You are absolutely right. A game in Manila in front of billions of "Lin for All-Star game start" voting fans and McHale had the gall to "experiment"?! Nice timing, isn't it? Make no mistake Lin fans....Benching of Lin was a loud and clear message by McHale and the message was..."I am in charge!" I strongly urge all Lin fans, all over the worl.....err Asia to call the Rockets front office and let your displeasure be known. Asian fans, If you dont let your voices be heard now, pretty soon Lin will be sharing time with the ball boy.
You consider it a legitimate discussion to bring up firing the coach of a team that just beat a pretty good team by 20 points in a preseason game because he had the audacity to start Beverley over Lin? Why didn't you bump this thread after they lost to one of the worst teams in the league? Oh - that's right - Lin started that game.
You say it only took 2 pre season games to bring this thread back up when in reality it required just on moron to bump it. Congratulations, your it.
If it was any other starting pointguard in the NBA it would be a big deal but since its a meek asian guy he'll get over it. You never saw Rudy T suddenly relegate his starting pointguard to the bench or JVG with rafer alston. Rick Adelman more or less had a starting pointguard who starts the game unless he is injured. It's almost like a tradition in the NBA that the starter enjoys the trust, confidence and respect of his coach.
In 2006-2007 season, Greg Popovich realized there wasn't enough firepower on the bench so he decided to use Manu Ginobli as the 6th man, mid way through the season. The Spurs then went on to have the best 2nd half of the season of the NBA, and subsequently won the championship.
Personally, I'd rather have a guy like Stan van Gundy coaching this team. A coach who knows how to instill a defensive culture.
This is just silly, McHale has a duty to tinker with the rotations to see what works and what doesn't. This was not an all star game for the fans.
Numerous games, Rudy benched his starter Kenny Smith, an NBA vet who has started almost entire career, for a little known unheralded rookie(and then 2nd year) brash PG even in big games. Including finals games against then best PG in the NBA Penny Hardaway. By the youngster's 3rd year, Rudy was already playing him more minutes than "starter" Kenny Smith. JVG for the first 3 years of his coaching career with the Knicks started Charlie Ward. Then he benched Ward for 35 year old almost washed up Mark Jackson. Adelman routinely played his sparkplug backup PG Bobby Jackson at the end of games. It's the coach's job to maximize wins. No coach in the NBA would suicide his career simply to "respect" his starter.
I haven't checked the stats on this but as far as I can remember , as long as the starting pointguard was healthy he would start even in preseason and then the coach tinkers with the lineup afterwards. its about the tradition and respect associated with the starting position. But this I'm pretty sure: Rick Adelman never publicly announced the idea of replacing his starting pointguard even though he had two almost equally talented pointguards in Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry. So with Rudy T and JVG. I was a rockets fan since the Rudy T days and it pains me to see Mchale ( the same player dream and sampson went up against in the 80s) taking the head coaching job while Dream has to take the assistant coaching position as if Mcfail is superior in any way.
He would bench the STARTING pointguard , but the STARTING pointguard usually starts unless he is injured. The same arrogant prick that Dream and Sampson went up against in the 80s is the same arrogant prick coaching the rockets today. the irony.
I don't know why you guys are getting so upset. It is just a pre-season game No way in the world that Mchale is foolish enough to start Beverly over Lin the regular season.
It's gonna happen. Did you not see the thread where he announced he will alternate starting Lin and Beverly? I highly doubt he's just talking about pre-season
Perhaps Mark Jackson was the starting pointguard and just recovered from injury? During the vast majority of his stint with the rockets, Rafer Alston was his starting pointguard though. He would start even in preseason games.
