It would be nice if objective analysis of Jeremy Lin's early performances as a Houston Rocket were possible without this kind of race-baiting nonsense. Reductively stating that all praise or criticism of Lin is a product of his ethnicity is moronic at best, and reduces the quality of discourse down to the lowest possible levels. This post gets extra credit, though, because in addition to intimating that Rockets fans are all racists, this poster says he would like to see Jeremy Lin end up at quote "cities with high Asian populations or anything on the east coast....the south is not the best place...they don't want him there to begin with." As in, this poster literally doesn't realize that Houston has one of the largest and fastest-growing Asian populations in the entire U.S., is the country's fourth-largest city, and is no more culturally part of "the South" than Los Angeles or Miami. Is the criticism seriously that the enormous metropolis with the openly gay mayor, annual Montrose parades, and some of the richest cultural diversity of any major city "too intolerant?" I guess you're always welcome to be a Rockets fan no matter who you are or where you live, but don't start trashing a city--my city--when it's clear you've never even visited, let alone ever attended a game, let alone done the slightest bit of research into the city's consensus political tendencies or cultural values. It makes you look like a god damn fool. I don't mean to pick on this guy in particular, but I am using this post as an example of how terrible and utterly devoid of knowledge and information most Lin-related threads and posts are becoming on this board. Would it be possible to relegate all Lin-related talk to just one Jeremy Lin Megathread, and then people can have their "Jeremy Lin has a high turnover rate because you are a RACIST" cat fights in there?
See, this I fundamentally agree with. His scoring is down, as is his scoring efficiency, however by every other measure of the game he is substantially improved or substantively the same. Assists - improved (similar numbers on lower usage) Turnovers - improved Left hand ball handling - substantially improved FT Shooting - improved On ball defense - improved Help defense - improved Rebounding - improved Defensive plays (steals/blocks/charges taken) - improved So, of the 3 facets of Offensive scoring, ball distribution and defense, Lin has declined in one area (and improving as the season progresses), is actually similar to slightly improved in another, and significantly improved in the others. No, he's not the Linsanity high scorer that he was last year so far, however we also have to remember that this was the 7th game of the season on a new team, with new team mates, under a new coach, that is developing on the fly. And I get that people like to compare Lin to Dragic/Lowry. There is no shortage of Knicks fans that seek to compare Felton to Lin, even though it is grossly unfair to Felton. Kyle wanted out. It happens. Even if Lin did NOT come here, Lowry would STILL not be here. Not every player meshes with every coach -- that's the nature of the business. One odd thing I have noticed is that a number of posters are mad at the management for NOT giving Goran the 4th year player option, however for some reason Dragic is free of blame for asking for a player option that the team made Clear they were NOT willing to give. Do these people consider the possibility that the reason they did NOT give Goran a 4th year player option is because they did NOT feel he fit into their long-term plans under those terms? Why are the Rockets bad management for NOT giving Dragic that contract, and Dragic is a good guy for demanding it? And why is it reasonable to use that as a baseline to measure Lin's progress as a player, especially a YOUNG player on a YOUNG team in REBUILDING mode? Just some thoughts.
I don't have a strong opinion on this topic -- I'm a Lin fan...but I haven't seen it framed as a good guy/bad guy issue. Rather, those who've questioned it have just suggested it was a mistake to NOT give him the option. That the option seems like a small price to pay for a player that many here believe is better than our current option, and thus worth it.
Yeah I agree that the invasion of LOF's and their million threads are probably the main reason for the Lin hate. It basically goes like this: - hardcore Rockets fans dislike JLin and his fans because they invaded the forum and all the undeserved attention Lin gets - hardcore Rockets fans dislike JLins fans because they think that they only root for him because he's Asian and they don't like that - Majority of LOF's are Asian and root for Lin because they've felt underrepresented in sports and media and because he combats the stereotype that Asians are physically weaker. As an Asian myself who has played basketball I can understand this fully, I remember times hearing racial slurs, being guarded by the smallest player, people saying that a "chinaman" can't play, then I would proceed to run circles around them I think LOF's and LOH's don't really understand each other at all and it;s only going to get worse to the point of insanity, right now though I feel the LOH are being far more unreasonable than the LOF's, they are really starting to spew venom from their mouths, their angry! This place will be a war zone this year, Hopefully Lin gets traded to a city with high Asian population or the east coast, that way the LOF's and especially the LOH's get exactly what they want.
No. Because it is IRRELEVENT. Turnover rate is on a per possession basis. It completely excludes usage. This is different than TO/36 or 48 or per game. Your usage only impact how quickly you reach 100 possessions, not how often you turn the ball over FROM those 100 possessions.
