In the words of the immortal Bill Worrell, when describing Jim Deshaies, "He's consistent, just not all the time."
Lin is a young player that has a long way to go. The Linsanity period was in retrospect a "perfect storm" Right system, right coach, right time. In other words, something of a fluke. However, he has shown flashes of that same brilliance from time to time. Overall, this season he has been very inconsistent. I think he will improve. He may not ever be a great ball handler. He may not even be starting material. But he will get better and he will contribute. I really like him.
I think the ball handling point is overrated. If you look at his turnovers last night, they were not ball handle turnovers. The Clippers were just playing the pass and anticipated it well. He doesn't have fancy dribble moves a la Kyrie but his handle is fine.
Yep the Clippers studied JLin game knew exactly where he was going to pass. This game is good for him. Like always he'll learn. Look at how he dribbles now...he doesn't stop his dribble like his early days and no longer does he ever get stripped driving in. Those were his constant problems before...he definately improved in those areas....he needs to cut down on the jump and pass...he rarely does that now so thats good.
I know alot of fans are upset about Lin's TOs and I agree it would be awesome if Lin can play aggressively and still have low TOs, but I thought it would be interesting to share with the fans Lin's stats this season so far in terms of his TO's and game wins/losses. It's really very very counter intuitive: TO/ W/ L/ %win 0/ 2/ 1/ 67% 1/ 2/ 5/ 29% 2/ 13/ 10/ 57% 3/ 8/ 9/ 47% 4/ 8/ 5/ 62% 5/ 2/ 3/ 40% 6/ 3/ 0/ 100% 7/ 2/ 0/ 100% tot/ 40/ 33/ 55% Some may say well maybe we won when Lin had those high TO games because Lin got benched. Well in those five 6 and 7 TO games above, Lin played between 27 to 35 minutes, and all those games except one lead to double digit wins for the Rockets. If I were to be forced to explain this, I would speculate that perhaps when Lin is playing aggressively, his overall game is better, but he also tends to make more risky passes and thus has higher TOs. And when your PG is aggressive and playing "well", generally the whole team does well. Past stats also support the notion that when Lin has a high TO game, its not necessarily the end of the world.
I think if you judge him from start of the season till now, you have to say there are many different departments of his game that have improved and some areas not so much but overall the positive out weigh the negatives by a good margin.
Mchale still scratching his head "why's this kid so good? He got so many turn over. It's controversial to my theory. Any PG with less turn over should produce the better result." Lin has the ability to make plays, change tempo, and his court vision are something that won't show on the stats.
He's inconsistent because he's streaky shooter, and a talented but not dominant playerwhose production is very dependent on matchup and circumstances. He's an above average starter, great when he's on, sufficient when he's not. That's nothing to sneer at. If his fans weren't determined to make him the cornerstone of the team and Oscar Robertson reborn, he'd be an uncontroversial and well loved third or fourth best player on the team.
For those who have seen every game, even when Lin is red hot his coach BENCHES HIM. I've seen it so many times this year. McHale isn't sitting Lin when he's cold and playing him more when he's hot. Basically when Lin is HOT he gets 30-32 minutes max. Never gets to play more than the designated rotation pre-set. When Lin is cold he never gets a chance to play out of it like every other player on this team gets with McFail.
I have watch 72/74 games so far and no your wrong. Sort by MP http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/linje01/gamelog/2013/ 5 games over 40 18 games over 36 36 games over 32
Dude, I'm a big supporter of Lin too. And I believe that a lot of what the better "LOFs" have been saying are fair and reasonable. But your point is wrong. There were times when Lin was hot, he stayed on the court for very long minutes. And even occasionally was the focal point of the offense. Case in point - the last game vs the Thunders (Lin played >40 minutes). There is a reason why many folks in the past were saying we had the best backcourt in the league. Yes, McHale has done some.... "questionable" benching where Lin is concerned. But he has also often given Lin the playing time needed (and playing together with Harden) to bring to life the "best backcourt in the league" tag. Be fair.
I am being fair. How many times have we seen a 1st quarter where Lin has like 8 points and 4 assists only 7 minutes into the game? The kid is red hot and he always gets benched at the set 7 or 8 minute mark. I can remember this happening at least 5 times. It is even worse when you see other players get to play longer when they are doing well, especially whoever Lin's backup is that game.
Lin dont have to play harden mintues but there are games he only gets 20-25 minutes because McFail didnt like his play.
