The Bev/Lin combo works well, manage Harden's minutes is a good option as well! Lets hope we see better coaching strategies this year.
Good job reviewing the plays. I also think the team is doing much better in the PNR defense, however, the defense just some how breaks down afterwards. If Harden can somehow stay glued to his man, the team will have much better results.
Lin is not a horrific defender. Of course Lin fans going to be upset that you lump him in with Harden. What's so hard to understand about that? lol
As pointed out by many, he does not need to come off the bench to stagger his 8 minutes without Harden. His stats as starter are actually better than his stats as benchplayer. Take those games where he was the starter to get an average. If we all agree that Lin is the better player than Bev, then Lin should be getting majority of minutes over Bev, regardless of who starts. But if you look at games where both players were playing in, you would not see this trend. In fact many posters were sying Lin and Bev should be playing roughly 26/27 min each. i'm saying that Lin should be getting 32 and Bev around 20 min, if Lin comes off the bench, based on what I think of their respective abilities. But that never happened did it? So this coming off the bench is a red herring when the truth is that the firt premise was wrong. In fact, McHale thinks Lin and Bev are equal hence the 26/27 min each. That's his opinion and he is coach, so all the more power to him. Doesn't mean he is not wrong though, and that posters cannot call him out on it. McHale was a great front court player, but he has no clue about guard play. Hence, he misuses his guards (Lin, Harden and Bev have all been misused in my opinion), those present and those that came before. That's not me hating on McHale, but just the nature of his bias, in my opinion. Great players make poor coaches because they fail to put themselves in others shoes. This is same as Isaiah Thomas drafting a bunch of 6' guards and thinking eddie curry is a good big man.
So you criticise Lin's defence based on nothing more than what you thought. It's then pointed out to you that IT and fredette barely scored on Lin. 3/15 FG Then another poster details Thomas's assists to once again show that Lin defended well. But rather than have an ounce of honesty humility and admit that actually his defence has been good you waft it away. That is what shows you as a hater. And that is what shows that when you claim to care about the team first and foremost, it is a lie you tell yourself and consequently in your posts. It sucks to be wrong, but it's worse to be intellectually dishonest and wrong. Be a man, admit you were wrong, and open your eyes. Lin is playing good defence and the TEAM benefits from it. Is this the kind of person you want to be? Pride and prejudice before all?
LOL - Lin doubters. Why not just call us infidels or heretics? LOFs are all the same. Some are more articulate, some more crude, but it is the same bull**** peddled over and over. Lin is always the victim, there is always someone else at fault, always someone else hindering him. It is mass hysteria, driven by an over obsessed fan base which cares more about the player than the team. Is that a problem? Nope, not until that fan base starts throwing any and everyone under the bus to perpetuate the victim narrative. This is a Rocket's fan forum, for Rocket's fans. I have no idea why you people post here. There are numerous forums for people who share your views where you don't have to deal with real Rocket's fans.
Opposing coaches will instruct their SGs, or whomever Harden is guarding, to run, run, and run. Run him through screens, from left to right, behind piles of players. Pretty soon Harden's man will be wide open, and then the Rox defense will fold. The key is to have a pg that can find the open man, which is not hard because all he has to do is look in Harden's direction. Opposing coaches will do this because if Harden puts in the effort to chase his man all over the court, he will tire out and will be less effective on the offensive end. If he does not put forth the effort then there will be a wide open shot. Fortunately for the Rox, there are many offensive weapons at their disposal so Harden does not need to expend all his energy scoring. He can learn to faciliate and score when the team needs him to score. Actually, if you think about it, they should put Harden on the other team's best off player. If that player runs Harden, they will get tired on the def end too so it washes. Putting Harden on the worst off wing player is actually counterproductive as you lose either way.
Blah blah blah. You and others are so obsessed about "LOFs" that you need to put in their place that it blinds you so much what a Rocket, Jeremy Lin is a Rocket in case you haven't heard, is doing to help the team.
This is a solid post and needs to be applauded. For god's sake i saw harden clap at thabo sefolosha instead of contesting his shot. I know not the same game but James needs to at-least try on defense. All of this board criticized Kevin Martin's defense , but at-least he gave effort. Harden takes so many defensive plays off it's maddening. This puts so much pressure on our defense and many times puts Dwight in a difficult position as well. I want to see mcHale hold harden accountable, i guarantee you Pop would bench harden every game with his effort.
