everything changed after melo came back. i am too lazy to check what win-loss is after lin was inserted to be the starting pg and before melo came back.
Not to take anything away from Jeremy, because he was incredible during the Linsanity 7-game winning streak, and that was how he captured the hearts of many fans. However, many factors also helped his success, like 5 games played at home, and he was given free reign by coach D because they had no other offensive weapons. More importantly, he's unknown to the league and opponents. Once opposing teams started to press him and force him to give up the ball, things changed. It's NBA, you will never have scoreless games like soccer. That's why it's all about probability and efficiency. Juwan Howard was scoring 20+ points after both TMac and Yao went down, and he became the focal point of offense, in those games Rockets should have lost. Jeremy had to learn to play with Melo when he came back, simply because Melo was the best player on the team. As a matter of fact, after a few games, I thought the Knicks played pretty well. Lin wasn't the brightest star any more, but he played within the system, and contributed a lot. That was part of the growth path he's gone through, and he should continue on. At Rockets, Lin has to learn to play with Harden, as he's doing and improving. I do have my disagreement about coach's decision in rotation or set plays or utilization of Lin or any other players, just like every single fan out there. However, that's no reason to dismiss everything McHale does. Houston Rockets is overachieving than most fans have predicted before season starts, if McHale is to take all the blames for the losses, he should be credited for the team ranking as well, at least part of it. Harden is obviously the best player on the team, of course he has shortcomings, and he makes mistakes, but he's young, and learning the alpha dog role on the job. He's been also exceeding many expectations. Lin is a big part of the team growth as well. His improvement in defense, ball handling, shooting, and other areas are noticeable. Remember, he just played 82 games, and he's still learning. Negativity is way too high on this board now, and extremism throws reasoning and reality out of the window.
Bring back Lowry or Dragic and we would have the same results. I'm not saying Lin is bad. Average means B-/C+. I would put Lin in at a B-/B. So fine, he's average to slightly above average, ever so slightly. I'm not saying his game isn't improving, I'm not saying he's a lost cause, I'm also not acting like we have two superstars on this roster. We have one superstar and a series of role players. A player like Lin is critical to win a ring in the way Fish was for the Lakers. Fish became a pretty decent point guard in his career (character aside), but I would have never considered him a star or anything higher than an above average PG. He's no Nash and he's no Chris Paul, then again, that isn't exactly what we need right now.
You're sort of proving my point by bringing up Melo. Lin is a volume player. Linsanity was great but it is far from sustainable. Ask him if he could put up those numbers any given night. He can't. You could give Lin the volume he needs and still not consistently get his Linsanity streak. As another poster eluded to, Linsanity was a beautiful combination of lucky events. Luck rewards the prepared, I agree, but you have to agree it was equal parts luck and skill. When Melo came back Lin's volume had to go down, of course there was also a bit of a clash between the two and the team suffered. In order for this Rockets team to be sustainable, Lin needs to be a point guard with consistent numbers. His numbers so far have been good. He's got a decent amount of assists, points, steals, and if he can keep his TO's down we are good... but then again, we don't need an above average pg to be sustainable, we need an average one. That's why for now, Lin works.
I agree with some of your points, but this is where we part ways. This current system is built around Harden and he is a fantastic playmaker, the ideal guard who compliments Harden doesnt have to be a PG, but he has to be a good shooter. Rockets offense is all about spacing and moving the ball, except for Harden no one really handles the ball extensively --- fact is Lin's usage rate is the lowest among starting PG --- That's why we dont really need a PG to handle the ball because the offense doesnt really go through him. Lin has had problems to be effective without the ball and I doubt he would improve without dramatically improve his shooting...as of right now, he's average.
OP, you walk your talk. Kudos to you for that. And I appreciate where you are trying to come from. But I completely disagree with your perception of these guys and how you came to those conclusions. In fact I disagree with anybody who insists a first year team should play and act like a second year team. But I digress. Lin walks talks American his whole life. Heck, I’m half Japanese and lived on the western side of the Pacific Rim for my first 20 years and I’m still more American than anything else. So connecting his race with his psyche is bad juju. Hardin is in his first year as a starter @ 24. Let’s give him a break. I don’t think you know Harden as well as you think. And I don’t think you know the Thunder’s psyche enough to suggest they got rid of Harden because of his personality. McHale is COACH. And there are oodles of examples of successful player coaches. While personality is a factor in organizing a team, it’s not as “foremost” to winning. What’s foremost to winning is team play where players temper their personalities to become one unit. Btw, I know you meant well.
absolutely agree on the volume. but the difference btw you and me is i care win. if his volume leads a win, i don't care who said what. just give him the fvking ball. when his volume went down, the team suffered and he suffered. you have zero evidence to prove his volume and win can't be sustained. do i care what lin said he can't sustain the linsanity? no. he has to prove he can't in nba games not in the interviews and media talkings. i am not going to say he will win every game with volume. he definitely proved he won more than lost with volume. that is my point.
good point. those #s were produced by lin under coach consistent check. to me, he has been very consistent on what mchale wants him to be. occasionally, he crossed the line and had a star # in a game.
