I think that's a fair question and I honestly believe it's J Lin. He drives to the basket and teams collapse on him and he almost always finds an open man. Unfortunately, often times the receiving player wasn't expecting the ball or misses the wide open shot and we have nothing to show for it- not Lin's fault. I think that a summer together will help rectify this. His jump shot comes and goes with his confidence but no one can argue he was shooting great the last two months of the season. Beverley on the other hand isn't a great spot up shooter at all, as evidenced by his FG%. I rarely see him make a great pass. He's quick and fearless and I love that about him but if you expect him to be the PG who will sit out on the wing and rain down 3's all night, you are going to be disappointed. And his defense just kills me. He's phenomenal at rebs and blocks for a pg but he is always lost in the sets and ends up being off his man. Just go back and watch last night's game and tell me how many shots K-Mart made when Beverley was on him (first half) and how many Jackson scored when Beverley was on him (second half). At least we know that Lin is a good playmaker, can shoot the ball decently and plays hard defense (his steal count is proof of that).
There are plenty of threads where LOF's are harassed and attacked- just read any one that basically says J Lin sucks or J Lin needs to be traded etc. I think the frustration for J Lin fans is that he is criticized harder than any other Rocket on this forum of supposed Rocket's Fans. If J Lin had a zero point effort like Beverley did the other game, people would've created 20 new threads to chew him out. If he put up 10 TO's in a playoff game, dude probably couldn't have made it out of the arena. But with everyone else, they seem to get a pass. Dude had an off game, dude did these other little things that were special like drawing a charge. But with Lin, even when he gets off, the prevailing attitude on here is Dude got lucky. Well if you look at his stats, Dude's been getting lucky a lot and at some point you gotta say it must not be luck- the guy can actually play. And I have twice as many James Harden Jerseys as I do Lin and took the day off from work to go see Harden when at his welcome press conference (and high fived him). So don't call me a LOF. I just call it like I see it.
Yeah ofc but we might need to let go of Asik in getting Dwight and I dont want to let go of Asik. People often say Harden carried this team in the reg season but Asik has had his fair share of carrying this team himself on a lot of games. Anyway, I think the 4 position is what we really need to strengthen -- a real low post threat.
The offense will evolve from the simple take turns doing the high pick and roll while everyone spreads the floor to one where the first is a decoy to set up the true attack. This is where I believe the offense is headed and thus why Lin will be the future point guard as opposed to Beverley. Beverley just isn't able to breakdown a defense like Lin can.
guess i'm not the only one seeing this. bev plays a style of defense that focuses on frustrating the ball handler with his reach-ins' and pokes at the ball, but could get in foul trouble if playing starter minutes. he plays an active, harassing style of D, while lin plays a positional style of D. both have its moments. lin doesn't let a lot of people get by him, but he also doesn't make the other person "uncomfortable", which is a phrase he uses all the time when critiquing his own defense. bev, on the other hand, can get under the skin of the opposing player but against someone that doesn't get rattled, he could be left in the dust and give up 5 on 4 situations in favor of the other team. one good thing about this, though, is that by practicing against beverley, it could make lin that much better of a ball handler.
So we are the only two people that see this... LOL. I literally had to count out loud every time Beverley's man got off an uncontested shot before my buddy next to me started to see it.
I agree. Beverley drives in the lane and half the time he will typically put up a shot or dribble back out. He isn't creating for anyone.
Lin has so many tools and will only get better. He's quick, he can shoot from the outside, he finishes well at the hole, he's got great vision... defense will slowly improve with experience. The man has an A+ upside and unless he gets worse, yes, he's my point guard and I'm extremely pleased.
I'm honestly comfortable with Lin and I've never been on the bandwagon for him. I think he can see the floor well, plays decent D, but he just needs to get the catch and shoot down. His weakness in that department has made him a liability to Harden receiving the double team constantly. I think with his work ethic and stronger legs, he'll improve a lot over the off season.
Parson is playing like an allstar (and assuming hes going to improve) Harden superstar (assuming hes going to improve) Dwight Howard comes to Houston (and hopefully improve on his post game since we have the best big man coaches) If Dwight comes we'll trade Asik (NOOOooooo) and pick up a strong power foward Imagine if Lin lives up to his potential and improve on his shooting and handling. Imagine an off season where we have actual plays and not just running the wheel over and over again. Dwight, Lin, Harden, Parson, (insert pf) and a set of offensive plays. Next Year is going to be awesome!!!
Lin actually played the "Bev" style defense when he was getting limited minutes in Golden State. I think it is very hard to play that style of defense for extended minutes (fatigue/foul).
it's kind of funny that we argue and sometimes scream about who is better, who should be the starter, who should be traded, etc,.... if we really watch beverly and lin and understand how they have come this far, we would all recognize that to them being here is all that matters to them. they are very similar it's not even funny. especially they are similar in why we love them so much. underdogs, humble, fighting against odds and winning. why in the world are fans putting them in opposition to each other? whether beverly starts, lin continue to be backup, whether aaron brooks becomes the starter... i strongly believe that as long as both of them are contributing ans doing something for the team, both beverly and lin will be happy! and so should we!
Beverly is not a better defender than Lin. When Lin is healthy and not banged up earlier, he's one of only two PG's(with Bledsoe) to register multiple rebs/steals/blocks in a few games in NBA. Beverly, like TD, is taking advantage of his limited minutes to be energetic/aggressive on defense. When he's starting with heavy minutes, his defensive intensity goes down and fouls pile up quickly. Just go back and check Lin's per minute numbers when he's a sub in GS, his numbers in limited minutes is off the chart good. The same goes for Harden IMO. If harden was asked to play a role and be defensive expert, he has the tools to be excellant. Offensive load and heavy minutes take things away. Would you want last year's Parsons who defends Durant exceptionally well, or this year's Pasons who regressed on defense but improved on offense?
Per-minute numbers are in favor of Beverley. I don't think its any stretch to think that Beverley would average more rebs+steals+blocks than Lin if he was getting equal number of minutes. We also know that the coaches prefer Beverley's one-on-one defense to Lin's, because he's often subbed in for defensive purposes. And then, the +/- defensive numbers also favor Beverley. You're right that expanded role and more minutes can definitely impact a player's defensive intensity, though. Chandler Parsons is a good example of that. But right now, in a key single-possession situation when we need a stop, who do you prefer putting on the opposing team's PG?
Beverley's per minute number is better playing half of the minutes and half of the season of Lin's this year, and that includes Lin's bad start recovering from injury. However, in (somewhat limited sample )of Lin's rookie season as a Warrior, his pace adjusted per 40 minutes numbers: 4.6 rebs/4.5 stls/1.2 blks is overall better than Beverley's rookie season numbers: 5.8 ebs/2 stls/1.1 blks. Lin was 22 years old then, and Beverley is 24 years old now. Basically in more limited minutes, Lin/Beverley had better per minute numbers. Actually when Morey announced the signing of Beverly, I was saying to myself: "People would soon realize this is another Lin" when I came across his reb/stl/blk numbers in the past. I think when both are healthy with similar playing time, they would have very close defensive impact.
Nothing is perfect, but the jump from 29 games of 10mpg to 41 games of 17mpg isn't as dramatic as the jump from 41 games of 17mpg to 82 games of 32mpg.
