We need to let Lin find his rhythm to make 3s off dribble first, before he adds the catch and shoot 3s into his arsenal. And I often thought, making a 2 is better than missing a 3. Would you agree?
Agreed, especially when the other team is making a run and you need to stop the bleeding. Get some twos, and get the confidence up before trying the threes. Swinging for the fences when you're cold usually leads to more strikeouts (sorry baseball analogy here).
Lin has only played a total of 73 games as a starting PG, not even a full season yet. And all the above listed stars have each played how many multiples of 73 games as a starter?
I think if he takes 15/7 as his target for the remaining 34 games of the season and getting close to it before June, it will be an ample success for him this season.
You are absolutely right. Just wish Lin's other contributions to team wins would be properly recognized.
Since the first game against New York, Lin has been shooting ~46% FG and ~32% 3pt, with his 2pt FG% ~52%. If he can get his 3pt % to 35% next year, I think he'll be close to 48%/35% on overall FG/3pt FG% ... With a little more usage and confidence from the coaches and being able to play PG, this when put together with his ability to run a team, play good defense, penetrate, assist, steal, I'd say he'd be comfortably an above average starting PG in this league. I think next season Lin can take that next step.
I was offering some facts to support PhiSlamma. You should read the post again and stop labeling other posters.
If he could get the 3-pt FG% to 35% next year, man, that would be great! Good post and I agree. I'm looking forward to watching him and the team progress. Hopefully, everyone can stay reasonably healthy. Cogito -- Thanks for the props. One step at a time for JLin, and getting to 15/7 would be a nice start/goal. I think the time will come where we will see more "bursts" like the one JLin had in the 4th quarter against Denver the other night. It's probably just going to take some time, for everybody. This is a new, young team and there is plenty to learn for everyone, including the coaches. Jeremy can do his part by working on his 3-point shot along with some other skills this offseason. This team is way ahead of expectations. So, it's hard for me to feel too disappointed with anything right now.
I am a peak performance coach myself and have coached Olympic gold medalist before. To evaluate any performance, we have to consider three aspects: capability, motivation and opportunity. In Lin's case, he has demonstrated what he was capable of doing in NY and the Spurs game here. I believe very few people would disagree that Lin has been and will be willing to put in the efforts offensively and defensively every game, and will continue to improve in every aspects of his game. So if capability and motivation are not the problems, then we need to ask if he has got his fair share of opportunities in every game to do what he can do and is willing to do, if we are to give him a fair and in-depth evaluation.
Good post. Sampson said it himself the offense wasn't going to be democratic ball when Harden arrived. He added that Lin had a lot of freedom in New York that he wasn't going to have here in Houston. So the coaching staff is keeping a lid on Lin. However, I've seen changes after that 7 game losing streak where they feel that the offense runs better going through Lin and are now giving him more freedom.
Actually that would be a good coaching strategy to free up the PG for other more important things in his game plan.
The only person even somewhat close to Lin on that list, in terms of games started in the NBA, is Jrue Holiday. He's started somewhere around 3 times as many games as JLin has. Westbrook is young, but he's started around 350 games already. The other guys have even more starts. So, JLin looks to have a good amount of time to "catch up" in terms of experience with the current list of 15/7 guys. Good point!