I agree with this assessment and think that the OP is stretching it. There could be other reasons for each of the behaviors listed and I don't understand why OP is insisting on pathologizing these three people. 1) is OP a licensed therapist or psychologist? 2) does OP have direct access to each of these three people to validate their observations? These observations are ASSUMPTIONS, and assumptions have a high probability of being wrong. Let me make assumptions about OP and lets see how wrong I am: You are asian and bitter about life so you put much of your hopes and dreams on Jeremy Lin, and because he's not succeeding as much as in Linsanity, clearly something is fundamentally wrong with McHale, Harden, the system that Lin is. You feel like there is a failure to protect his asian sensibilities and to encourage him to be Confident. Because you have issues with confidence, you feel that Lin will be torn down disproportionally with any criticism that he gets, even if they're honest and will make him a better player. Nevermind that he's survived all his prior hardships in college basketball and the NBA to break out into Linsanity. The original post is disguised to be a critique on McHale and a hidden request to fire him and the only reason why Lin was critiqued was to cover your ass. You secretly hate the Rockets team whenever they win if Lin does bad. See? Don't make assumptions about people.
that's reason you have to have another star on the team. other star can take the advantage when other teams focus on lin. the diference is juwan howard can't win for rox. well, lin can. lin did exactly what mchale wants him to do, all those small things which alot don't show up on stats sheet. unfortunately, quite bit fans here don't see them. they want lin to be a home run hitter. everyone should learn, including mchale. he is not vet coach. agree.
I agree with you about Lin, mchale is not a good coach, I can't believe I'm saying this but mark Jackson is a better coach than mchale Harden his problem sometimes is he tries to do too much(ball dominate)but as a young player himself the coaching staffs should let him know even tho he is their superstar, that's why mchale fails in that department as well
It's pretty obvious that Lin's confidence comes and goes. Now of course I couldn't tell you all the reasons for that. Just look at Monta Ellis as a recent example. The guy could (and does) shoot 8-25 one night, but the next night he'll come out and still believe he's an all-star. He'll continue to shoot, and more importantly shoot with confidence. Lin is like the opposite. He'll have a game where he looks like a true star (OKC) and he'll immediately forget it and once he misses a shot or two in the next game, bye bye confidence. The guy captivated the planet with NY and it's obvious he still doesn't fully believe in himself when he's out on the court at times. Harden was a blessing and curse for Lin. If we hadn't traded for Harden, Lin would be putting up huge numbers this year, there's no doubt in my mind. But from a team perspective, it's obviously better to have them both. I definitely think a different coach could help Lin reach his potential faster, but I think he'll get there no matter what. To the people saying he's "average" or that's all he'll ever be, I respectfully disagree. Average players or players with average potential do not do things like he did in NY. His physical talents are well above average. He gives you "wow" moments all the time still, like the behind the back pass at half court last night. He just needs to become more consistent, aggressive, confident... And also continue to hone his jumper.
lin's #s are just like what mchale wants, a typical leadoff man #s. i am not disappointed at all if this is what our coach want him to be. i am not sure what you complain about his #s.
Why should you go to him in volume rather than split it amongst more efficient players equally? If you think a volume shooter can win games for you then maybe you should be a KB24/Laker fan in the modern era. The way to make the Lakers lose is to turn KB24 into a volume shooter. When he isn't able to rely on his teammates and has to take complete control of the game the Lakers lose. That's why they brought in Pau, that's why they brought in Meta, and that's why they brought in Howard. Howard has been ineffective, Pau is injured, and now what are the Lakers doing? You guessed it, get KB24 the ball and see if he can shoot or make a play for his teammates. How has that been working out so far? Lin is no where near Kobe's level, if it doesn't work for Kobe how will it work for Lin?
i don't know but he was winning for knicks. sometimes, things are weird. never say never. maybe he just so special on one thing. you have to live with whatever you see until it doesn't work anymore. the issue is not the volume. lin is very special on something but he is not all around player. that's reason i don't believe one day he will be at harden's level. it is exactly same as asik. he is very special but he won't become Dream no matter how he improves his offense skills. if you ask asik to be a home run hitter, good luck to you. my point is we have to know how to use lin. we have to know what his strength is so we can use it. lin is a pg. when ball is in his hand he is the most effective player. if let lin have the ball most times to guide our offense, we really save harden's energy for the last. when lin controls, harden can be a deadly spot up shooter. harden is the best open spot up shooter on our team. he barely missed wide open shots. at the end of a game, harden can take over with alot energy. it really benefits the team. it's the best way to fully utilize what we have.
LOL OP don't superimpose your own racial identity/confidence issues onto Lin just cause he's of the same skin color. Maybe you should see a therapist or just smoke some green. :grin:
The biggest problem is some people think Lin is an all-star and give him the attention of an all-star. If he was anyone else his performance wouldn't be treated or criticized anymore differently than say... Patrick Patterson. It's a shame, Lin is a nice fellow and a good player but the attention he gets makes the expectations of his game unrealistic.
