First of all, I've always believed throughout the losing streak (and even during the winning streak) that our issue isn't so much the offensive but rather defense. True, we scored more during the winning streak but a lot of the points were direct results of sound defensive stops that allowed us to score transition points. Anyway, two money quotes from the article: “(It starts with) being more of a pest on defense,” Sounds like the coaches want him to work on playing D like Toney D and Beverley. That's a good thing. We know he plays passing lanes and help defense pretty well, tying for 3rd in steals. We've also seen him play good 1-on-1 D. But he can do a better job at disrupting the ball handler and making things a little more difficult for them - i don't think any of this is mutually exclusive. he has good defensive stats and that speaks to his defensive smarts and abilities but adding this element to his defensive game would only help him. “As a point guard, the last person that needs to get going is the point guard,” he said. Not sure if this is a mentality preached by coaches or something that he personally believes (i think it's both) but this quote is VERY telling. THIS is why we see him defer early on in games and only gets going in the second half. He believes that this is his role as a point guard and I've suspected this very early on but this is the first time I've seen this in quotes. i don't disagree with him. we see him consistently trying to get the best scorer going early on in games, and that is james harden, even if james is having a bad start. james should be the first to get going because he's our best scorer, followed by maybe chandler and asik as definitely third option because when his inside game is on we can do a lot more on offense. This is why we see him deferring, looking to get others going and taking only 2-3 shots in one half. there are only a limited number of shots in a game and harden needs his 10 every half, and rest of the shots go to others. the only time he looked for his own shot specifically is the spurs game and that's because harden was out and he was feeling it from downtown. it's obvious now that his struggles and indecisiveness aren't so much related to confidence as much as related to a balancing act of being aggressive while looking to get others involved and playing the true PG role. What i do think will help, though, (in addition to a better 3pt shot), is if he touches the ball more - hard to figure out that balance when you don't have the ball in your hands. what this means is that his numbers won't stand out among top PG's, at least in terms of points per game. but if he's buying into this, and everyone is getting their touches and getting going on offense, this also means that the team will get a lot more wins, which is the ultimate goal. So, all this "is lin the worst PG in NBA" etc talk is pretty meaningless. what he is asked to do (and wants to do) is different from what other PGs are asked to do because they play in different systems, under different coaches. the more appropriate question to ask is whether or not he's doing a good job with what he is being tasked to do by the coaches. he said he is doing "okay" but can definitely do more, and i take his word for it.
So basically TL;DR- Lin needs to work on knowing when to pass and when to shoot the ball. His indecisiveness leads to TOs and bad end of shot clock bail out passes that really limit him as a playmaker. I think as he gets more experience playing NBA games his decision making will get better. That and if he could make a 3 that would obviously expand his game further.
Yup. Exactly. Pretty simple, huh? But not as fun as coaching conspiracy theories (although i'm not too fond of in-game decisions of this staff), arguments on whether he is the worst PG in the NBA, etc..
Learn and maybe get his confidence back. He needs to feel like he did during Linsanity. Dunno how he will regain that feeling, but the onus is on him to stop being a mopey mope
based on friedmans' article and his quotes, i really don't think confidence is an issues. and he will not regain the feeling of linsanity because it was a different role for him. at that time, it was simple. initiate the offense and score of pass based on how the D is playing you. now, not so simple. he is tasked now with getting others involved and get going on offense because he gets himself going. that means getting the ball first of all in harden's hands to get him in rhythm. then look for others to get them going, and that's why we see him consistently feeding asik even if asik can't catch his passes. but wait.. all the while... get his shots here and there and try to get himself going as well. it's a fine balancing act. and it will only be figured out based on experience with his current teammates. hopefully in due time, all this will come natually for him and we'll see less of the "thinking too much" syndrome.
He'll never be the same player if he can't get that feeling. Right now he is thinking too much and mopey. He just needs to start ballin. When he does we'll know it bc his demeanor always shows
This. Lin needs to score early to be a good distributor later on. It's counter-intuitive to how a PG should be--but it's how Lin is built to be optimal. Right now, he's not being optimal.
The problem is not so much a lack of experience as it is the incredibly imbalanced nature of rockets' offense. All of it is predicated upon a harden iso. Everyone else is left standing as far away as possible to give him room to operate. No one cuts, there is no movement, and his teammates are often not even allowed to screen for harden, which would introduce a little bit of motion into the offense. No player on the planet is going to 'develop' and 'gain experience' as an offensive player in this type of a system. At best, they can hope for an occasional kickout to the wing as the defense closes out on harden. More often than not, harden will draw the foul and not pass out. We are seeing the results of this unimaginative iso system now. Harden's scoring is dropping, and his FG% has dropped off the cliff. We will continue to see very ugly results from here on out unless the offensive attack becomes more balanced and introduces more movement. I doubt that it will. Mac is very stubborn.
what this article shows really bothers me. ok, this is not a chess game. you can have time to think all options. this is a bball game. everything has to do with your instinct. if he spent time on how to balance scoring and assisting with ball in his hands, i doubt he would ever be a good pg. i saw time and time he instinctively reacted to other team's defense, beating his defender and attacking the rim. maybe it's time to move on.
Exactly! An elite point guard like CP3 can turn it on anytime he wants, so he takes care of his teammates for the first 3 quarter, then start scoring in the 4th. Lin is different: 1. Rocket already has an elite closer in Harden to take care of the 4th quarter scoring 2. Lin is not very effective when he's not aggressively looking to score So like you said, even though it's counter intuitive, Lin should try to get going and go to a hyper-aggresive mode at tip off, so the team doesn't fall behind and dig themselves a big hole every game.
Who put that thought into Lin's mind? Can he instead get himself going early to "Spark" the team? OMG, he will always look tentative for the first three quarters now. I see more lose coming.
regarding the second point, I think that is Lin's idea, I do remember hear him talk like this in one of his interview before join Rocket. I think this is the point maybe his idea is crashing with coaches. I think coaches want him to get himself going first, since he is a scorer, and this team lark of consistent scorer other than Harden is the problem, so he has to score first. Yet different from his time in NY, he always look for assist before attacking make him less dangerous. I think sometimes Lin forgot that when he is in attacking mode, he is more powerful than some of his other teammates. I'm wondering whether coaches purposely cutting his PG duty just to force him to switch into attacking mode early. I do feel he got to play PG more when he is having a good game. Not sure whether he demand the ball more or he was given the ball more though.
Lin has reverted back to his deferring mentality and that's a key reason for us in the losing streak. Its clear we are a much better team when he attacks the basket and scores early. It opens up his teammates and also builds his confidence. I don't know why he is not listening to his coaches here.
i am not sure what coaches told him. at least on this board, alot fans wanted him to be a traditional pg.
