The thing that annoys me about the way Lin's potential is judged is that it follows a certain kind of circular logic and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you look at all the top tier PGs in the league, like Westbrook for example, they have a lot of freedom and they get the initiate the majority if plays for their team. At worst they share the duties 50-50 with the teams other stars. Lin on the other hand has been reduced to being able to utilise his best skills only 1/3rd of the time. Sharing playmaking with Harden and now Parsons (before it was Douglas). I'd say it's closer to a 40-30-30 split with Harden at 40. Yet he is consistently a 10 assist threat virtually every game with limited freedom and a system that is FAR from geared to take best advantage of his play. Do people really believe that if he wasn't given full freedom or support to play, or even shared the ball 50-50 with Harden (like in the first two games) that he wouldn't easily be hitting 10+ assists a game? Or scoring a lot more? Last I checked there were only 2 PGs in the NBA getting that many assists. And that's the thing that I think frustrates LOFs. Lin wasn't drafted out of college. Now we are saying that he definitely has the potential to be above average and at the least average for an NBA PG. That's a big gap isn't there? He was pre-judged and not given a chance and it took an act of divine intervention for him to get a chance to show that he at the very least belonged in the NBA with the knicks, and it seems like it's the same thing all over again. The same people that didn't want to draft him are the ones judging what his potential should be and how much support/opportunity he should have as a consequence. For Lin to be given the chance he deserves, he's going to have to do it again, with the system still against him (though not as much as before). Then again, he had full freedom in NY under D'Antoni, so he was able to make the best of his chance.
Freedom isn't given, it's earned! Lin has been given enough opportunities to succeed. If he shows he can handle it, then I'm sure his role will get bigger. He has a lot of weaknesses that prevents him from getting more opportunities.
Well... every time he's actually been allowed to play in the role of the PG he's excelled at it, running the floor, dishing assists and creating great opportunities for his team mates. He's also defended well. I think it's a catch 22. But you've brought him here to be your starting PG. If you aren't going to give him the chance to show what he can do, then who will you give that chance to? Toney Douglas? Considering he's young and you've made a big investment in him, surely you should at least give him a couple of dozen games in the role of the primary playmaker (the job he was supposedly brought here to do) before you decide he's not good enough for that role?
I don't understand he is running pg just not the D'antoni style of pg. More like the Mario Chalmers type. Lin isn't good enough to get the freedom of a primary ball handler like Deron Williams.
And that's the rub. You're assuming he's not good enough without giving him the chance to show whether he is or he isn't. You've pre-judged him and put him into the Mario Chalmers box... based on WHAT exactly? Your eye test or the opinons of the same coaches that didn't want to draft him? Or the massive sample size where he had all the freedom in the world and couldn't do anything? Initiating 1/3rd of the plays is hardly running the PG. Every time he has the ball in his hands he makes things happen. He created great looks for his team mates against OKC and really should have had 10+ assists, despite the fact that he was only really allowed to playmake in the 2nd half, barely having any touches in the 1st. He was being double teamed by one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. In a game where he matched Russel Westbrook. I think he's demonstrated that he is good enough to be given the chance.
Maybe you gotta just realize your own biases. He's just not that good. I'm sure Lin feels that way as well when you listen to him talk. There are many times where he's passive and that's on himself I.E Okc game.
I am starting to realize that not a lot of people understand the basic fundamentals of basketball on this board. There is a difference between being passive & making the smart play.
Of course cuz I'm not a sheep. If all I do is praise Lin like crazy and make up some stats, my rep would go up but I'm not about reps.
lol It's a proven method. I already got a bunch of favorites for my posts on Huffington Posts by defending Lin.
That's nice of you to think so highly of freedom, but ask yourself whether or not most players have a say in the system they'd like the coach to run. It's quite obvious the coaches have the power to substitute players, to run and design players, and to determine what role a player must play on a team. I highly doubt Jeremy Lin's weaknesses attribute to his role as a spot up 3-point shooter, as you have claimed.
In the end, this is Morey's team, Finch is Morey's handpicked guy and is offensive coordinator and I bet Morey has the numbers and/or is getting the numbers. I honestly don't think in the long run that Lin will be misused, because we're seeing this and we're seeing the numbers and Morey isn't blind to what his numbers are telling him. The only reason Morey passed on Lin before was that he didn't have a reference for what Lin could do; and now Morey's paying attention. And this has been mentioned before that every guy Houston has brought in as PG has succeeded beyond the fan's beliefs... I don't think Lin would be different, because they'll eventually figure out how to utilize him. Hell, it might take them until February, and wouldn't that be kinda hilarious if that's when Linsanity part 2 breaks out?
If you're just going to ignore the points I'm making and dismissing them as bias then I don't see how we can have a constructive discussion. Then you just end up in a 'you're biased,' 'no, YOU'RE biased.' I think I've made my points as well as I can. You don't seem to want to address them so I guess that's that as far as this particular topic is concerned.
The type of chance you want to give him is to change the entire Rockets system to cater to Lin's strengths. Why do the Rockets need to do that when hasn't even shown he's not even the 1st 2nd or maybe even 3rd best player on the team? He has to show a lot more before they Rockets even think about changing their system. Might as well be just keep posting trade him to the Lakers so he can be with D'antoni.
That's actually only if you're only paying attention to points per game; Lin has actually been overachieving at his PG position in all other parts of the box score. user Unstable has been trying to quantify all the data and comparatively apparently Lin is top five among PG's if you're taking in his game as a whole.
Ya he was voted in as the starter, but gave it up to Jordan. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jh-FBykLdCE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
