I would be shocked if both and Lin weren't on the All Star team. Maybe not as starters, but they'll be there...
Durv, am I being too optimistic thinking that he can up his usage rate to around 30 while presumably taking a hit on his TS% to say around .550-.600%, and essentially become Wade?
China will vote both him and Lin in for sure. Now will they (Lin more than Harden) deserve to play over some of the selected players that's another story.
I'd like to say yes, but look at the other guards in the West: Kobe Bryant Steve Nash Chris Paul Russell Westbrook Tony Parker Manu Ginobili He might beat a couple of those guys out, depending on how his season and marketing goes. No way does Lin make it; I don't care if he is ethnically Chinese.
I think his usage rate will be very high. Close to 30. The drop in scoring efficiency will be interesting to track. Its bound to go down, but will his TS% be at a T-Mac level (.490-.530) or in the .550-.600 range? The Rockets don't have another great scorer to relieve some of the defensive pressure off of him. They also are lacking great 3-point shooters (who's their best one -- Delfino?). I think his TS% will be around .550, if I had to guess, but he'll go through stretches where he's struggling with all the defensive pressure . He won't be Wade, but he might be at a Brandon Roy level.
This is an oxymoron. The ASG are a popularity contest. Has nothing to do with deserving to be an all star. If it had anything to with merit they would take away the fan vote. So yes Lin is popular & Harden even more so now by association so they will be all stars.
I think Lin's got a really good chance just because of his popularity around the world. And who knows? Maybe he proves the Linsanity period was the real deal and performs at a high level. We'll see... Harden....he's going to have a tougher time in my opinion because of guards like Westbrook, Kobe, Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Manu, Nash, etc. I think if Harden can prove he can be "The Man", he's got a chance. If he can come in and average 20, 5, and 5 or something like that, he'll get in I believe. It'll be fun to see though.
Yes According to some conspiracy theorists..... This was Stern making up for the "Basketball Reasons..." thing, giving Morey his guy and also giving Houston a all-star for when they host the game. Yep. We can all love Stern now
Chris Paul and Kobe are very popular players and both still put up big number so I see this as stretch. Even though Kobe is very inefficient now and I say w/out doubt Harden post better PER then Kobe. Harden already post Top WS and WP as 2 guard last year. His efficiency is elite, the question how much will drop with higher output. Also he play roughly 14 MPG w/o Durant/Westbrook and carried offense. If could for 14 minutes, I say he do it for 32 MPG.
It will be interesting to see how the perimeter shooting on our team shakes out. I think you're right in that there aren't any elite 3 point shooters, but I think the hope is that a guy like Toney Douglas reverses his career trend (he shot about 38% over his first 2 seasons, with over 1.5 3PM per game, before falling apart last year). We have to hope Lin can improve upon his career 31% mark, and it will be curious to see if a guy like Daequan Cook finds his way into the rotation. Improvement from Parsons will also be critical.
