Something to remember about Kevin McHale for folks who don't understand the "benching" thing...

what if Jeremy gets Ginobliesque minutes and salary?

 

Also, Manu was/is vastly underpaid (hence Spurs giving him an overpaid contract this offseason). In fact Lin's $15mil next season is more than Manu's has ever gotten in a single season. So basically you're paying Lin more than you would Ginobil to be a 6th man.

 

It depends.

Manu was very underpaid by Spurs all those years. If Jeremy can be 70%-80% good as Manu (at his peak of course), he could very possibly get 10-12 million dollars / year and a starting spot from some other teams. Why he should stay with Rox as a bench player? Same can be said for Asik. As a starting center, he could make even more.

Manu stuck with Spurs because he was playing with an all-time great PF Duncan, an all-time great coach and an arguably HOFer PG, and Spurs consistently win Championships and get into Finals. Rox has none of these conditions.

And let us be more honest, being a backup hurt Jeremy's brand too. As great as Manu is, there are quite a few extremely good south American players currently playing in NBA. However, Lin is the only Asian. A tons of fans rather see him playing a leading role, even in an inferior team, than backing up someone is no better than him.

Nothing against Bev though, he is a good player. I hope it work out if Rox decide to start him rather than Lin. But just want to point out Lin has a lot of options too if he gets really good (I see obvious improvement from him, in preseason of course). In the end it may still a win win even if they part ways.

 

You missed the point.

I'm not saying that Lin starting is better for the team, or he should be guaranteed the starting job. I just don't think the situation of McHale starting his career as a bench player is similar to Lin moving from starter to bench player.

When rookie got drafted, unless the team really sucks, most of them are coming off the bench, even some #1 picks did. That's just the norm. But "demote" a player from starter to bench? It doesn't happen often in this league, unless the guy really sucks, or you get a better player.

As for "Lin is not guaranteed a starting role", you must be kidding, right?

 

My whole point was that it doesn't make much sense to use McHale's situation to justifying moving Lin from starter to bench. Their situation are different. If McHale was a starter, got benched for the sake of team, not because of his own performance, then we have a comparison.

Obviously, it's important for most NBA players to earn the starting job, but as a fan, I really don't care much who starts for the Rockets. The important thing is which combination will give the team best chance to win. If it requires Lin coming off the bench, then that's the way to go.

 

Why would he be kidding? Everyone knew Morey would be going after star players this last off-season. One of which was Chris Paul. Even if that wasn't the case, your starting position and your minutes are entirely based on your performance.

 

It happens more than you think, especially with role players who are not stars.

Just off top of my head, Calderon was moved to the bench for Jarret Jack, who became a sixth man when he was traded, or how about Budinger being benched for a rookie Chandler Parsons. Unless you are an all star, your are not guaranteed anyting

 

Because he made it sound that the Rockets didn't sign Lin as a starter. Everyone knew Lin was signed as the face of the organization, so it's ridiculous to say now that the Rockets didn't put that in contract, so it means he was not signed as a starter.

But if he couldn't play up to the expectation as the starter, then yes, he would be removed. But, that's not what I'm talking about here.

 

A role player got benched in preseason. Who the hell cares....

Let this thread fadeaway.

 

If your point is simply that asking a young player who was a starter to come off the bench is not the norm, than I agree.