You mean Harden? Hahaa...there are even articles focusing in his inability to defend. It's not surprising that opposing guards tends to have career-high stats against him.
So either you don't watch games, you don't know what you are looking at, or you just refuse to believe what you see. Twice last week they had to put Parsons on the opposing teams PGs to cover for Lin's bad defense. CP3 and Dwill. This is a fact, it is not an opinion, this is fact. I am sorry you chose a mediocre player to idolize. I am sure the rocket fan backlash at his poor play has been hard for you. But when your irrational fandom starts manifesting realities that aren't real, they call that "mental illness", and it is not a good thing.
Yes harden is pretty bad. Capable but lazy. Lin is the opposite. Tries hard but incapable. Low BBIQ really hurts him in this area.
I've addressed several issues with the "eye test" and how it overrates people like Beverley and underrates people like Lin. Namely - flashy, high risk defense with attitude trumps hand in your face, solid defense in terms of notoriety. This is NOT to say that Lin is a better defender, but rather that the difference between the two is not effectively that great (except in certain situations like covering screens, but that's another story for another day). If Lin was such a Liability, why do you not see teams attack Lin directly? The NBA is all about mismatches, and if you have a liability standing across from you (see: Joe Johnson versus Harden), you go to that play over and over until the other team adjusts. Lin can hold his ground against 90% of PGs in this league, and will get burned by the remaining elite ones. Just like everybody else. Beverley is your quintessential "safe" offensive player because he doesn't do anything on offense except clean up the occasional rebound and shoot wide open threes. This is GREAT so long as he can get those open looks. While we have not had trouble getting those shots against mediocre teams, we will suffer in a 7 game series against teams that are 1) elite and 2)can adjust to the Harden/Howard combo. You absolutely need the 2nd creator on the perimeter, especially since Howard is not a post threat in the same way Duncan or Shaq were in the past. Lin looks lost: sure, he has had really bad moments. But when he is healthy and not injured, he has shown us that he is the only other player on the team besides Harden who can create his own shot. Parsons can depending on his matchup, but its often very iffy. Again with the eyeball test - Lin's mistakes look REALLY ugly sometimes, but people use these turnovers and mistakes to overshadow all the good things he does, just like how they use Beverley's hustle and attitude to hide all his deficiencies. Barring certain types of turnovers (ones that lead to fastbreak points), the majority of turnovers are created equal. People need to stop harping on how ugly it looks and realize that Howard getting stripped essentially has the same effect as Lin jumping into the air and throwing a bad pass.
Absolutely not.... As long as Harden, Parsons, Howard is on the team he will NOT be the #1 option..... Want to know why? Because all of them are more consistent and reliable than Lin..... Lin had his chance and he lost it. He lost his own minutes and yeah we cant blame him for failing but we cant blame everyone else either for his failure. Every player ever has to make the most out of his chance to play when he finally gets the chance. Every rookie out of college or over seas will have to adapt to a new role and or follow orders from the coach on what to do to help his team out. The Rockets don't have to adjust to Lin, Lin has to adjust to The Rockets needs. He cannot get more minutes the way he has been playing. He is hurting The Rockets and the team cant suffer because Lin has to have every single opportunity to succeed. Lin gets to play every night and every night he has a chance to make an impact. Beverley wants it more and does make an impact even if it is just that one steal that seals the game.....
Low IQ really hurts your ability in your life. When Lin finally guarded Williams in the 4th quarter, he shut him down completely. These are both facts, not opinions, facts.
Although IMO this thread is a bit ridiculous, it's worth it just to see the disgruntled LOF's meltdown, haha.
This is purely to satisfy my own curiosity, but when was the last time you saw an opposing coach call repeated Iso plays to attack Lin directly? I can't remember a time. I admit Lin is not good on screen and rolls, but stopping the ballhandler on a PnR is 90% on the big man. Lin is fine in 1v1 scenarios against the majority of PGs. You bring up a good point with Parsons. I haven't seen the Nets game, but against CP3, you want as many different looks as you can. You're not going to stop him with one person guarding him all game long. Lin definitely can't cover CP3, so I guess McHale wanted to use Parsons length against him. I Didn't really work either... TBH, I don't see Lin's inability to cover the top PG in the game an indictment against his abilities.
Besides saying that Lin won't be the #1 option behind a bunch of superstars, I don't see any logic in what you're saying... You say that the Rockets don't have to adjust to Lin, which is correct. However, then to rub it in everyone's faces when Lin doesn't play up to their expectations because he adjusting to a new role is odd. You say that Lin has had every opportunity as it was a given, and has squandered them all. However, Lin was playing like a sixth man of the year before he was injured and suffered through nagging injuries. Hardly his fault, and not necessarily assessment of his abilities... You say that Lin has a chance every night to make an impact and Beverley wants it more and makes more of an impact with one steal... any evidence that Lin doesn't make a positive impact? Or is this an eyeball test kind of situation?