Fair enough, he shoots very poorly that is obvious and I feel very disappointed as well. I am not sure "he totally gave up the point guard duty" was by his own decision or from the coaching staffs. If its solely from his own decision to play that way, yes he's trash, he doesn't deserve what he is paid and should be criticised more. And agreed that comparing new vs ex is human nature but comparing them when you even not seeing/knowing your new yet is a bit unfair, IMHO. Last, I don't think I have mentioned anything about race in my posts. If I had, please let me know and I'll gladly apologize. good day.
If Lin can start playing like Linsanity again, I'll gladly take the turnovers. He picks enough pockets himself to make up for it.
This battle is close but Miami still prevails. Chandler Bang is amazing. Jeremy Lin has not lived up to expectation. The 38-point linsanity has gone with the wind.
I agree his defense has improved, but his ball distribution or ball handling is anything but improved. I know numbers for the first 3 games were in Lin's favor, but if you actually watched the last few games, you cannot honestly say he has made a big impact on offense. Harden has been on ISO too much to my taste, and Lin has been deferring to him too much. But even at the end of last season, Lin deferred to Melo, and with Amare and JR to share offensive load, Lin wasn't this passive. That's why I believe it's mainly on Lin, mentally. For some reason, he's totally lost confidence in his offensive game - shooting, driving, and organizing offense.
It doesn't matter where he gets traded to if he airballs a wide open shot that could have won the game or plays poorly he will get criticize. I think it's not good to idolize people, it makes you say and do crazy stuff sometimes, like Justin Bieber fan girls.
I agreed with this. Then again, as Egal said, I also prefer he plays more aggressive and attacking the rim more, good or bad, and having more TOs if it means bringing a win to the team. I know that he has the potential to do it. But if its the coaching staff decision to limit him to do so by avoiding more injuries, only the players/coaches know.
That's very true and Lin fans should realize that. However, there have been a lot of overblown criticism for each of his mistakes even when we won, people still complaining and calling him names for any little mistake he made during the games. I think that's what Lin fans are reacting too so passionately. I agree they do need to calm down and shouldn't take it too seriously, but there is a point where it does get too annoying to not respond.
How is this thread in any way/shape/form in conformance w/ the new thread-making rules? Shouldn't this have just been merged into the game thread or any of the other FIVE threads about Lin/his struggles/his shot/his failures/his projectile vomiting all over the court/his stub arms that can't get a shot off?
I am a great Lin fan coming from NY. But doesn't mean I only root for him, I root for the team too. I have never bash/criticized any one Rockets player since my joining to the forum. It make no sense for me to do so. If you care about the team, you should care about their players. Criticism may be good sometimes to motivate certain players. But over criticism is not a good thing in terms of team's development as well as the players development especially we are a very young team, as every one knows.
Yes he deferred to at the end of the season but what you have to remember is that guys like Melo & Tyson & Amare set proper picks & screens & roll hard to the rim. We don't have guys on our team who do it consistently enough. Also the Knicks had guys who spread the floor & kept the defense honest, in Houston we don't have that the opposing team just packs the paint to prevent Lin from attacking the basket & puts there best defender on Harden. What you see as losing confident in his drives is simply him having nowhere to drive. And to say he can't organize an offense is dumb considering that he is definitively the best playmaker on this team, even the Rockets commentators said as much. His passing ability has been on point. Honestly, to compare the NY situation laden with veteran superstars to the Rockets who are the youngest team in the NBA is dumb.
Thought that last part would get a rise out of some of the Houstonians, sorry I guess, I knew Houston was a very multicultural city with a rising population, although I do think that it is still influenced by southern culture alot, it is in Texas afterall, but I'm no expert by any means. I didn't mean to call y'all racists I just think it would be a better fit for Lin in the east coast or California. Btw, nobody thinks that Lin has a high turnover rate cuz of the racists but if you think for one minute that race is not a factor then you are just too naive or not paying attention, - most diehard Lin fans are Asian, and root for him cuz he's asian, this is true. I am as well but I ask not to judge us too harshly, if the roles was reversed and this was a majority asian country and you were a underrepresented minority that is stereotyped as weaker and you found someone that could break those stereotypes then maybe you would understand why we are so invested in Lin, he is like our Jackie Robinson. - Most non-asians don't understand this dynamic or fail to acknowledge it's significance, that's why all these LOH's who are majority non-Asian are pissed that these Asians fans only root for Lin cuz he is one of them. The LOF's see this as almost a form of racism or racial favoritism and many of the LOF's themselves start to display racist tendencies in backlash. - the last way that race factors into this is the fact that most people still hold the stereotype that Asians are weaker, smaller, and less athletic than their black and white counterparts. Therefore people are more skeptical of an Asian player and what he can accomplish in the NBA, especially at the pg position which usually requires an elite athlete. Simple fact is that there is no precedent for Asian players, they are considered unproven. The stereotypes don't help either. I know most of you won;t want to listen what I'm saying cuz it dwells abit on race (very hush hush subject in the America) but the truth is the truth, I'm not one of those people who are afraid to talk about the reality of the situtation.