[Y Sports Radio] Calvin Murphy: Jeremy Lin Needs The Ball In His Hands

Yea, that was sarcasm.

The 2nd quote was a typo. Im using a phone. Meant to type "this guy doesnt know how to coach"

 

If I may, please put me on the record: I heart Calvin Murphy.

 

You must spread some rep...

 

Having an average season Lin almost beat out Paul. No question he's popular.

How pissed off would you be if you were the best player on the team, but an average player is beating you by double digits in the allstar votes? I don't know about harden's character, but that has to be on his mind.

Is Lin the only Asian player in the league right now? Because I can't seem to find another asian.

 

i wouldnt say Lin is average. He sure has bee playing like one but its thanks to this bad Finch offense and idiot coach. Im sure Harden recognizes Jeremy's skills during practice

 

He's playing average, but his small sample size says he can be elite. But he hasn't really shown it this year. Only one game. He hasn't shown it in his mentality for some reason. Did he say he doesn't like being in the spotlight.

He probably doesn't have the desire. If that's true, it's a shame. He has elite passing abilities, and elite speed. I think he can be top 5 pg if he had that desire like in NYC.

 

I think his assessments are spot on, when Harden was out with his injury, J.Lin was able to miraculously able to find his offensive rhythm. Not only was he able to drive he was confident enough to shoot as well because he was able to penetrate. I really think this team can turn Lin and Harden into a tandem as effective as Parker and Ginobli, I really do.

 

I think he has the desire to be better than what he is but because he's so humble he doesn't act arrogant during his interviews. I don't think it has more to do with desire as to do with the system and how Lin is featured in it. Lin was running the show over in NY when D'Antoni had no other options at PG and when Melo was injured. If we let Lin dominate and create more I think the whole team will benefit tremendously. If you have Harden AND Lin always penetrating the paint you'll have open looks all over the floor.

 

But do you think the coach just asked him to turn on the Linsanity switch for that one game because Harden was out? And one game later instructed him to turn it off, after a stellar performance no less? I don't think so. I don't even like McHale, but I don't believe he's that dumb.

I thinks it's all in Lin's head. His confidence level affects his game too much.

 

2 games to start the season: Lin initiated the offense and Harden still got his at high efficiency.

Switch to "Non-Democratic" Harden ball: Harden got his, got his, and got his, albeit much less efficiently. The Rockets look mediocre.

Post San Antonio return to Lin as PG: Lin initiated the offense and Harden somehow still got his, albeit with much higher efficiency.

Recent Collapse: Seeing as Harden's efficiency had returned, I reckon the coaching staff decided to give Harden Ball(tm) another try. Complete collapse ensued.

Here's the thing, putting the ball in Lin's hands and the ball still gets into Harden's hands somehow, except Harden scores much more efficiently compared to when the ball is being forced into his hands. This has remained quite consistent not just between stretches and between games, but even between halves with halftime adjustments.

 

He was suppose to be a systems PG, but I think he has proven that is not the case. People were saying early on that he was a byproduct of D'Antoni's system but again, I don't think that's case. He's just a ball dominating guard.

I definitely agree that when Lin controls the ball, this team performs better. And when Lin and Harden click, this is neigh unstoppable.

 

Coaches don't tell players "Play poorly!" They tell them to play a certain way, what they are supposed to do when they bring the ball up, where they are supposed to be. It's not like Mike D'Antoni says to Pau Gasol, "Hey, you, I told you to suck! Now suck!" No, he tells him to GTFO of the post and go park his ass in the corner to provide more spacing for Howard.

It's just that D'Antoni does this for a few games and stops when he sees that it's not working, and McHale did something that didn't work for ~20 games, finally by sheer chance a bone thrown from the heavens snapped him out of it and he stumbled upon what worked, only for him to try his epic fail strategy again once his team was doing well. We shall see how long it takes this time before he tries his epic fail strategy for a third stretch.

The funny thing is, even during stretches where McHale was doing his stupid Harden ball nonsense having Lin bring the ball up and immediately pass it off, when we played the NYK they would return to Lin as PG ball for a game, setting screens for him and letting him initiate the offense. Not-so-mysteriously the Rockets would rock for a game when it happens. Of course, naturally there will always be people who chuck that up to Lin "trying harder" or "being more aggressive" while disregarding the blatantly obvious difference in strategy employed.

