Forgot about the first part: Best player. 1. Lin - if Lin's on fire, he could penetrate into the paint and wreak chaos against the other team, which would open up two options: score and assist. He's a threat either way. 2. Parsons - Parsons can play at an elite level (12/13 shooting against Mav, game 5 in the playoff), but he still needs to be assisted by either Lin/Harden to complement his great slashing ability. If he can improve on his handle then he would be the clear 3rd best player on this team. 3. Asik - Bad offensive game. Not likely to affect the team on the offensive end. 4. Bev - not enough data to form any conclusive opinion yet.
Yah, sorry, in my opinion Parsons isn't even sniffing the same air as Asik when it comes to the "best" player. Asik - Clearly top 10 center, arguably top 5 center, currently earning $8.3m/year cap space, would go for considerably more on the open market. Parsons - Above average SF earning minimum salary, do we really think he would be worth more in free agency than Asik? I'm not even completely sure he would command Asik and Lin's $8.3m/year in free agency right now. Don't get me wrong, I love Parsons, but a lot of his value is because he's on a minimum contract with significant upside.
The title was misleading. You first say who the 3rd best player on the team is, naturally I went Asik. But then you ask who is the third most important player on the team in your post. Imo, it would be Lin. =\.
I actually counted each part of the question 50/50. I think Asik >>>>>> Lin/Parsons in terms of player quality. And I think it's close just in sheer contribution. People who underrated Asik's contribution are missing a couple of things. 1. The Rockets are beyond crap on defense when Asik/Howard aren't playing. As in bottom-5 in the NBA without either. You say the offense doesn't run as well if we didn't have Lin with the 2nd unit. But by the same token it's also true on defense when Howard leaves the game. And Howard needs more minutes management than Harden. 2. Asik's trade value is probably tied with Parsons and higher than Lin. This is of course "important" to the team because if Morey notices an area of weakness and needs to shore it up, Asik is his go-to guy in a trade. Just because he's likely not starting, doesn't mean the guy we trade him for won't either. That's potential importance.
Best to Worst: Asik >>>> Lin > Beverly > Parsons Importance to Team: Lin > Asik > Beverly > Parsons Value: Beverly > Parsons > Asik > Lin
I hope it will be Asik because that would probably mean that the twin towers experiment would have at least moderate success. I think it will be Parsons though. Wouldn't be surprised if it was Lin. Would be somewhat surprised if it's Bev - but not shocked by any means.
But you can see Lin taking control of a game against a championship Heat (especially considering how the Heat have manhandled him last two seasons)?
15 minute of Asik produced more wins than Parsons or Lin did in 36 minutes last season. Statistical projection by using xWARP. The success of this season depends on how well Dwight plays the 4 while Asik is on the floor. If Asik can be effective for 30 minutes on the floor, we become an instant favorite to win the west. No one else, beside Harden and Dwight, has that impact and it's not even close.
Asik and Lin vs. Heat last year for us. Asik, 17ppg/13.5rpg/63 TS%/-9 combined two games(BEST among Rockets starters) Lin, 11ppg/4.5apg/51 TS%/-30 combined two games(2nd worst among starters, ahead of only Parsons)
So you choose the outlier example to make your point? Every player has a weakness and certain teams are match up nightmares for them. Every player will have a bad match up, that you choose to ignore this exposes your obvious agenda.
I agree with you. Asik is the 3rd best and 3rd most important player on the team. Actually one could even argue that considering how epically awful the rockets are defensively Asik would be the 2nd best & 2nd most important person on the team after Howard & Harden would be 3rd. my overall list though is Howard Harden Asik Lin/Parsons - Lin needs to be more consistent & Parsons needs to learn how to create for himself
IMO, Omer is the third best asset as in he would have the most impact on a teams win/loss were we to draft all over again. However, I believe in Lin's potential and as our team already has Dwight, Lin may potentially be the most important piece as he best creates a run n gun type offense and may provide yet another playmaking option for our team and because he may bring out more from Dwight than any other player on outbreak as he is the only legitimate pg with the vision and experience of using a big in the pnr. I love Parsons, and the reason I don't believe he is 3rd is because he does not create plays on his own and plays more of a glue guy role on our team. But he is so good at it that I would not mind Parsons having that distinction as our third best player. They are all so close. The fact is though, my estimation of Lin is partly based on potential which is my subjective opinion, especially considering that other than a superstar like Harden, the pg and c positions are the most important positions in basketball. As for Bev, I love him as a player and as a person and I believe he is another glue player like Parsons and has the potential to be as good as Parsons!! That's how high I am on Young Bev. The difference is Parsons plays his position to a T and can play multiple positions well whereas Bevs lack of PG skills and size limits him and cannot be plugged into every system. His defense albeit a bit too close to the defender and foul probe imo is what you'd want in a young buck and his offense is underrated imo as he really gets in where hevfitsvin and makes plays well. Anyways, my answer is Lin as IF he lives up to his potential to even a limited degree, he can impact the team most and has the biggest potential to be another star. Oh l, and his defense is underrated like crazy. No one plays perfect defense all the time against these elite pgs and Lin does a great job save some boneheaded decisions in terms of over helping similar tithe beginning of last season. Doesnt he have a personal skills coach or something that can yell at him to HIS man firsthand foremost if he doesn't wanna look regarted at times?
The Heat manhandled him when he was the only offensive threat on the Knicks they had to worry about. They did not manhandle him last year. Both of our games with the Heat were pleasantly competitive and the losses were not Lin's fault, and this year they sure as hell won't be able to manhandle him while also trying to contain Howard and Harden. I do disagree that Parsons can';t explode against a contender; he's going to have plenty of hot shooting nights against good teams. The difference is Parsons really needs to be having a hot shooting night in order to have a big game, but Lin's game is broader.
Zboy's point is valid. Lin struggles against Miami while Asik would play well against the undersized Bosh. Until Lin becomes more consistent he can't realistically be considered 3rd best but he has been improving. Asik has been consistent & improving since he left Chicago.
