Can we have a serious discussion about Jeremy Lin?

how does this thread become the face of "serious discussion about Lin" is beyond my imagination

but I just want to state the fact that OKC is clearly the better team(by a large margin) in this contest. Yes Westbrooks is OOS, but they still got Durant, a top interior defense, and an established rotation with experiences. Houston, as a team, showed once again inexperience and stiffness in the playoff. It is not one man's fault.

Just like LoFs shouldn't praise all the success on Lin, OP shouldn't blame all the playoff lost on Lin neither.

 

Jeremy Lin needs to be given more credit.

He played against Oklahoma, only the best team with an awesome defense. If we were, say, the sixth seed and Ty Lawson/Andre Miller was guarding him, Lin might be scoring 20 a game (sans injury).

Calm down.

 

Lin could barely pick up his arm to cheer for the Rockets without looking like he was being cut open so he never should've tried to play. But he's got heart and gave it a go. If you were a true fan of his you can see he has had more than enough games this season where he exceeded explanations and showed what he can do. Just be patient and let's hope he can stay healthy.

 

Haters don't see that Lin played with heart and tried to help the team by playing while injured. All they have is hate for Lin.

 

Texas?

KIDDING!!

 

What a joke of a thread. A serious discussion requires more than the lame data points OP has delivered. My five year old can come up with a better argument and be less obvious and irrational. Try again...

 

A. Patrick Beverly isn't exactly a journeymen.

B. Average NBA salary is close to 6M, 8M essentially should get you a slightly above average player, Lin's more like average this year (right around average in terms of PER and WS/48), though it was more or less a below average on in the first month + then an above average one later on.

C. As of today, he's not a PG that'll win you anything in the playoffs, but this whole team isn't something that'll win you in the playoff either. as the way things are right now, even replacing Lin with CP3 won't get us past the second round, that's a fact (hell CP3 isn't even guaranteed to get past the first round, and in fact he hasn't since his rookie season.) The WHOLE team needs to get better, and that often takes more "Player X becoming a better player in year 2/3" than "solving everything by a trade of a star player Y"

We can replace this sentence with "Russell Westbrook was a below average player in his first NBA year by a large margin and was a large reason why the Thunder finished with only 23 wins, there's no way the Thunder is gonna contend with him as a PG" and look totally stupid now, but the fact is that Westbrook in his first year had a WS/48 of .035 (which is totally scrubs territory, Lin had .099 this year). but he obviously got a lot better since. There's a perfectly good reason why young teams generally isn't good. don't make the playoffs, and never win big in the playoffs. and that's because young players typically aren't really at the peak of their career.

Granted. Lin doesn't have Westbrook's upside (because there's less than 5 guys in the NBA that really does), nor is it a guaranteed that he (or anyone) really improve going forward, but the general point remains that If you look at truly successful teams in the longer run, almost all of them kept their players together for a long time and few had that much success the first year. Even the LCD Heat didn't win in the first year . OKC was a 23 win team their first year with Westbrook and Durant (they even had Sefolosia too ) .

Lin needs to get better, no doubt about it, the whole team does. Just take a look at those teams with high turnover rates , name one outside of the first year Celtics that really had any enduring success, and that Celtics team had 2 HOF vets coming in, like that happens everyday.

 

A. he played 82 games this year, the only player outside of Asik to do it for this team.

B. by that standard, Westbrook totally sucks too. his weakass break of knee just cost the Thunder a real shot at a championship.

 

Can your five year old play the point guard position by any chance?

 

I like Lin as an individual and a competitor a lot. In a lot of ways, he's too smart for his own good. He plays so much better when he thinks less. I'm not sure if its a McHale thing, a Harden thing, both, or neither, but I think there are better fits for Jeremy than the rockets...

If Lin got the rockets even a fair return I'd trade him. Just because I don't think he's the long term fit next to harden. I'd almost even prefer a healthy Brooks... A pg just looking to score and decent at it. Lin focused so much on facilitating when we've seen Harden needs to be the primary ball handler and can facilitate from there fine.

 

Then you would have Parsons, PF, and Asik's touches going down and their contributions would be diminished. Plus the coaching staff doesn't want a PG that is purely score-first. They always emphasize moving the ball around the perimeter to find a good 3 point look and aiming for hockey assists.

 

usually when athletes play through injury, they get praised

lin tried to do it and he got CRUCIFIED on here!

 

The entire rockets system is not a fit for Lin (too much reliance on threes, no dominant big man who can play above the rim, etc) and vice versa, and that's before we even talk about Harden. Morey should give everyone what they want and trade Lin this offseason.

 

I agree. All over a player option... I can understand we are rebuilding an need to keep our flexibility, but I do wish he were still here. Good fit with this team.

 

I would like to see him play with a good PF. I think that would open things up for him a little bit. He is not a 2nd option more like a 3rd or 4th. But is he overpaid to be that?

 

Maybe if Lin was at least a bit effective instead of being a liability and making painful facial expressions after each play, he would get some praised. Playing when clearly he was not able to don't deserve praise.

Noah praise
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-04-27/sports/ct-spt-0428-brite-bulls-nets-chicago-20130428_1_plantar-fasciitis-joakim-noah-tom-thibodeau

Lin no praise

http://sportige.com/houston-rockets-jeremy-lin-should-never-have-played-04-2013/

 

my fault on the phrasing...i dont think he should have been praised at ALL...but even after this whole season, i was a little surprised at the vitriol being thrown his way...people were criticizing him for trying to play...i think a player should always want to try and play, it shows heart...its on the coach to yank him if hes not playing well...i thought putting him back in for the 2nd half was a huge mistake as he was a total liability in the first half as you correctly pointed out, i can understand the 1st half though with bev in foul trouble...oh well, lets hope things go better in game 4

 

I'm not sure Jeremy Lin can do what Raymond Felton and Nate Robinson and Jarret Jack have done in individual games in these playoffs.