Kobe - 5 rings, 15 time allstar, 15 time all NBA WB - finals appearance, 3 time allstar, 3 times all NBA second team, 2 time us national team participant Rose - MVP, ROY, allstar Said it before and I will say it again. These three are proven upper echelon players in the regular season, playoffs and more. Lin has shown great promise, but has nothing on these guys and your comparison is just crazy.
Now that Lin has had a pretty solid regular season under his belt, the new critical flaw on him is that he gets injured too much in the playoffs? Mind you, he did play in all 82 games in the regular season. Love how the goalposts always move. Next year, what'll it be?
Yes, by season's end, he was a pretty good 3-point shooter. There's no real reason to doubt that he won't be able to keep it up. Also, it's hilarious how some of the people who supposedly would definitely not irrationally hate Lin if were a better 3-pt shooter are the same people who want Rondo (24%) or Dragic (31%).
It's not a criticism. People often say last season was Lin's rookie season, so the coming season would be a better reflection of his abilities. That is a valid statement. However, if that is the case, then Lin technically has no playoff experience and the coming season's playoff would be his 'rookie playoff debut'. If he performs well, great! If he doesn't, then he has at least had the chance to experience playoff level competition. If he gets injured again, the above doesn't happen. We wouldn't know how he will perform in the playoffs and he also wouldn't have had a chance to adapt and experience a heightened level of competition. Playoff experience is ridiculously valuable. It allows players to work on his greatest weakness that is bound to be exposed during the playoffs. Look st
Both Harden and Parsons were rested as the playoffs approached. Lin wasn't. Hopefully McHale values him enough this time around to rest him as well, if he is still the starter. Personally, I dont't think Mchale will allow Lin to succeed. I don't see him encouraging Lin or giving him any kind of consistent treatment. I expect him to be on the shortest of leashes and repeatedly benched even when playing well and getting into his stride.
What? So you are saying McHale doesn't rest Lin enough, but he is also benched the most?? Harden and Parsons were rested? They both played heavier minutes than Lin and Harden played with an injured ankle for the second half of the season. And no McHale doesn't hate Lin as much as you may like to think. But I guess you want Mchale to play him 25 minutes a game if you think he wasn't resting him.
You've got a point but I beg to differ. Lin actually played in the playoffs last year. He had the horrific debut with everyone; then he actually played fine the first half before he got injured; and then he played injured. Those are invaluable experiences. And he had shown he can play well. There's no guarantee he will play better next season but let's all hope so!!
Good post. I support everything said here. And this coming from a huge Lin fan. I would say though that I have confidence in Lin. He's been under a microscope with players almost fanatically going all-out against him in the regular season for obvious reasons, so the playoffs won't be a total shock to his system.
