How many times do i have to tell you that i never expect this young Rockets team to be winning. Even if we win games, it doesn't change the fact that this is not the way to utilize Lin's talents. Ironically, for someone with a team on a rebuild and main focus should be developing our young core.. they rely too much on Harden on offense. I know this is obvious choice being that he's our best player on the team but it resembles desperation for wins while sacrificing other player's potentials. Find one post from me so far this season that i complained and got mad about our team losing a game rather than accusing me of being angry with a loss. You can also read all my tweets. Never post nor tweet bad stuff about our team or blame players for losses or dumb plays. I never even complained with Terrence Jones not being used early in the season. Not a fan of knee-jerk reactions. Just not my style. I've watched all 10 Rockets games so far and i only have one problem. I could care less that we're currently 4-6, i could care less if we were 0-10 as long as they're utilizing our players the right way.. Particularly Jeremy Lin.
My assessments are based on the 10 games i've seen him play so far. Not just on that 1 game against the Lakers where he took 9 fg attempts. I've commended how good he has been with setting up his teammates.. hence, his nice assists numbers but he has to be more assertive on offense. If you're content with 10 points per game coming from at the very least, our 2nd best player on the team then that's all you. I never expected Linsanity 2.0 to happen but what i can't stand is the coaching staff continually misusing him.
Looking really good setting up teammates but still not shooting well or drawing fouls. Kind of like Rubio although not quite the playmaker. I sill think his shooting will improve though.
Sorry wasn't talking about you specifically. I was talking about in general. From the game thread people are crying like they thought we would beat the Lakers. Kobe was in a different world today. But yeah I do think that the staff is using Lin a lot better in these last two games. Hopefully it carries on. I think as this does happen he will get more comfortable & his scoring touch will start to pick up.
This. Nobody creates threads like: Harden is a joke, wish we never traded for him, miss Kevin Martin, he's a ridiculous ballhog, he should go back to the bench, etc. Rockets fans don't like the Lin signing. I get that. But of course his fans are going to respond differently when he's practically being blamed for all the losses. (Well, equally between him and the coaches.)
Here, forget the stats, fine. I'm sure you've seen this video before but try to focus on just his aggressiveness and assertiveness on offense here compared to the 10 he has played so far with us. Forget the 38pts he scored here nor the 5 points he scored last night. Just focus and compare his "confidence" and the way he's being utilized by both coaching staffs and tell me in all honesty that there is nothing wrong and we should all be content.. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P0807QfI0vg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I dont think he'll ever get that kind of confidence again, this is when the MSG was rocking, when his face was on ESPN almost as much as Favre and Tebow, and when he was receiving praise all around. I'm sure he felt like a big boss back then. He'll never get to that confidence level again but he can at least gain enough to contribute more than he has so far. You have to keep in mind however that was when Melo AND Amare were both injured, so he was the first option and everything ran through him, he also one of the best 3pt shooters with him in Steve Novak and solid role players. Going off of this I'd rather just play Lin off the bench. We have Asian Rafer starting right now because of his bad jumpshot and Harden handling the ball, why don't we have Asian Crawford instead? He can come off the bench and be a scoring spark as well as run the offense when Harden sits. And I think Crawford gets a lot of undeserved hate because his shooting % weren't that awful and he was always a solid scorer so he's a good guy to bring off the bench. If he chose his shots more I'm sure he'd be considered one of the better SGs. I don't get why that's so offensive to people, Harden had the same role in OKC, and Ginobili with the Spurs. Popovich recognizes you have to balance the offense and defense depending on your roster for the starters.
Lin probably had more good screens set for him in that one game than he has this entire season. Unless you're Magic Johnson, no point guard can function properly with the lack of screens the Rockets starters (basically Asik setting a few poor ones, and nothing else) have been setting this season. (After seeing how good Tyson Chandler sets screens, I'm now not so surprised how well Raymond Felton has played.)
