Jeremy Lin is a second year player. Morey said he was a top 10 ball handler operating out of the pick and roll. Pretty sure none of those guys you listed were in the top 10. Advanced Stats are your friend.
At the risk of sounding like a LOF, I will say this: - Lin is NOT a bad player, just not a good one. For a undrafted player that has essentially only played one and a half seasons and was undrafted, he is in a pretty good place right now, definitely far better than many players drafted before him. - Being young, he can definitely get better. Will he get better like how Lowry got better for us? Well, we can only help. Improvement for Lin that does not come at the cost of Harden or the team means improvement for the Rockets. Let's wait and see what sort of dedication he puts forth during the offseason and what benefits it reaps going into next season. - Did he contribute? Yes he did, but then so did Patrick Beverly. To be honest, currently the drop off going from Lin to Beverly seems negligible. Lin might be a better passer (PB seems a good passer in his limited assist sample size) and a better defender against bigger guards, but Beverly can definitely challenge Lin for a starting spot next year if he becomes a much better catch and shoot player.
Because stats tell the entire story right? Because being top 10 for PnR means he is automatically better right? Lin is a mediocre PG at this point in time. Digging for specific stats to try to prop him up is meaningless. The fact remains, a PG of his current caliber means he is easily replaceable. The only reason Lin was on our team IMO was because he was the only option left at the time after we traded away Lowry and lost Dragic to the Suns.
Also, I would gladly take players like Nelson, Lowry, Teague, or Hill in a heartbeat over Lin if they were available.
Remember people, the Rockets have had AB, Lowry, and Dragic before Rockets. Morey does NOT have any difficulties finding PG's who can contribute and produce. Lin is expendable and easily replaceable. If we do get rid of him (trade or otherwise) I have complete faith Morey can easily find a replacement.
The irony here is that your stats points/assists tell an even worse story, they're numbers without context. Whereas my number is much more useful, considering we run the pick and roll on about 80% of our offensive plays. 80% of our plays (probably like 78.8 if I remember correctly) How is this meaningless? Is Lin better? Maybe. Is Lin better as a ball-handler in the pick and roll (my point.) I don't think there is any doubt about that. You say the facts remain, but the only facts you presented were point totals and assists in an attempt to create an argument that Lin is just like all those players.
Your argument is much further off base than mine. How a PG performs as a PnR depends on lots of things. For a player who plays for a team that doesn't involve tons PnR or has ****ty players to run PnR plays, that can make a player look worse at it than he might actually be. At the same time, those other players offer various strengths (as well as cons) that Lin would not offer as well. My argument is a simple one, someone of Lin's skills and production can be easily found by Morey, making Lin easily replaceable and expendable as a player on the team. The players I presented all offer COMPARABLE production in their own systems on their own teams. Some are better, some are worse, but that was hardly the point I was making.
If the argument was about getting the best PnR PG, then you would have a leg to stand on. The argument I was responding to was whether or not average to above average PG's are a dime a dozen in the NBA, which they are and Lin is right in the midst of that pack.
My opinions of Lin's skills aside, I do believe he can get better. He seems like a hard working individual and generally hard work pays off. The question is however, how much better will he get and can he develop his off the ball game to become a perfect match for Harden? This offseason will be very important for Lin.
His two biggest weaknesses are ballhandling and shooting, these are the two easiest aspects to improve in basketball
Lin's rating is 25th among PG and Harden is 2nd among SG. In fact, Lin is our SG, not PG. With the same stat. , he can be 8th among SG. Most teams rely on PG more than SG.
Tbh. I wish we still had Lowry. Why even bother making the playoffs if you're gonna have a first round exit? Why didnt we trade Scola/Martin for Dwight when we had the chance anyway!?! Also I'd would've rather given Dragic that player option. Morey clearly has no idea what he's doing anyway, I also loved Dragics exit interview about 'home'. WELL APPARENTLY HOME is going back to the team that gave up on you for an injured midget pointguard. Also it took Morey THIS LONG to land Harden. What the fk didn't any other GM's want our 14th overall picks? Lin honestly, isn't going to get any better. There i said it, and my opinion is the be all and end all. Anyone who knows anything about everything knows that players cant develop their shooting/handling. I mean look at nic anderson. bombed in the finals then his FT went off the face of the earth. I really think Lin will follow this career path. He has shown absolutely no signs of having any talent/potential whatsoever. I'd much rather have Raymond Felton. His numbers are basically the same anyway. If only Lin showed as much commitment to the team/playing hurt as Felton did to jam donuts, we would've won #3 this year. 82 games means NOTHING. Also 18/8 per 36min over the last 2.5mths, shooting 44/40 means NOTHING. /God some people have short memories. Yes Lin is wildly inconsistent, but hes young, talented, a hard worker, and grounded in his faith. He isn't going anywhere unless we get CP3, so have a cry, eat some cake and go do something productive with your own life rather than bash a player/individual who should be the definition of never giving up
good post. i like jlin as a player if he could only be more consistent but the division he brings to the board is really annoying.
