Something tells me that both PGs were acting like little whinny female dogs when they should have been working to make this team a playoff contender and that pissed off everyone involved. Hence, neither are on this team.
Nice take OP. Obviously you are going to need a complete season to judge fairly, but based on what we have to judge now you can tell he's most likely going to be somewhere between pretty ok, and great. Same can be said about Dragic as well, as his career year was similar to that of Lins, and not at the same time. Its going to be interesting next year at this time to look back and see which player was able to stabilize at what production rate over a full season.
And yet Goran won't get us National TV exposure. If they're a wash, then Lin brings Alexander more money (meaning he'll be willing to spend more elsewhere), brings more interest from other FAs, etc.
Informative post, first of all. Secondly, I was watching more tape on Lin the past few days and I really think that playing with as athletic and smart a player as Chandler, who knows what he's good at and moves really well off-the-ball, is going to be fundamental to Lin's success. There's too many times I feel our offense is kind of stagnant, and it's in the PnR situations that Lin seems to be at his most effective. A lot of us are salivating at the prospect of the D-Mo/Lin PnR, and I'm inclined to agree. His defense on isolation seems particularly weak and that's my main concern, aside from his turnovers. He does force passes.
Just some extra stats to throw into the discussion as brought up on rockets.com http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/stop-insanity Spoiler Stop The Insanity! Forget the puns, the only thing that matter is this: Jeremy Lin can play Jason Friedman Rockets.com HOUSTON - First things first: You’ll be seeing no puns here in this space. Not now, not ever. That’s a promise. Because the fact of the matter is that Jeremy Lin is much more than a ready-made moniker made for easy headlines. He’s not just some Disney movie come to life. And despite what you may have heard, he’s also far more than a mere marketing machine. Jeremy Lin is a basketball player. And he’s a damn good one at that. We’ll go into much greater detail during the days to follow, but here’s a primer for those who are dubious or only just now paying close attention to the numbers behind the phenomenon: Jeremy Lin was a very good pick-and-roll player and a spectacular performer out of the isolations last year. His Synergy stats in those categories: .797 points per possession when operating out of the pick-and roll, good enough to rank him in the 63rd percentile at his position, and a whopping 1.022 points per possession in iso situations, which put him in the NBA’s 95th percentile. Those numbers are downright elite. And just in case you’re wondering, the bread and butter of Rockets Head Coach Kevin McHale’s offense is the pick-and-roll. Jeremy Lin will have the ball in his hands a ton and he, like Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic did before him, can be expected to thrive as the primary playmaker driving the team’s offense. Jeremy Lin is an excellent rebounder for his position. His 6.6 rebound rate put him 16th among all point guards last year and his 11.1 defensive rebound rate was good enough for 13th overall. Jeremy Lin gets to the free throw line in bunches. Lin averaged 5.2 free throw attempts per game last season, placing him 6th among all point guards in that category. And during his jaw-dropping January run, he bulled his way to the line more than seven times per game. Jeremy Lin has promise on the defensive end as well. Lin ranked in the 68th percentile at his position when defending the pick-and-roll ball handler, and though some of that is surely do to the presence of Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler, Lin’s above average size (6-3, 200 pounds) and strength allow him the ability to fight and work his way through screens. And though steals are by no means a strong metric of defensive ability, it’s worth pointing out that Lin ranked in the league’s top-10 at the point guard position by averaging 1.57 thefts per game. Like all young players (Lin is just 23-years-old), the Harvard product has plenty of work to do to improve on the defensive side of the ball. But newsflash: the lightning quick point guards of this league give everyone fits. Lin’s smarts and work ethic, however, should help him steadily improve over time. About that work ethic: Jeremy Lin is a gym rat and you’ll find absolutely no one in the league who doubts his dedication to learning and mastering his craft. Lin will live in the Rockets’ practice court and weight room, and will devour as much film as the club’s staff can prepare for him. He’ll put in the time to ensure his shooting improves (and it already improved greatly from the year before) and turnovers decrease. And for those still clinging to the belief that Lin is some kind of flash in the pan, it’s certainly worth noting that the Rockets’ track record at identifying quality point guard prospects over the past five years has been first rate. From Aaron Brooks to Kyle Lowry to Goran Dragic, this regime has consistently pinpointed players who know how to play the position, regardless of whether or not the general public had already caught on when they were acquired. Jeremy Lin is not a finished product. And that, perhaps, is the most exciting aspect of all. The world watched as his storybook tale unfolded and it was undoubtedly amazing. But what if the best is yet to come? What if the Jeremy Lin saga is only just beginning? We’re all about to find out the answer. So forget about the puns. The only thing that truly matters: Jeremy Lin can play and help the Rockets win games. And there’s nothing insane about that. I was really surprised by the points per possession in iso situations, because usually that is a very inefficient offensive output. Future closer? Unlikely, but one can hope.
it would be nice if the commissar gave the green light to his minions to treat lin like a prized possession. He could easily average 22 points if he gets the wade treatment, spending all his time at the line. Make it happen O' great commissar!
Thanks. Curiously enough, last year, the Rockets were one of the best teams in defending against isolation. This is why I believe they matched up so well against the Thunder. It'll be interesting if that still holds true with the giant roster turnover and see how much of it is McHale's system.
The Chandler Parsons affect. Idk how many times they would run an iso play with his man and he just stops them. Too many.
That's certainly a good point, but Chandler doesn't stop them 100% of the time, no one does. You need a good help defender, a defensive anchor below the rim to do well against iso, and say what you want about Dalmebert and Camby but that's one thing they did well. Now imagine if the best defensive center in the league was manning the middle...
I agree. Both help towards iso defence. Now imagine if Hakeem was manning the middle... :grin: I digress. Lin can still improve on defence, and if Asik is signed, he is an elite defensive center also. Heck, Howard is a 3x DPOY if we get him. He will most likely have help similar to what Tyson Chandler did. And on the topic of Chandler Parsons, he can improve on defence too; he was only a rookie.
I think Lowry deserves a break given that it was revealed he wasn't 100% the entire year. After he came back from the bacterial infection, he was even worse defensively, and yet McHale stupidly continued to play Dragic and Lowry at the same time. Now that Lin is here officially, I'm glad that both Dragic/Lowry are gone so we wouldn't have to worry about McHale doing this again. As for Lowry, he is an elite defensive PG. Last year's numbers were misleading since he wasn't healthy. The defense breaks the tie for me. Lowry/Dragic are better overall players than Lin for this reason.
How do the intangibles stack up with Lin and Lowry/Dragic? Of course, intangibles imply we can't really quantify them. How does Lin's drawing charge rate and offensive rebounding rate compare to Lowry/Dragic? I feel like with Lin, what you see him contribute to the box score is basically all you get from him. Lowry/Dragic give you more non-box score Shane Battier type contributions than Lin.
ORB%: Lin - 2.2 Lowry - 2.9 Dragic - 3.5 Kind of a fluky number to measure anything though for PG's. It's all over the place for all PG's.
Agreed. Listening to 790 is so frustrating because of all the idiot callers not understanding how the salary cap works. At least the people at 790 understand the salary cap and can usually shut those people down. Shout out to MattJ. Everyone is an idiot on 610 though. They wouldn't understand anything in this thread. They're so butt hurt about losing the Rockets to 790 and just keep bringing up how many more listeners they have, like that means something. More people watched "Jack and Jill" than "Tree of Life".
