Here we go again. Some Lin fans play up this power struggle theme again. Can't you learn to trust somebody? They are teammates. They all want to win. They help each other in battle. It's not ball should be mine or yours, or whoever's mentality. They are still learning and adjusting to each other's games. The same goes with the coaches. So don't jump up and down complaining the coaches did not let Lin have the ball enough, or whoever, at this stage. Both Harden and Lin are here for the long haul.
Well being the original poster, that was not my intention. I wanted to hear discussion and new ideas on what the coaches are trying to do with the new team. Were they just experimenting with new sets? Why the minimal involvement with Lin? was Mchale trying to see what harden was really capable when he was given the ball at the top of the key? What wwas the coaching staff doing? I merely pointed out that it seemed really troubling if they bank everything on Harden. If it wasnt Lin, I'd be saying whatever other point guard was starting for this young team should be given more chance then dump at half court and sit by the corner for 3's.
Thank you. So much paranoia going on around here. If I see "defer" again today, ugh. Have some of you ever considered that Lin is a human, is not perfect, and his legs were gone or he may not have had the confidence to take the shots that day? You're setting yourself up for disappointment if you're expecting him to get the ball every play and put on the Lin show every game.
I am one of the few here who believe in our offensive system. Fans need to be patient. McHale and the coaching staff is taking what's given and makes the best out of our situation: 1. no legit postup players down low. 2. two backcourt G's who can penetrate. 3. Young team. (young exuberant energy, run whenever we can) When the game comes down to half court play, our biggest advantage over other teams is in the ability to penetrate from backcourt. To maximize this, we need spacing from all players. That means some have to camp out at corner 3P line. In order for this to work and defenders not creeping back to the paint, we have to make the open 3's! Corner 3's are second most efficienct shots in NBA. If we can't make them, we are screwed...as in our last two games. If Harden, Parsons, Lin, PPat, Delfino can knock down the open 3's with any consistency, we will have a top 10 offense in NBA. When the outside shots are falling, it will open up the inside game for Lin and Harden. It's that simple! Harden is still raw at running the offense from top of the key. His timing was off, couldn't fully utilize the screen from Asik or PPat, and had lots of trouble reading the defense and traps. Give him time to develop into a great playmaker! Since Rockets moved to Houston, no headcoach was ever fired or placed during midseason. For fans who want McHale fired, it's not happening.
if it is in the case, why don't use Lin to run the offense because we don't have the time to develop Harden into the great playmaker and Lin has that already.
It's about flexibility. A two-headed dragon is a lot dangerous than one-headed. Any playmaker can be easily shut down by a lockdown defender. It's a lot difficult to lockdown two. A lesson learned when Parker was shut down by Sefolosha in game 3 and they had no one else play second fiddle running their offense. We aren't going anywhere this season, and might as well develop Harden into another potent playmaker.
but now Lin is not spot shooter and Harden is better. When we play Harden as PG and Lin as Novak that is not good for the both of them
Exactly! It's unbelievable. What does he have against offensive sets. It just boggles my mind. I just don't get why they keep this guy. I would rather see Kelvin Sampson as head coach. Two college teams I truly enjoyed watching were Bobby Knight's Indiana teams and Kelvin Sampson's OU teams because of their creativity on offense. It's amazing that this guy is sitting in such close proximity to McHale. All of this technical knowledge on offensive sets not being used; instead it's a heavy dosage of predictable pick-and-rolls, one-on-one play with everyone standing around looking stupid. Unbelievable.
exactly. This is game and use the player's strong skills and developing other during other time. Lin never is 3 point shooter like Novak but he is PG. He has his strong playmaker skills. Put that way let Harden play with TD as starter and let Lin come off bench if Harden wants to handle the ball all of the time.
Most confusing to me are his comments on establishing a rotation. Still figuring it out but how can you do that when the guys you draft to be the future languish on the bench. Reminds me of JVG in that regard. Irritating when I feel like the rooks can help. Playing guys 40+ minutes is asking for trouble.
I'm thinking the same thing some people posted on this board earlier: its still early, and Mchale doesnt want to throw rookies in to the mix because clearly the starters need some work with chemistry, knocking down shots, running sets...etc. The starters are an ongoing project in general, getting them to play as a team. I was just so blown away that they seemed to play decent in the beginning then it seemed like this denver game they regressed. Someone else pointed out that it looked like they were just trying new things that the coaches might have gone over the past 3 days of practice. Like other posters typed on this thread: Its still early, give it time to develop.
Chemistry is overrated. Good coaches produce good chemistry. The only exception is when you have a cancer on your team.
This is a very young team (the youngest in the nba?) with chandler, lin, harden, asik and whoever the starting PF is all 26 or younger, each with anywhere from a few months to a few years of service; with many of those games coming as backups (lin, harden, asik). The bench is also very young and inexperienced. Simple logic dictates that a team this young and unproven will likely struggle to find out how to play with, and off of each other. McHale's track record shows that he can produce .500 with either very modest talent, or significant talent which is very young and inexperienced. In the WC, this is pretty darn impressive. Stop hitting the panic button after every loss and the facts will become clear.
McHale is trash...always has been and always will be as a head coach in the NBA. Meyers Leonard is being featured in highlights on ESPN, but a guy like D-Mo absolutely owned him in the summer league. There are players on the bench that are better than his rotation players, but they never get to play. The alternative, however, is stats geek Chris Finch so pick your poison.
well sad to hear the news...hopefully the new coach changes things around. After the last two games its looking like their slowly making gains. Miami game is gonna be brutal to watch...lol
When it is said and done lebron james will go down as one the 5 greatest players in the history of the game. Harden isn't that good.