How did Parsons do when he had to guard them? He was pretty bad. I don't think Lin would've done a worse job than how Parsons was guarding them.
I would say Lin is an underrated defender compared to what ppl here say. He's a good one on one defender, and even though he doesnt have great lateral quickness, he has good size and can generally stay with most point guards. He tends to ball watch sometimes though and also helps out too much which leaves his man open. He also can't get through and go over screens, but none of our point guards can
I see your point, but Parsons and Harden have shown poor plays many times, but they are kept in and allowed to play through their mistakes. Parsons normally plays about 40 min and he keeps shooting. Of course, he'll eventually make his shots. That's fine with me, but it has been proven that when Lin is kept longer than his usual 20 min. or so, he plays better by the 3rd or 4th qtr. Then why is Lin kept on a short leash? Am I wrong that this doesn't happen? Before you say I am, you have to admit that what I said about Parsons and Harden to play through their mistakes, is true. Lin a not a good off the ball guard. It's unfortunate that this team doesn't allow to play him to his strengths, but only his weakness.
Its not rubbing anything in anyone's face to state the truth. Truth is Lin has not played to expectations and or has played well even. Lets stop making excuses for him thou. He is adjusting, he is new on The Rockets, he is injured, he didn't get enough minutes, he didn't get the ball when he was open, he didn't get enough passes, the coach hates him, everyone hates him, he got fouled..... These excuses are all bs because you can use those for every player ever.... He has had the opportunity to succeed and has not. He can have the abilities but if he cant perform than what do they matter? I could be the best three point shooter in the world but if I choke under the spotlight then my ability means jack. Lin can hit a three here and there and make a positive impact but the issue here is Lin makes more mistakes than wise decisions. Ooooh but that stats don't prove that.... The stats will always be a measurement of what happened not how it happened. If Lin hits an open three and Canaan hits a well guarded three in the 4Q will those two players be equal in your eyes? They both had positive impact once its all said and done right? So they are equal? No... I'm sorry but No.... The eyeball test? You know what I would consider the eyeball test? The opinion of those who watched the game and not just the stat sheets after the game... Because I can tell you right now stats don't always tell the story of how it happened... Just how the story ended.
Fish definitely hit a few key shots, so he may be the exception to the rule, but overall his impact was minimal. His teams were among the most stacked ever. First lakers team, Shaq Kobe Glen Rice Horry AC Green B Shaw Rick Fox etc Second lakers team, Kobe Gasol Bynum Odom Ariza/Artest Farmar Walton Vujacic etc.
But see that's the thing... We know Parsons and Harden are going to start hitting shots. We know that no matter how poorly they are playing that when that 4Q starts they can change the whole game. How do we know? Because they do and because they have been doing it all season long. We cant wait for Lin to play more than 20 min a game until he starts making something happen. We need him to get off the bench and have instant impact. If Lin started being more consistent we would have the same expectations for him and the patience to let him stay In the game but so far we cant trust him. Its pretty much Lin sucks tonight- again or Lin just hit a three?- what? maybe he is about to start playing well... only to see him run down the court and miss a layup..... Lin has to earn his playing time the same way Harden has earned his right to hold the ball 24 seconds in the 4Q because you know what? We know The Beard Is about to break the opponents heart with a dagger three...
1) In your post, you're all about understanding the story and how/why things happened, right? So you want to sweep everything under the rug by generalizing all context surrounding a player as an "excuse"? I agree that if you can't perform then you cannot be an NBA player - Dwight shooting 80% FTs in practice doesn't mean anything if he shoots 50% in game. However, if Dwight is completely ineffective because he just got back surgery (like last year), would you write him off as a complete failure? Especially when he has a track record that says he has the talent to play? Now apply this line of thinking to Lin, albeit on a smaller scale 2) You keep saying that "Lin makes more mistakes than wise decisions". Are you sure this is true? How do you prove this? This is why there is so much contention between posters like yourself and Lin defenders like myself. Ambiguous arguments that can't be dissected and must be taken either as fact or fiction help nobody. Also, I don't know if this was actually part of your argument or just an example, but Lin has been pretty good in 4th quarters, at least according to my eyeball test.
You are so wrong in many ways. You have seen a few games with Canaan and you already assumed that Canaan is better than Lin unless you just don't care for Lin. But that is your opinion, let's see what the coaches do with the playoff. BTW, Canaan got 4TOs, 6pts, 24mins Lin got 2TO, 18pts, 23mins yesterday If you are a PG and you take chances, there will be turnovers as long as Lin makes up for in his offensive scoring. Harden is the same. He scored a tons of points, have high turnovers, not so good on defense but so what? as long as we win at the end. :grin:
I don't know what's funnier... The guy saying Lin should be the #1 option or you explaining to him why he shouldn't be. Lol.
