Dude, if i'm reading this correct, then you are proposing to change the rotation to fit Lin's skills best. If I'm not reading that correctly my bad. But if that's what you're saying, then this is exactly everybody's frustration towards LOF's. Who cares who Lin is more suited to play with? Why would you want to change a thing with the way we're playing? Harden and Howard are unbelievable together right now. With the two of them on the court in February, the Rockets have a 117 offensive rating. 117!!! Don't change a thing right now
It's pretty obvious Lin lets coach and players walk all over him. If it is not Christianity that tells him to be passive, then he's just passive by nature. He's unhappy with the situation but he's taking it passively. I think he built up a lot of confidence over the summer and it showed in the early season, but he lost most of it due to losing his starting role. I don't think Lin underperformed. He's just inconsistent. It has a lot to do with McHale short leashing him. He's slightly overpaid to be a backup and for the amount of minutes he plays. He was playing well couple of weeks before All Star break. He's just in a slump, as young players do. And given limited minutes, it's not easy to come out of it. Just the way it is. He needs to figure it out, and bring back his confidence. Coaching staff aint helping him. Besides Bev and Parsons, I don't think anyone else on team is trying to help him either.
<br> These are the type of posts that are 100% serious that are just infuriating because of the ridiculous nature of the excuses being made.
I agree. Lin is what he is. Nobody is holding him back. People just need to accept it and move on. Also, we aren't going to be able to trade him. Not happening so hopefully he can pull it together down the stretch.
I do think there's something to be said about Lin's usage compared to his salary. Yes, we expect the bulk of the weight to be carried by Harden and Dwight because they're the super stars with the contract to match. As such, they also get a lot of lee-way if they start out sluggish or slow. Lin gets starter minutes when he starts hot and has immediate impact, but on the flip side, he doesn't seem to get the time to adjust if he can't penetrate or control the offense as well. Anyway, all of this is so moot. If being a little anemic on offense and just getting out of Harden and Dwight's way is Lin being in a slump, I'd take Lin being in a slump all day any day over Lin being hot and the team losing. He's playing decent defense, and aside from his customary couple bad passes, he's orchestrating the bench well. I think the addition of some new blood (Ham, Daniels) and Asik getting back into game shape will be huge for Lin's production. Right now as the shooters struggle, so does Lin's game as it's predicated on driving and dishing. And if those dishes aren't turning into points, it's easy to pack the paint on him because his handle is weak. All in all, Jeremy Lin is not a joke, he's proven he's not a joke, and you people are all going crazy for nothing. The team is winning! Even if Lin's scoring has been down, it's obviously not hurting the team.
Wow everyone is so sensitive. I just want to hear what people think of this idea to maximize our players potential. Both Harden and Howard is pretty much independent type of players. I would figure Harden stats will not change much with howard on since he's pretty much iso. All I was suggesting is what if we had Asik have more min with Harden and JLin with Howard therefore maximize everyone's ability.
This seems pretty accurate. The good thing about his performance right now is that we're riding 10 of 11 wins and we haven't needed him to play well. I'd rather him slump now than the end of the year or come playoff time. If he can play to his mean it'll be huge for this team.
There has been enough of a sample size to say that Lin can be an incredibly impactful player in the league. Whether his impact will be felt on the Rockets with their current scheme is another question altogether. Lin is a rhythm player and needs to play into a hot hand. Some sixth men shoot themselves into a rhythm (i.e. Crawford, JR Smith), but Lin's strength comes from penetration off ball handling. Lin is not developed in his game enough to work effectively as a catch and shoot/catch and drive player in the same way, and his game is suffering as a result. This leads McHale to pull him, which makes him play even worse as he is never able to get into an effective rhythm. A comparable example is Steve Nash. Beyond injuries last year, why was Nash so much less effective? The Lakers ran their offense completely differently than the Suns, and Nash was relegated to be a secondary ballhandler and spot up shooter, negating all the positive traits he displayed in Phoenix. The Rockets have obviously decided that they are not going to cater to Jeremy Lin's hot hand in favor of Harden and Howard. That is a reasonable strategy. However, we *cannot* infer from Lin's poor performance in this system that "Lin is a joke" as a blanket statement. Would you call Kobe a joke if he sucked because the system had him playing power forward instead of shooting guard? Ultimately, Lin is the X-factor for the Rockets against teams like OKC, MIA, and IND. Harden, Parsons, and Howard have limited advantages against these teams as they all have guys who can lock down these positions 1v1. It is not just important, but rather a necessity, for the Rockets to get Lin going if they want to be truly competitive this season. They can trade Lin next season for all I care, but for now, we need to figure out how to make Lin fit.
You missed the point. Why should we change anything just to maximize Lin's potential? This team is built around Harden and Howard and has really seemed to click in the past few months. Sure, we could start Lin and let him dominate the ball. I'm sure his stats would improve. Unfortunately we're not in this to improve individual statistics. And your assumption about Howard and Harden's independence isn't 100% correct. Howard needs the ball passed to him in the post or off PnR's to be effective. And Harden scores in all types of ways, not "just ISO". I swear half the posts I read incorrectly use "ISO", but I digress. Howard and Harden probably both could play with Asik and Lin respectively. And they have. But clearly it isn't the most effective lineup for the team. Just like Pat starting being more effective for the team. For the team.
I see your point, very reasonable post. But you need to put a bullet proof vest on because you just compared Lin to Nash and Kobe.....jk :grin: I agree with you, the Rockets need to figure out a way to make Lin fit, whether it is get him out of slump, or whatever. That is for the betterment of the team. Him and Asik will be very important to how deep this year's team can go in the playoff
Lin needs to just flat out play more CONSISTENTLY. Idk who put up the stats but Lin performs well in 5/6 game spells then crap for the next 5/6 games. We need the Lin we had at the start of the season cause he's completely worth his salt when he plays that mini-ginobli role like he was at the start of the season.
Lin's role on this team for these two seasons has been defined. The Beverley Experiment has been judged successful. Role-wise, it is now up to Lin to fit himself and take those 30 minutes. And he's untradeable, okay, it seems that way. It may be inferred that were he tradeable, Morey would have already dumped him. He's pouting because in his mind he's doing Linsanity 2 on another team, starting and playmaking for 35 minutes. He's like a superior version of Aaron Brooks, in the sense that given time, he could maybe do more. But as mentioned earlier, it could get much worse. I don't doubt McHale will play Canaan over him if Canaan performs. And I do believe it he needs an involved agent, coach, or sports psychologist to straighten him out. But that's unlikely, so he'll have to mentally pull himself together or just be a moaning and groaning 3rd string pansy until the end of next season.
Beverley could get in foul trouble since Chris Paul has one of the strongest ref shields in the league. So for Lin this is as good a time to step up as any.
<br> Except the difference is Brooks did it consistently for two seasons. Lin has never done anything consistently.
Lin is just in a slump. All NBA players get in one from time to time. Even the stars do. He'll bounce back because he's young.