Felton was always good, in the 2010-11 season he averaged more assists than he did now and that was before Chandler was on the team. http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/feltora01.html http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/chandty01.html
Hey guys, Lin sucks. He sucks bad. He's easily the worst starting PG we've had since Maloney. I don't know what his "ceiling" is, and frankly I don't care. I don't put much stock into the whole "ceiling" concept, since the Rockets have never really been good at developing players, anyway. The bottom line is that Lin sucks, and he's had NBA experience before. Lillard is a solid player with no NBA experience, right out of the gate. So, I don't really care about "ceiling" or "potential". Lin got paid, he needs to play up to the level of his contract. He's currently making the Knicks (worst front office in the NBA) look like genius.
The confidence that Lin had in NY was borne out of several contributing factors. He had a coach who supported him and maximized him. D'Antoni loved Lin and the Knicks could feel that confidence from the coach to Lin. Another thing is that Lin was playing with joy. His teammates celebrated and you can see the genuine care and affection. Lin was not just a crowd favorite, most of the team favored him too. The guy's work ethic, personality and humility was infectious. Those things are missing in Houston. The coaches do not maximize Lin, nor do they trust him. They say the right things, most times, but they do not show it in their actions. Lin plays just as hard, but he lacks the joy, the confidence. A second stringer does not dominate the Dirk led Mavs and the Kobe led Lakers by ACCIDENT. All the guys who think so are bull****ters to the nth degree.
Lin under D'Antoni.. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hb4MPVHd-XQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Lin under our coaching staff.. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z7KsuyQb-1Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Confidence is such a hard thing to quantify though. Nobody knows whether has lost confidence or not. We can only go from what we saw in the games & honestly from what I saw yesterday & the previous game he was playing with a lot more confidence & aggression simply because he had the ball in his hands. And some of the shots he missed last night he made them at a high clip in NY. it isn't that he is incapable of making those shots they just aren't falling. Right now Kidd is shooting 54-52-100 with a 20.6 PER. You think that is going to last an entire season? Nope. Law of averages will kick in. Just like Lin's scoring woes won't last an entire season.There are a lot of theories lack of screens, poor spacing whatever but like I said he is getting a few good looks ehre & there shots that he should be able to hit & I think he will as the season progresses.
Hard to say. watching this clip, I'm reminded of how many circus shots/high difficulty shots he made in that run. Sorta unsustainable to hit turn-around jump shots off-balance night after night. I do think you have a point about the coaches not using properly and the lack of confidence though.
Like i said, i keep thinking that somehow our coaching staff will adjust and have Lin become more of a playmaker than a spot up shooter and not overuse Harden and eventually regain his confidence and swag back. I want to see Jeremy take more than 10 shots per game. Harden averages right around 19 attempts per game which is more than Kobe's. Well, Kobe has Dwight,Pau etc. So for Lin to average less than 10 attempts per game with really only Harden and a bunch of role players to pass the ball to just isn't enough, IMO.
Well guys like Morris, Parsons etc need to get shots & hit them at a high clip. The only way to score in the paint is if you have a low post threat (which we don't) or penetration from the guards (which we do). But the guards needs spacing to attack so guys have to hit 3's to spread the floor & keep the defense honest. The Rockets started off the season shooting the most 3PA in the NBA but at the worst percentage. Now that guys are hitting shots defenses will start to spread out & that will open driving lanes. Once those lanes are open then you will see an uptick in FG% & shot attempts. Ideally I hope the coaching staff would have thought players how to set better screens by then also. I think the combination of better screens & improved spacing will do wonders for the back court. it isn't shot attempts that I wan't to see a balance of but PNR plays. Before tonight, Harden had 79 P&R ball-handler plays and 63 Isolations; Lin had 38 P&R plays and 14 isolations. Need better balance.
The bottom line, however, is that Lin (who happens to be our point guard) needs the ball more in his hands. The coaching staff just needs to let him create more. Imagine, who would be spotting up once you run the P&R with Lin and Asik.. Harden, Parsons, Patterson/Morris. Deadly shooters.
