Totally agree, Houston's offense is set up for the ball to go through Harden and Howard. Lakers is set up differently. The triangle offense is what Byron Scott wants. Looks like that fits Lin better IMO.
It is only preseason, but Lin seems to have better passing chemistry with Ed Davis even right now than he did all season with Dwight Howard. In fact, I think Lin just didn't click with Howard on court for some reason because I remember him having good passing chemistry going with Omer Asik and, before Asik, Tyson Chandler, too. At the same time, it seemed like that both Harden and Parsons managed to create better passing chemistry throwing lobs to Dwight by the end of the season and Lin just never quite managed to connect with Dwight.
I remember going to the game and seeing Harden just demanding the ball. Lin was getting chewed out by Mchale and Harden. Before he even made it half court.
liked him enough to invite ONLY HIM to train in the moutains or whererever the hell it was in preseason lmao
Those are my opinion from the body language Dwight expressed. For one thing, I don't think Dwight ever helped Lin getting up from the floor in games. Think he knew Lin would be gone at the end of season. He doesn't admit not liking P&R either, but we can all agree to it.
Yo, that was preseason. Early on, yeah, you can tell Dwight did try to get to know Lin, but he ended up picking Bev. Not sure if McHale starting Bev has any influence to it. And Bev is a very likable guy. Ok, I shouldn't say he never liked Lin, but rather started to not like him towards midway of the season. And it's hard to develop chemistry with Dwight when Lin mostly was practicing with the 2nd unit.
you're reading way too much into it. Dwight didn't even attempt develop chemistry with one of the great PnR players (albeit a diminished one) in Nash. Lin has his fair share in the 1st team with injury/etc. Dwight just doesn't like to play PnR, never has, which is a shame because based on all the metrics he's one of the best in the league.
the games where lin started for injured harden, I remember dwight doing the chinese bow every time lin would score. i'm not buying the howard didn't like lin. howard does hate the setting screen part and defending screens but so did hakeem. yao was very obedient. asik lived to set screens. Cato and dalembert just napped through the games. othella my fella was just never good at setting screens but had a wicked jumpshot.
I'm not. I agree Dwight not liking PnR has nothing to do with Lin. I was talking about 2 separate things. Dwight not liking PnR, and Dwight not liking Lin. Both contribute to the fact they didn't have great chemistry on court. Along with the fact Lin mostly practice with 2nd unit, and even if he plays with Dwight, Harden was/should be the one Dwight plays PnR with.
Dwight's pick and roll game is actually kind of limited in some ways and Morey has mentioned this in the past. Dwight is very good at finishing when he gets loose around the basket. However, his effective radius is rather small compared to some other guys and it isn't just a function of his lack of a jump shot. Look at Blake Griffin, for example. He shoots some Js but doesn't make enough for people to actually bother closing out hard on him. However, Blake Griffin has the ball handling skills and passing ability to act as a "release valve" as a roller-- if the opponent traps the ball-handler around the 3 point line, the ball-handler can throw the ball to Griffin at the FT line and trust him to make something happen basically going 4 on 3. He can dribble attack the basket or find an open teammate (either DJordan for a dunk or a shooter for a 3) from the high post area. Dwight lacks these skills. This fact often makes the Rockets P'n'R an "all or nothing" matter with Dwight. You can trap Harden or Lin or whoever has the ball while rotating to fill up the immediate basket area and the Rockets don't have that "hot route" receiver to throw the ball to and make something happen. They end up having to force a pass because the release valve pass wasn't likely to end up in a high% shot.
