If Lin can get a more consistent jump shot and works on this offseason with conditioning, he may just have a break out star season next year. Lin has been up and down this season, but Im happy with what he has provided this team, considering all the hype and expectations they put on the kid. Go Lin. Go Rockets.
Shooting/consistency -- I'm not worried about it. I believe he will improve these. I don't believe at his age he will significantly improve his handle. But he doesn't have to be like Kyrie with his handle, just good enough.
after he improves his shot over the summer (and you know he will be doing that probably all day every single barring injury)......he's gonna avg 20pts a game
Becuase of his lack of elite athleticism he have to develop great shooting. Has to. It's the only way he can give himself space to penetrate.
There are quite a few young NBA players that can reach high levels like Jeremy Lin did, but one of the main reasons they can't reach and maintain that level is their work ethic and drive to get better. That's why I think that Lin will improve greatly, while similarly inconsistent players like Michael Beasley will remain at the same level of play.
aren't you guys forgetting that his body hasn't been consistent as well during this season? - Take away his early season recovery from major surgery (november) - Take away his flu after the OKC game - Take away his persistent sprained ankle the past few games When he's somewhat healthy, he's been very consistent. Look at his December and February numbers. The exception is January but the whole team was in a slump during the 7 game losing streak.
This. D'Antoni had a great comment on Lin regarding his Lakers game. Essentially, some players NEVER have a game like that over an entire career let alone a single season. Lin has had multiple good, great and mind bogglingly good games in his short career starting. Just breaking it down by scoring, here's looking at Lin's point scoring distribution over 2 seasons since he cracked the rotation in NY. These were extracted from Basketball Reference by sorting game splits by points scored. Range, NY/HOU, Total 30+ - 1/1, 2 25-29 - 5/2, 7 20-24 - 5/7, 12 15-19 - 5/9, 14 10-14 - 6/19, 25 5-9 - 3/18, 21 0-5 - 0/5, 5 So, 39 games in 10-19 range, 26 games in 0-9 range, and 21 games in the 20+ range. This includes his poor shooting start during November, and his 5 game streak in NY. If anything, we can say that Lin is inconsistent. A first year starting player on a new team, with new players, that are all crazy young, coming off a knee surgery is inconsistent! Stop the presses! Seriously though, his games where he scores well are often enough that I don't think it's a stretch to say that we haven't come anywhere near his ceiling in terms of his development as a player. My point of view of this, if he's arguably an average to above average starter in terms of season numbers today, then I think his ceiling will take him considerably higher. Over the coming years I think top 10 is within reach. Top 5 while low in probability is not out of the realm of possibility. Anything beyond that is impossible to anticipate. And if he just ends up as average, that's what $8M gets you for a PG anyway. It's all upside from here for Morey and Co.
His shooting is no longer the reason he's not averaging 20pts a game. he's shooting has improved tremendously over the past 2 months. to increase his overall season percentage by more than 10% over the past month as compared to early in the season means he had to shoot nearly 50% from the field. people see what they want to see and because of his struggles early in the season the perception is still there. But the facts, based on numbers, are telling me that he is no longer struggling with his shooting. he's not ray allen, but he's also not rondo or rubio when it comes to shooting. but, the reason he is not averaging 20pts a game now (or probably won't next seasons...) is because he needs to take around 15 shots/game to get 20 points, on an average night. that's not really his role on this team, especially if both harden and parsons are also taking 15-20 shots a game. you also gotta feed bigs inside to make them happy. there aren't enough shots to go around and as the PG in this system, he's the last one to get his shots on most nights. next season he'll learn to pick his spots and know which shots are his to take and when to take in this offense. of the top young PG's that have been mentioned I don't know anyone that plays this role. you have bunch of pseudo-PG's the look to score first and it's really quite unfair to compare their raw scoring stats to lin. does lin have the ability to score like they do if given the responsibility to take 20-25 shots/game? I'd say a definite yes. we've seen it this year in several big games. we've seen consistently that when he takes 15 or more shots a game he has a big game. but he is not asked, nor will he, consistently take 15-20 shots a game.
All I can tell is Lin is the ONLY people can drive so many people so crazy every single day. Good or bad. He just have that influence for some reason.
Lin should play a couple of season in China then maybe he can show the world that he is on Brandon Jenning's level
Saying inconsistency is a sign of stardom is really stretching it. There will always be players that show flashes of greatness and don't reach their potential, the Tyreke Evans example made sense but also guys like Javale McGee and Blatche come to mind. I do agree that Lin has a really high upside and the things he needs to improve on usually come with experience. But, let's not kid ourselves, Morey took a calculated gamble here. One we can all only hope pays off in the long run.