How exactly is pointing out with detailed proof and facts that Lin has been playing excellent defense making him into a victim? Why don't you respond to that instead of going on pointless rants and strawmanning extreme examples? Maybe people post here because if a lie is allowed to be repeated often enough eventually people think its the truth. It's very easy to say 'Lins defense was poor' without providing anything factual to back it up. Yet the moment someone points out factually how erroneous that statement is, they are some crazed obsessive? So one person provides facts and evidence. The other with name calling and dismissal. Who is the fanatic?
Real Rockets fans are also Lin fans, something you obviously failed to realize. Just because someone defends Lin does not mean they are a LOF. There are actual Rockets fans who happen to like Lin also, but the logic on this forum is if you like Lin then you are a LOF. It's idiotic.
I like Jeremy quite a bit. He has been very good for us off the bench this year. I am very grateful for what Lin brings to the team. My loathing for his idiotic fan base doesn't blind me to anything.
Join date: November 2013. It's like the Baby Boom after World War II around here. Just change 1945 to July 2012. First of all, all your post did was prove my point. I go to criticize five people or so and if one of them happens to be Lin, it's like throwing gasoline onto a fire. And no, I won't admit I was wrong when I watched Lin go into the tunnel after the game with Isiah Thomas' sneaker marks up and down his back. Hell, Lin even tried a horrific flop on Thomas and someone here says, "Well, it didn't work, but it was good defense." EH?!?! Referring to Lin's flop on Thomas, and quoting "Blazing Saddles": "Don't you know that's the last act of a desperate man?" And all non-LOFer's: "We don't care if it's the first act of Henry V. We're leaving." And I can say that Harden was even worse, and that Brooks was EVEN WORSE than Harden, and still the hordes boil forth to defend their boy Lin as if he's Jesus Returned.
Cool, go pull up NBA Wowy and run a roster analysis of both starting lineups, one with Bev and one with Lin. I'll save you the trouble and spoil the ending: The starting lineup performs better both offensively and defensively with Beverley in place of Lin. Facts and Evidence.
Okay do you have no response to the stats and info quoted here? Not surprising in the least. This is what makes you the same as the most fanatical Lin fan.
Thank you, right on point, I have never seen so many articles for the 4th or 5th best player on the Rockets team. That's like us have article after article on why Mario Ellie should start during the championship years. Any chance clutch can limit the number of threads on why Lin should start? This ish is ridiculous!! Do LOF's realize he actually loses with the rest of the team and lately that number is increasing with Lin starting
Same old tired clichés. The moment you use someone's join date as a method of argument is the moment you show your fundamental intellectual dishonesty. You made a statement about Lin's defense. That statement is wrong. You want to make erroneous statements, not get called on them and respond by attacking the person rather than all the evidence they provide to contradict your statement. Hardens defense was demonstrably poor, Lin's was not. No amount of shouting LOF will change that.
You also know whose stats were better as a starter than as a 6th man- -James Harden -Kevin McHale -Manu Ginobili Sometimes its more about what you can do to help the team than help the players stats. McHale doesn't understand guards???.... what kind of insane argument is that. If that's the case, I guess Phil Jackson had no idea how to use Michael and Kobe. You could turn the tables and say that Pat Riley didn't understand bigs with Ewing, Shaq, and Mourning. Also the fact that he was a GOOD player means he's a BAD coach???... maybe what makes a good coach is..... well... being a good coach. Understanding the game basketball sets, and being able to teach others how to perform well in the game-play you draw up. Yes, lots of great players (Jordan, Magic, I. Thomas, etc.) have struggled on the bench, and in the owners/gm box after their playing days but that doesn't mean that any great player will always be bad at everything basketball related after their careers are over-with. I think that has more to do with competence from the business side, and personality wise than it does with not knowing the game or understanding positions outside of the one you played during your career. If your going to criticize McHale for anything relevant that's fine, but you have to do better than "He was a great player" or he "doesn't understand guard" to convince me that this is the reason why the Rockets need to get rid of him.
9-5 as a starter 6-4 off the bench shoots better fg % off the bench but way better 3 point % as a starter
