring well overall, but a relatively high portion of those are unassisted baskets compared to other teams. One reason for it is the PF position, I think. Patterson and Morris mostly spotted up for assisted jump shots and kept the paint open for dribble penetration. I don't think that Jones and DMo get the same respect from the defense most of the time and they tend to hand around the paint more. So there goes a few of these "drive and kick" assists.
Patterson did space the floor well (with his midrange) but the rockets are playing at a slower pace and in the half court more , where they essentially try to run a 2 man game more often.
Why not try to recreate Linsanity by putting him out there with a good peripheral guy and just scrubs and make him the 1st option when he's on the floor? You can always tell by his body language when he brings the ball across mid court if the possession will go well or not. He had an entirely different mentality that helped his shooting stroke when he knows that everyone wants him to score.
He is a rhythm player and he's been completely out of it for a while. Really, he's a player who needs to have the ball in his hands with the freedom to dribble, dribble, dribble. Kind of like Steve Francis. But it's not a winning formula. I enjoy watching Lin when he's on, but he's just not a good fit right now.
