I'm not going to talk for all fans, but I can give you some perspective as to why I defend Lin even though he isn't playing well right now. I feel it is incredibly silly to be trashing him the way some are in this thread. I believe that Jeremy is a special player who is in a situation that limits his ability to succeed. Too many posters on this forum assume that Lin's current play is because "Lin Sucks" and not because of the situation surrounding him. While nobody can say with 100% certainty something is one way or another, let's take a look at some facts: 1) Lin has shown that he has the ability to run a team and be a first option. Look at Linsanity in New York or during the games when he stepped in for Harden. Look at the games when he plays significant minutes - more likely than not he performs beyond his current contract when given a little slack on the coaching leash. 2) Lin has the physical specs of being a borderline all-star. He's got the size, strength, speed, and athleticism to keep up with top point guards. He has shown an elite first step that can blow by defenders and finish at the rim. This guy was shooting almost 50% from the field to begin the season and was noted as one of the best penetrators. I'm not saying he is a Westbrook, but people seem to assume this guy is a Luke Ridnour or a Kirk Hinrich. 3) Lin has shown the vision and basketball awareness to run a team. Although he is making a lot of stupid mistakes recently (i.e. people keep pointing to him getting trapped in the paint and jumping into turnovers), he has shown in the past that he has more than above average awareness. It's not like we're talking about Josh Smith here. To me, Lin's regression (and yes, Lin was playing great to begin the season and was playing with a lot of potential last season as well), is overwhelmingly due to his lack of stable minutes, trust/confidence, and role. 1) Minutes: Not only are Lin's minutes down, they are incredibly inconsistent. As an inexperienced rhythm player, Lin needs to have stability in the number of minutes he is allotted. You need to let him play through his mistakes and not has him looking over his back whenever he thinks about throwing a pass. Also, Lin's inconsistency in when he is getting subbed in (i.e. sometimes with 5 minutes left, sometimes sits out a quarter, sometimes plays multiple quarters) is terrible for a young player adapting to a new role. 2) Trust and confidence: Lin has looked very hesitant this year, and this is not something that was ever apparent in New York or even last year. McHale's constant benching of Lin early on and relegating him to inconsistent minutes (sometimes not even playing him for quarters at a time) kills any kind of rhythm and makes him extremely hesitant whenever he makes a play. 3) Role: Does this need to restated? Lin needs to be a playmaker. Out of his element, it is not surprising that Lin is making mistakes, which just compounds further into confidence issues. Last year he was allowed to play make much more, and as a result he played with a lot more confidence. A common theme I keep seeing is that Lin needs to "man up." That is ridiculous when the situation that he is being put in prevents him from playing to the level we all know he has and can. If you want to trade Lin because he doesn't fit or is a cap burden, I think you can make an argument for it. To say that "Lin sucks" as a blanket statement is completely unwarranted and untrue.
Well thought out post. I would agree with most of your points but I just think the sample of that Lin is too small. I guess I'm old and jaded, but I've seen enough "flavor of the month" athletes in every sport to not jump on the bandwagon right away. I wasn't convinced NY Linsanity was the player we were getting when he was signed. I admit I was skeptical. I also tend to disagree with the points about him being held back as a result of circumstance. This is something I see in the "real world" all the time. When someone doesn't perform, meet a deadline or live up to expectations we hear all sorts of reasons why it didn't happen. Sometimes those are absolutely valid reasons. But at the end of the day the people at the top are primarily concerned with the bottom line. Mainly, that something didn't get done, or didn't get done right. I like Lin. I love underdog stories. I think he's a better player than what he's shown the last few weeks. The beginning of the year with the Rockets he was playing great. Even better than I thought he played during Linsanity. But in this "what have you done for me lately" world it doesn't take long for fans to turn on you. Especially online, right?
