If Lin starts he can expect about 28-30 minutes a night, and may finish some 4th quarters. If he's benched, he'll get 18-22 minutes and will rarely any 4th quarters.
Exactly! I hope this doesn`t turn into a 50 page thread again. This is not a big deal - we knew that is what McHale wants to do. And a big reason for that is, to have someone who can lead the second team and create shots. Both will play a lot, probably around 30 minutes. And in the end it is still just an experiment. Our rotation is far from locked, McHale still needs to figure a lot of stuff out.
I think its a good move....this does not mean Beverley is better than Lin, it just enables to maximise the strengths of these 2 pg's. It also allows to stagger Lin's and Harden's minutes and gives Lin more room to be agressive. As long as Lin gets his minutes and we see PB and Lin in the backcourt a lot together everyone will be happy
I must admit I'm a Lin fan as well (but first and foremost a Rockets fan). As long as we don't have to withstand AB in the rotation, fine by me!
That still leaves 56 minutes between Lin and Beverly or 28 minutes per player. Lin gets 8 minutes without Harden on the court. But I agree, Harden is playing too much. He needs some rest and we need him for the playoffs. Try to keep his minutes under 38. But when we need him in for close games, I guess McHale has to play him.
With Bev back Harden's minutes should go down a bit. I think he's still going to play a lot though, which isn't ideal but there's nothing we can do about it.
Dont care that Lin is 6th man coming off the bench, as long as he gets his minutes worth and plays well its fine
It doesn't matter if Lin starts or comes off the bench. If he plays like a pimp, coaching staff will have no choice but give him plenty of minutes and even finish games. JLin's destiny is in his own hands. Quit b!tching about him starting or not starting. its not about the talent, it's about the fit. He already accepted it and knows his role, it's blatantly clear that coming off the bench with the ball in his hands is the best way to utilize and showcase his skills. It's the best for both the team and him.
exactly same thing like "I fully support you to go for the promotion and I think you've done very well but voted for the other guy." :grin::grin:
If Lin is smart about it, he should tell McHale that if he has to make concessions and come off the bench, then he should get to play how he sees best and be given the freedom that Harden enjoys, even when his playing time is overlapping with Harden's. Lin can try to make best of the situation he's been put into.
You're right. For Lin personally, this is a demotion. However, for the team as a whole, it's an upgrade. There's the obvious reasons. We get more offensive options in the 2nd unit and Beverly fills in for the poor perimeter defense in the starting unit. However, there's an even more important reason that the team doesn't want to talk about publicly. Lin has not proven he is a needed player on this team. When we signed him, we expected "Linsanity", but got an average PG. This is his last chance to prove his worth. No more excuses. He is the 1st offensive option, his usage rate will be high and he's healthy. If he can't replicate some "Linsanity" numbers going up against other teams back unit, then he never will. We don't want to see just minor improvements. Lins' current performance is worth his $8 million contract, just not to the Rockets. We can better spend that elsewhere. We need a PF and room for Parsons pay raise. Lastly, should Lin only manage mediocre numbers going against the 2nd unit, at the very least it should be higher than his current stats and increase his trade value.
Lin is not a needed player on this particular team? Really? I think he was instrumental in the 4 wins the team has and nobody was expecting Linsanity. And, to be honest, he had plenty "Linsane" games last season and he's playing better this season. McHale just praised him, for whatever that is worth.
