This post should be stickied and every Rox fan who bashes/doubts Jeremy Lin should read/watch every single item. Great stuff and with or without Dwight Howard, I am excited to watch the 2012-2013 season.
The biggest thing he needs to work on is his outside shot. It isn't terrible as in the defense will leave him wide open. But his shot can be inconsistent. If teams run a zone defense against him (the raptors did that in the second game they had under Woodson). Lin couldn't function and had to rely on his outside shooting and he wasn't as effective. Prior to that raptors game (in Canada) they tried to trap him (like Miami) but Lin handled it better plus there on the ball defenders are not as good. Also, Despite his outside shooting he aggressively attacks the basket and hits FT's. He was shooting 85% from the FT line towards the end and hit 40 of his last 42 FT's. Like I said before he has bad games (just like every other human being). Parker made Russel Westbrook look really dumb when OKC played in San Antonio towards the end of the season. Even in that Celtics game, despite his bad shooting he scored the game tying bucket and sent it into overtime. But aside from that he was generally a mess. In the Miami game he looked generally ridiculous for the vast majority of it. But like I said before there were a few possessions (I think only 2-3) where he managed to blow past his man and get to the bucket (I think it was LBJ). But still the game was generally a mess. Despite all this he had more good games than bad games and was overall a net positive for the team.
A lot of that is also going to be building a team with good spot-up shooters AROUND Lin. Always a good way to punish zone. The bad thing is we don't have those guys anymore. Maybe Parsons can take his 3P shooting to the next level and Lamb (if we keep him) will be good at it. Motiejunas hitting outside J's to punish big men trying to play zone D maybe?
Yes. The Knicks were a bad jump shooting team believe it or not eventhough they have Melo, JR, Novak, Lin etc. So yes you do need good shooters to punish the team that runs zone. Season isn't even close yet so there is still a lot of time to build the roster. A good shooter like Randy foye is out there looking for money. I also believe that Diebler guy can shoot.
If we do the Dwight trade something tells me we might be getting Jason Richardson back. He can hit those shots.
I think the whole passed up for a scholarship, undrafted, unnoticed business is overblown - by both sides. It makes for a great story, but you have to remember that the Lin we see now has a different body than he did 1-2 years ago. I think there were always questions about his lack of athleticism and doubts about his durability. I think organizations just would rather draft guys like Shumpert (ready-made NBA body) and build up their skills and hope they learn, rather than a guy who's going to get hurt in his first week. The athleticism just gets higher and higher in the NBA. Even so, after the summer league, Lin had teams interested in him, including the Mavs, Lakers, and some unknown East team (maybe Celtics? they tried to claim him off waivers), etc. I just don't buy this he's a total scrub or on the other side, he's an all-star but it was racism holding him back. I think it's a good sign that he worked on his training and got better and made the best of his opportunities during Linsanity. You can't really scout for mental qualities, but they make the difference between fringe player/starter and winner/underachiever. For instance, I don't think Melo will ever win a ring as long as he's the best player on the team. Has nothing to do with skill.
The fact that he got california HS athlete of the year. The same award that was earned by Kemba Walker, Felton and Ty lawson. He was the only player in the history of that award to not get scouted and recruited by top basketball schools. Yes he was a little big scrawny then. But your naive if you totally discount the fact that race played a big part in his under-recruitment to college programs. If he was any other race but asian scouts would have looked at him differently. As for the NBA and undrafted part. That was all Lin. He was never as good then as he was now He worked hard in the lockout to be better. He admitted it himself.
Everybody has bad games. Since Lin has completed his second season, I'll pick a stinker from Chris Paul's second season: http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200611250DAL.html CP3 shot 5/14 for 12 points, and had 4 assists and 3 turnovers. This was much worse than Lin's second Philly game, especially as CP3's team lost. In contrast, Lin took over in the 4th quarter and won the game. (I discount the first Philly game, which the Knicks lost, because it happened during the long losing streak caused by Carmelo Anthony quitting on his coach.) So are you saying that Chris Paul is no good?
Lin's upside: 16 pts, 12 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals. Downside: 23 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals. Yes, this is the downside. If he puts up these numbers, he will get another season-ending injury. I want Lin to concentrate on improving his passing and defense, cutting down his turnovers, and staying healthy.
He averaged 17, 7 and 5 per 36 under Woodson. Only Lebron and CP3 topped those numbers in all 3 categories during that span. * In what is to be considered his rookie year since he actually got to start and play meaningful minutes. * I'm going to have to agree with Robin Lundberg from ESPN Jeremy Lin's #1 skill is his ability to attack the rim. http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=8167943 * He also discusses how the Heat play position-less and the NBA is already transitioning. You can listen to the entire podcast - to hear more discussion and analysis concerning the new position-less movement. Going to make a separate thread for that discussion. * But this podcast is a good start, the NBA is changing got to stay up-to-date Article on Miami Heat Position-Less with commentary by Riley http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-heat/fl-miami-heat-postions-0717-20120716,0,406858.story Dynamic player at getting to the basket to score, however he needs to do it.
Made thread outside of Houston Rockets section. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=7064463#post7064463 So if you want to get into it more, without discussing JLin and other Rockets players that are dynamic as well. But I think JLin, Chandler, and a few others on the Rockets have the ability to adapt to the (position-less, tweener approach that Miami has taken and other teams are taking notice and some are adapting, changing as a result).
I think another thing you have to do is move beyond just looking at archaic measures. Now a days NBA teams use Synergy, and Points Per Posession and other numbers that tell the story with inflated numbers. I suggest you listen to this podcast from: http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=8167943 Or if you want to make it easier and download the podcast: http://espn.go.com/new-york/radio/archive?id=7911589 Download the 7/15 podcast with this info next to it: Robin Lundberg: 7/15 Jared Jeffries discusses his time spent with the Knicks, Frank Isola breaks down Ray Felton's return and we simulate Team USA vs. the Dream Team on NBA 2K12. 56:20 is the marker for where he begins to discuss what stats are more meaningful and important. Per Game States are Archaic - its Dinosaur thinking. * factoring pace & number of posessions * Scoring efficiently Points per posession allowed, points per posession * Very good podcast explaining the new numbers that analysts use One thing to note is I noticed people using out-dated thinking and simple #'s that are not necessarily relevant. Though I strongly recommend any reader of this post - that they would find the podcast itself very interesting - even if it is for ESPN NY Radio.
Lin can outscore many opponents. When double team come he goes left then dribble in paint with strong finish und sometime good pass to open teammate. He beat Kobe and Lakers and Kobe was best, now Lin is new best !