I agree that Lin isn't getting it done right now, but it is frustrating to see the mob mentality of piling on the guy without considering potential circumstances surrounding his recent poor play. Like you said, especially considering the fact that he played so well rather recently, its unlikely that he just got permanently horrible over the past month. Some of us see a lot of potential with Lin and just ask people to be patient and look at possible, and more probable, reasons for why he isn't playing well. You're absolutely right that the online community loves to crucify somebody the moment they don't play well. Everybody loves a scapegoat. It's really unfortunate - imagine if everybody at your workplace refused to acknowledge your good work and the potential for future good work the moment you make a mistake...frustrating, right? Now add on the fact that they won't even consider the fact that there might be a reason behind your recent poor performance and tell you to "man up or get out." That environment would be downright toxic. Anyways, just food for thought.
I can't wait for Lin to move on...it's a win win for both sides Hell...I'd be pretty ****ty at my investment banking job if I was constantly marginalized, never got to work on the best deals, had some junior analyst who went to a crap state school get more interesting work than me, had a crazy boss who didn't the know difference preferred stock and livestock, and had an organization that had zero interest in developing my skills long term....fortunately none of the above is true and I'm making good money at a sick job
You brought up this scenario as if there aren't legitimate reasons for all of your complaints. Marginalized? Because there are better options Never got to work the best deals? Again better option on the team More interesting work? You guessed it, better option on the team Crazy boss? The only point you made that has any semblance of legitimacy, but looking at our record and off/def ranks hard to call him crazy Develop skills long term? Again, more interested in developing the better options. As a player only fan I can see how this doesn't seem fair, but this is a team sport. The org does what's best for the team and Lin being the focal point isn't what's best for the team. All that said I want him here and to perform like we know he can and have seen him do. He's better than he has shown recently, but all these lame ass weak excuses have got to stop. Unreal the logic some use to defend him when he is just plain playing bad.
Lol wow this thread came back. Anyways, we all know Jeremy Lin is going to explode when he is traded to another team and have consistent minutes like Dragic. It's just a bubble waiting to be popped and all signs point to that this year. Some rocket fans are just choosing to put blindfolds on their eyes and call him sucky while they still can during the period when he plays inconsistent minutes. It's the same situation as Knicks fans to call him crappier than Felton while they still can during his injury.
Ok, so to parallel the situation from Lin to mine would be, I just came from an ivy league school (see what i did there), tops in my class, proven myself with a great summer stint at goldman sachs the year before, incredible references, and now I sign on for 3 years with morgan stanley, major signing bonus, great salary, promised I would be a key piece to the team by the managing director....only to have some a-hole join the team the day before i start, then my boss inexplicably takes me off a key assignment within days of me starting, brings on some state school scrub who can't model a company to save his life but can fetch coffee and dry cleaning...now I'm confused, although I have great moments where I nail my assignments but this doesn't translate into more consistent work...yeah its all my fault tho
Here is the thing: most of us don't consider Lin anything special, just another role player that happens to be able to score. Some may want Lin as a scapegoat, but real Rockets fan want him to do well so our team will do better and win easier. At the same time, because we don't consider him as more than just another role player, we don't have the patience or the need of patience to wait for him to develop. He needs to either find away to develop himself within the roles given to him as a role player or play himself off the team and hopefully find a team desperate enough to run an offense through him. The way I personally see it is this; Lin is just another mediocre PG in the most competitive and talent abundant position in the league. PG's that can put up the numbers that he has for us over the course of the season, are basically a dime a dozen in the NBA. Morey has already shown that getting a decent PG is not a problem, so at this point in time, the writing is basically on the wall that Lin and the Rockets will be parting ways in the near future. He is simply not talented enough where we need to develop him when we are in win now mode and not good enough of the role needed of him to consistently contribute to the Rockets in our current team.
He doesn't suck per se but he is hardly the reason the rockets are wining or losing this year. Weather he can be good in another team is hard to predict but for now he really needs to step up his aggression. He is getting paid to perform in the role he is given, in a team that is in championship mode, there is no excuse. If he plays bad, he has to take responsibility and work on fixing it with or without extra playing time.
