I don't think you can have a leader who is absent during the 4th quarter of games, so that rules out Asik, Lin, Motiejunas, etc. Harden or Parsons are the only viable options. If Harden is the leader of the team, we are screwed. There is nothing motivational about Harden except for his game, which one might call leading by example. I'd say Parsons because he puts in the effort at both ends and seems to care when we lose.
There is a subtle association of race and intelligence in this thread that agrees with the old stereotypes exactly. . . . I thought we were trying to get away from the old stereotypes. As for the gratuitous mentions of Harvard, I also know lots of people who went to Harvard, and they all completely suck at basketball. Oh, Lin doesn't suck? I agree. But judging from the school he went to, he sucks at basketball. The moral of the story is: don't judge Lin by whether or not he went to Harvard.
Did you not say this: "I agree that Harvard is not by and of itself a leadership training academy, but their goal is to see their graduates become a leader in their fields, and that goal is reflected in their selection criteria and training programs on and off campus. You may get some more info in this regard from their website." What are those training programs? Give me an example of a school that does not value leadership. Look, I'm not interested in continuing this debate. Harvard has a lot of successful alums but that's a factor of the selection bias - successful people tend to go to Harvard but that's not because the college itself somehow does anything different than any other four year college. Anyone college alum can tell you that.
I just skimmed through several threads and found that by July 2012 when Lin signed contract with the Rockets, we already have more than 51,000 signed up members by their ID numbers. Some of them may be Yao fans who stay, but I doubt any have followed Lin to the CF before the contract date, cuz no one could have known then that he would later leave NYK and move to Houston. Right now I guess we have about 54,000 members. And I believe only signed up members can vote in any polls here.
The info is, as I already said, on their website, if you are interested to know at all. Otherwise you may just skip over. I was only discussing with a few members here who replied to my previous post. By the way, Harvard has produced eight national presidents for our country but only four NBA players. This may support some people's argument here that Harvard sucks in basketball. But we are talking about leaders and leadership attitudes here in this specific thread, not who has better basketball skills. As an aside, Harvard would not elect any one to become the leader of their sports team unless they can prove that they have been a leader in their high school teams. That says something, doesn't it?
Do you want to judge Lin by Harvard? yes/no? If yes, then don't complain that he was overlooked in the draft. If no, then stop mentioning Harvard. I also think it is unreasonable to evaluate the Rockets according to Harvard's criteria for admitting high school seniors, or what it says on Harvard's website, or even according to the standards of Harvard's basketball team. Basically you're just saying "Harvard is so great." I'm not impressed by Harvard.
At the beginning of the season, the question was "Is Lin worth his contract at all?" Later, the question was "Should Lin be more involved in initiating offense?" Then, it was "Should Lin play more in the 4th quarter?" And, it was "Is Lin better than Lowery or Dragic?" Now, we are at "Should Lin be the leader of the team or Harden?" I say we have come a long way, or, rather, Lin has come a long way.
I saw a lot of non Asian fans wearing Lin 7 Jersey in the Toyota Centre. On the other hand, many Asians I saw did not wear Lin Jersey.
Clearly, the leader is one of the guys who didn't walk out of the locker room by himself without addressing the media. Shirking responsibilities sounds like something a diva does, not a leader. This is the 2nd time Harden's done this btw. Love the guy but he needs to get some of that Westbrook-like behavior drained out of him.
You certainly have your right to dislike Harvard, or choose to disbelieve anything about Harvard. And Harvard is not even the focus here. If you have not read my first post in which I mentioned Harvard, I suggest that you do, follow that line to the several posts between me and a couple of other posters. That will give you a fuller picture what it's all about. The focus is how much are our players ready to be a leader. I only said I think Lin is more ready to become the leader because he has gone through Harvard's selections, of which leadership experience is an admission requirement, plus leadership training programs in school. It really doesn't have to be Harvard. I would have said the same thing for any player who has been through a similar leadership review process. It can be any school as long as it has a similarly rigid process. It just because Lin happens to be a graduate of Harvard so the name of that school was mentioned. So if you were a graduate of West Point for example, I would have said that school's leadership training program make you more ready to be a leader in any organization. I also mentioned that Pat Riley's view on leadership in basketball helped convince me to think that Lin is more ready. And in the last paragraph, I actually said above all thinking, I am in favor of letting our players develop and choose their team leader(s) among themselves, because I don't believe anything we say here outside of the locker room would affect that process. So you see, I didn't really pick any one because no matter who we choose here, we can't impose it on these players any way. Hope this will clear up all your questions. I respect your right to express your POV. Hope you learn to respect other player's right to do the same. As for complaining about Lin overlooked in draft, it only happened in your mind. I have never said that in any threads on this forum or even anything to that effect, so don't put words in my mouth.
I think you are just making some thinly veiled "quality" argument that edges into more shaky territory I don't even want to mention. I don't dislike Harvard. I simply don't care. You want to make Al Gore team captain because he went to Harvard? Kobe didn't go to college. Is he allowed to be the leader of his team? Then maybe someone who didn't go to Harvard can be the leader of the Rockets.
Someone should post this same poll at ESPN, Insidehoops, hoopsnation, or some other unbiased bball forum. I'm curious what other ppl's reactions would be
I think a lot of people here already unfairly associated Harden with (or as) Melo. It's been like this since the beginning of the season.
Haha I figured, love Google... http://www.jeremylin.net/2013/03/rockets-warriors-pre-game-thread.html
