1/2 defensive/offensive punch depending on matchups. Sounds like a good plan. Some posters^ are either too dumb to know, or selfish to care about what's best for the team.
Why does that even matter? Their contracts will expire after next season and we can resign them for less or let them go.
I don't think it does matter. 16M on the bench is terrible when its because your superstars are playing poorly, but not when the role players have exceeded expectations.
I know the typical move is to keep the starters from Game 1 all the way till Game 82... But reckon we could try today's line up once or twice? Lin/Harden/Parsons/Dwight is the obvious winning combination in terms of starters, but man after seeing Bev meshing so well, I'd love to see today's line up played a bit. Perhaps against a team with a very strong bench (e.g. Clippers?) where Beverly doesn't have enough offensive prowess to maintain the lead as Lin? Either way, its looking good!
Morey has made clear in multiple interviews that neither he nor Alexander interfere with coaching decisions. I take Morey at face value. That said, if I was Alexander no way I wouldn't want to start Lin in Asia. Even if you were going to reduce Lin's minutes and have him play primarily with the 2nd unit, that could easily be achieved by starting him and then switching his minutes for the "experimental" line ups. Nobody is going to remember the outcome of this game in several months, people will however remember having Beverley start. In terms of market positioning, you never want anything distracting from your core message or product image. And ultimately the players are all assets that exist to enhance the value of your product (team).
Morey find the players that he see fit the team it's McHale job to get the most production out of the team to win if we win no one will complain
It doesn't matter who starts the game but who finishes it. I don't think it will hurt Lin's confidence if he is the sixth man. But if he consistently get benched in 4th quarter when it matters, I can see him getting frustrated. At this point, it's still a tough competition for him. Lin has to show the coach he can nail those open 3s and play solid D during clutch time.
Don't be ridiculous. You think that even though Lin had the same number of minutes, more touches, more points, more rebounds, and more assists, the mere act of "not starting" detracts from the "product image" or "core message'? You prefer it if McHale started Lin for 1 minute and took him out immediately for Beverley?
McHale has been doing that all season. I cannot recall one coach pull out their starter at 6 minutes and let the bench has a full 12 and the bench finished the game.
I think people dont realize that Lin will still get 30+ minutes a game even if he was 2nd unit. Even then, this is not a big deal. If you think about it it would probably be a good thing depending on the match up that Bev starts in some games.
By definition the existence of these threads are de facto evidence that the core message of the product is being diluted. IE, people are talking about the start vs not start vs the actual game. During preseason people ignore minute allocation totals as they realize the line ups are not set in stone. Carmelo Anthony played 20 minutes in the preseason game vs Boston. Hardly anyone raises a peep. You can guarantee that if he wasn't starting that it would become a major topic of discussion on NYK boards. Play Lin for the first 4 minutes, then do all the subbing you want, reach the same minutes totals, and nobody says a thing other than assessing the actual play. Heck, you could even play Lin for 15 or 16 minutes vs 20 and there would be less discussion. That the topic of Lin not starting is being mentioned in press coverage means that it has become a point of discussion not related to the actual performance of the team (and fodder for debate). There's a reason politicians repeat the same catch phrases over and over. It's called staying on message. The message of the Rockets should be "look at how great the team is this year", not whether Lin starting vs not starting means anything. This is why it's very rare for teams to mess with visible members of their starting line up during preseason. Whether it's a good basketball move or not is fully debatable. As a business choice, it's not ideal by any stretch.
He won't get 30+. Just look at this game, he got 23, and Bev got 26. Mchale is clearly intent on Lin getting less minutes than Beverly.
Actually everyone in the Rockets organization will remember the outcomes of the games, so I don't know who is "nobody" and who is "somebody" to you. I'm ready to agree with you that McHale does not care about marketing. And I'm glad about that. This--"ultimately the players are all assets that exist to enhance the value of your product"--shows that your ultimate goal is not to win the most basketball games.
Exactly. If Lin was already getting benched as a STARTER, why would Mchale leave him in as a backup? It makes no sense. People just want to appease themselves, or LOFs by saying Lin will still get 30+ minutes, but he obviously won't. I can't believe i'm agreeing with a LOF.
The outcome doesn't matter. The Pacers are a top defensive team and started the game with their starters for the most part. Beverley and Jones teamed with the Triumvirate to score at will on the Pacers starting 5 (minus Granger). If you can score on the Pacers, you can pretty much score on anyone. The preseason is about getting a team ready for the regular season. I expect there may be a preseason game(s) when Asik starts over Howard. Can't wait for all the HOHs to come out of the closet.
This is preseason, the coaches are tying out to see what's working the best. At the end of the day when the regular season arrives, better players will end up starting, that's always the case. Harden came off the bench for the OKC because Westbrook was better, Manu didn't always came off the bench, he switched back and forth for a while, because the Spurs' offense often fall into a funk, they need to make a change.
Your or my personal opinions on the purpose and value of a team and it's players are irrelevant to how they are actually valued by the owners and management. As for my goals, I have no goals as a "fan". Why? It's because ultimately I have no say in how the team is run, so having goals sounds rather silly. That's like saying that my goal is for it to rain today. Whee it rained... I feel better now. See how ridiculous that sounds? On the flip side, the Owners are billionaires. They invest hundreds of millions of dollars into their teams. You think they genuinely don't consider profit their #1 goal? That doesn't mean that winning isn't a high priority (for some Owners), or that winning can't be an equally high priority (for some Owners), however to discard the reality of the NBA being a big money business to me seems to be ignoring the reality that billionaire or not, hundreds of millions of dollars isn't something you take lightly. Fans don't remember pre-season games because they don't matter. They hardly remember most regular season games. I doubt McHale, Morey or anyone else in management could recall the scores or minutes played during last season's pre-season games without looking them up. Some fans will remember Lin not starting. And depending on how the season plays out they may remember it for some time. That's just how people remember things. They remember things that are unusual, they forget things that fall into the category of normal. Unless you happen to have an Eidetic memory, then you remember everything. Still doesn't change the fact that while we can call the Rockets "our" team, in the end the team belongs to Les Alexander and him alone. His money, his team, his cash on the line. Just ask Seattle about how much of the team belongs to the fans.
You need to look at the "big picture". These threads are not evidence that the product message is being "diluted". These threads would be substituted with "Why did McHale bench Lin so early in the 1st quarter" instead if we followed your solution. Have you thought about how much more insulting it would be if Lin played bare minimal minutes before being subbed out? You also have it the other way around. It would definitely not be a good basketball move if you make your coaching decisions based on financial reason. It would be a "questionable" financial move, but unless the NBA is somehow losing significant revenue because of this, then the Rockets are still better off. After all, they are looking at "the big picture", the championship. You forget, this team isn't OKC. They aren't just trying to make money, they want the championship. If this very move helped the Rockets win the championship in the future, do you think Les Alexander cares if Lin started or not?