Harden was a joke. He let Darren Collison scored on him like crazy in the last two minutes. Who is Darren Collison anyway? Here is what Collison did to James Harden: 6:13 James Harden offensive foul (Darren Collison draws the foul) 5:37 Darren Collison defensive rebound 5:30 DeAndre Jordan makes layup (Darren Collison assists) 4:37 Darren Collison makes 12-foot two point shot 2:09 Darren Collison makes 25-foot three point jumper 1:42 Darren Collison makes 20-foot jumper 1:16 Darren Collison makes driving layup 0:46 Darren Collison bad pass Here is what Harden did 6:13 Harden Offensive foul (TO) 5:37 Misses Layup 5:07 Offensive rebound 4:06 assists to Omer Asik for a dunk 4:07 defensive rebound 3:44 Bad pass (TO) 0:26 misses 3 point jumper Here is what Beverly did in his last four minutes 4:13 Beverley personal foul (Chris Paul draws the foul) 83-88 4:07 Beverley personal foul (DeAndre draws the foul) 83-88 2:25 Beverley personal foul (Chris Paul draws the foul) 86-92 1:34 Beverley offensive foul TO (Chris Paul draws the foul) 89-97 0:36 Beverley offensive rebound 91-99 0:35 Beverley makes free throw 1 of 2 92-99 0:35 Beverley makes free throw 2 of 2 93-99 0:31 Beverley personal take foul (Chris Paul draws the foul) 93-99 0:31 Chris Paul makes free throw 1 of 2 93-100 0:31 Chris Paul makes free throw 2 of 2 93-101
I suggested to make a comparison of Jeremy, Beverly and Harden in the 4th quarter. Then you could see the disastrous output from Beverly and Harden which Jeremy by comparison was real productive. Here is what Collison did to James Harden with 6:13 left 6:13 James Harden offensive foul (Darren Collison draws the foul) 5:37 Darren Collison defensive rebound 5:30 DeAndre Jordan makes layup (Darren Collison assists) 4:37 Darren Collison makes 12-foot two point shot 2:09 Darren Collison makes 25-foot three point jumper 1:42 Darren Collison makes 20-foot jumper 1:16 Darren Collison makes driving layup 0:46 Darren Collison bad pass Here is what Harden did with 6:13 minutes left 6:13 Harden Offensive foul (TO) 5:37 Misses Layup 5:07 Offensive rebound 4:06 assists to Omer Asik for a dunk 4:07 defensive rebound 3:44 Bad pass (TO) 0:26 misses 3 point jumper Here is what Beverly did with 6:13 left 4:13 Beverley personal foul (Chris Paul draws the foul) 83-88 4:07 Beverley personal foul (DeAndre draws the foul) 83-88 2:25 Beverley personal foul (Chris Paul draws the foul) 86-92 1:34 Beverley offensive foul TO (Chris Paul draws the foul) 89-97 0:36 Beverley offensive rebound 91-99 0:35 Beverley makes free throw 1 of 2 92-99 0:35 Beverley makes free throw 2 of 2 93-99 0:31 Beverley personal take foul (Chris Paul draws the foul) 93-99 0:31 Chris Paul makes free throw 1 of 2 93-100 0:31 Chris Paul makes free throw 2 of 2 93-101
Calling it the posts that follow will be one liners saying... 1. this guy is delusional, 2. use this as an excuse to bash lin 3. start a rant on LOF. I will say that the actions of those 3 players do not tell the story of the end of the game. Just my 2 cents.
1&3 are well deserved. Point 2 I just don't get. I understand that there are some who do it, but the majority of the Lin criticism is what is said about any player playing bad. Also my favorite part of the guys post was that he felt the need to post it in multiple threads. Didn't want anyone to miss out on that gem.
Watch the game. Harden actually put up points. It's known he has bad defense but just because Collison is his opposite number doesn't mean Collison scored only on him. Beverley pressured the ball because it was late into the game. It's ridiculous LOFs criticize other Rockets when those Rockets actually produce. Lin doesn't - whether you look at the box score, look at the play by play or watch the game.
Shhhh don't tell the LOF's that the Rockets had zero turnovers vs Detroit until Lin stepped into the game and turned the ball over 3 times in about 6 minutes I'm sure they didn't see that or will not post play by play on that
Lin really sucks lately. Turnovers are part of the game but all three of his turnovers are just horrible.
Lin's confidence is shot. His career his over. This is why the cockiest players are the best players. Confidence issues are actually relevant in professional sports. Hell, look at Matt Schaub.
