I actually agree that there is some merit to breaking apart Lin and Harden. If Douglas were to start, he could handle the ball less (which is good) and spot up more (which has been good historically). Having Lin and Harden on the court at the same time makes one of their ball handling wasted and tends to turn Lin into a jump shooter (bad). I think ideally a Douglas / Harden / Parsons back court is a good mix because Harden can handle and the others can play off of him. Lin / Delfino / Morris works in a similar manner. And no the do not view starting vs. coming off the bench as any sort of reward or punishment. The game is about matchups and synergy of lineups.
That's the point. If you have Harden play 38min, and Lin play 34min, there will be at at most 10min that they don't play together. Coaches can find those 10 minutes for Lin and Harden to play separately within the course of the game, without us needing to see Toney Douglas start. Please, no. And when they do play apart, Harden can be playmaker SG with Douglas as defensive oriented PG (I can't even say shooting PG ... it hurts to think about it) and when Lin plays and Harden sits, he can facilitate and playmake predominantly. No need for Douglas to start, unless you only want Lin to play at most 26-28 minutes (ie want Douglas to play 20-22minutes ... yikes). That is why the thread is so silly.
But if we start Harden with TD as a spot up shooter that makes Harden so much easier to defend. He would be the only credible playmaker out there & teams will just blitz him. We saw that in the Pistons game when Lin was in foul trouble. The threat of having Lin & harden out there as starters works in the sense that they have to guys that can attack. But the more the coaches limit Lin's attacking opposing teams will just stop being wary of him & just focus on harden. In the last possession of the game the heat had Wade on Lin & LBJ on Harden. That is why I have been saying let Lin attack more this way it makes it easier for Harden.
Didn't McHale try that in the Memphis game. TD didn't play at all and Lin and Harden split the minutes, although Harden stilled played more minutes. Lin only had a few minutes to do anything, but if he does get more then that might work.
Coaching staff doesnt need a PG apparently anyway so might as well move him now in my opionon...get something for jlin. I dont care much for this coaching staff at all, they dont have much of a offensive game plan if thats what they call it. Shooting 3's will be streaky all year there is a reason they call it "fools gold". Its frustrating to see both harden and lin who could play great together taken out of there strengths and both shooting poorly. I guess I dont understand the "plan" from the coaches, maybe some of the great basketball minds do. Tough to watch these games right now.
It's time to trade for another star. Maybe someone who won't dribble of a foot (Harden) or air ball a wide open three in the clutch (Lin). Tony D is garbage, people.
7 games in. Enough of that move Jeremy Lin for someone else crap. James Harden is not a PG. He is not Kobe or MJ or LBJ. He needs a PG. Westbrook was a PG. Harden needs a PG to get him a better shot. He really only has 3 moves ... 3pt shot, dribble in create separation and mid range shot, or go all the way to the rim for a lay-in. Hasn't anyone noticed this? The reason why he's difficult to defend is because he has a quick first step, has long strides and a long wingspan and his overall quickness allows him to get a lay-up just over the outstreched hands of the defender or help defender. And it gives him good separation on jump shots. But he has few other moves. He doesn't post up. He hasn't come off screens for shots (like Kevin Martin), he doesn't have a second move once his first option is taken away from him, probably because he is fast enough to get his first option up (even if it's not a good shot). I'm sure he's still developing his game. But SGs like this benefit from having a PG create an easier shot for him, either by getting his defender to help on defense and giving him some additional space, or getting his defender off balance or on the back pedal. I'm sure the coaches will come around to this, and try to find Harden better shots. I'm sure they don't want to continue to see Harden put up his stats for the last 5 games - 17% from 3s, 33% overall FGs and 44% TS%. Have some patience.
Tony, If you want to plead for the starting job, take that $h!t someplace else because we ain't buying it on here on Clutch Fans
Trade Tony I believe the KNicks are paying his contract, he has good value perhaps a second round pick..... then unleash the Machado!
At first, I thought this is a terrible knee jerk reaction. But as I thought about this more, this idea is becoming more and more appealing. With Jeremy camp in the corner is just as good as Tony Douglas in the corner. One say why not Cook or Delphino, well, that won't work because they will get killed on defense. You also can't have Harden defend opposing point guards. He is slow. He is having trouble defending quick shooting guards already. Tony's 3 point shots are as bad as Jeremy's. So we are not losing anything. But we do gain a dynamic play maker in Jeremy leading the second team. Of course, I am assuming Jeremy closing out the game in the final fourth quarter (rather than Tony). And depending on either Jeremy or Harden had a better night in initiating offense, he will close out the game being the initiator of the offense in the final clutch time.
The problem with our offense is opposing teams are conceding three point shots and we aren't knocking them down. Start hitting threes and it changes everything.
Yeah I'm sure that'll do wonders for Lin's confidence...coming off the bench is NOT the answer. Making him be the PG and main playmaker is the answer. Harden can still be the first option...That's fine...but making Lin a spot up SG is insane. You have 2 very good weapons in harden and lin. Use both and not just one.
I think the surgery still bothers Jeremy (at least psychologically). Having him lead the second unit is also a way to ease him into the game. Having him as starter but only to camp out for three point shooter will do more damage to his confidence than having him man the second unit. The important part is he is the one who close out the game. He is smart, he knows that whoever closing out the game is much more important than who starts.
We need to make Royce White the 2nd unit PG on offense and Toney Douglas the Iman-Shumpert SG role, where he pretty much doesn't do much on offense but focuses on defending the opponent's best guard.
I'll say it again. Harden will play ~38min and Lin will play ~33min. For the 10minutes per game that Lin may not overlap with Harden, there is no need to bench Lin. Just manage the minutes wisely between the two so that when Harden is on the bench, Lin is on the court. How difficult is that to understand? The only reason to start Tony Douglas ahead of Lin is if he is a better fit with the starters or a better player than Lin. He is neither. He's shooting 10% from 3 vs Lin 31%. He's not even a better spot-up 3pt shooter right now. So how is he going to take pressure off Harden or space the floor? He's not even a better defender than Lin. There is no reason to play TD other than to give Lin a rest. That is all. Unless he can eventually recover his 2009-11 shooting touch.