 

i don't think it's so much his confidence but rather what he believes he needs to do in order for the team to win. when harden is healthy and in the game, lin is looking first and foremost to get harden going, and to get other teammates going as well. in his mind, he is the last scoring option, as a pg. he won't take shots away from his teammate just to get his points. but he will be aggressive and try to score if he's given a higher percentage shot. i think he's starting to figure out that balance a little better now, whereas earlier in the season it was all pass-first.

it's almost like he sees his role as a hybrid pg/sg. when harden is on the floor, he puts his pg hat on and play the role of the distributor and get teammate easy shots. when harden is off the floor we see him playing as sg because you're missing a prolific scorer and somebody needs to carry that scoring load. we see douglas playing pg when he comes in for harden and jeremy getting screens off the ball and playing the harden role.

and when the team is down going into 4th quarter, that's when we see him looking to score as we've seen a few times already.

unless jeremy sees that he needs to score 20pt every game in order for the team to win, he won't try to score as much. that's why i don't think he'll ever have stellar all-star numbers unless he is asked to carry the scoring load. looks like he's settling down comfortably in this range for now, knowing that the way he's playing now is what is needed from him in order for the team to win. like mike lu said earlier, more shots for himself means less shots for his teammates and he is the only one that can consistently get them their shots. so if he looks to score, we will see diminished contributions from his teammates, and less chance at winning games.

And this is why it's critical for lin to play the pg role instead of harden, because harden doesn't have this pg mentality. don't know why people keeps saying they're the same players and can't play together... they're totally different players. same skillsets, yes, sort of. but different mentality in terms of how they see their roles on the team.

 

funny but similar thing happened to me while i was playing fifa 13 yesterday and today...i acquired a team without efficient scorers then i acquired a player who possess high long shot number(value over 80), not actually knowing he's that good a scorer...he started scoring a goal or two from a long range a game for a few games... as soon as i become aware that this player is highly efficient in scoring outside penalty area i tried to pass to him the ball as often and as much as possible but alas all of a sudden i wasnt able to score a goal so easily with him and my game started to suck and lost its fluidity and beautiful passing and i a started loosing balls often got frustrated and started losing games...:grin:

 

So you think coach would tell Lin to play a different way just for that one game? Sorry, I don't.

Coach: Hey Lin. Just heard Beard is out tonight. When you bring the ball up, don't pass it to nobody. Do your Linsanity thang.
Lin: Yes sir.
(One day later)
Coach: Hey Lin, BEARD IS BACK. ***** JUST got real! From now on I need to you to pass the ball every time you touch it, and then go park in the corner somewhere.
Lin: Yes sir. Thank you sir.

Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?

When the star player is out, what the coaches would do is they would inspire everybody to step up, which is understandable. But in no way does that explain the night & day difference in Lin's performance in spurs game and other games. Unless it's just a fluke, and let's hope it's not...

 

hard to believe no change from coaches when a team plays w/o its best player. sorry i don't believe so.

 

Your PG brings the ball up, either somebody immediately comes up to receive the ball or there is an off-the-ball screen to free up somebody to receive the ball 2 sec later. This happens 15 plays in a row to start a game or a half, it's by design and not just something happening inside Lin's head. You go 2.5 quarters with 0 screen set on Jose Calderon, arguably the worst PnR defender in the history of the NBA, it's by design and not just something happening inside Lin's head.

McHale's gameplans may be on occasion ridiculous, but there is nothing ridiculous about the idea of coaches having a gameplan and instructing his players to play differently with different rosters, in different games, or even in different halves. To argue otherwise...that would be ridiculous.

 

Response

Definitely, this is Lin's floor, so he can only go up from here, from one season to next. Not saying he will progress every game, but I think this is his floor. How far he can go? No one knows what his ceiling will be, but perhaps next year, we will have a better idea.

 

I agree that Lin should make more of the decisions on the court of who should get the rock and finish. However, what is the constant in the Melo and Harden situation, Jeremy Lin. It is Lin's responsiblity to work on hitting wide open 3 pointers and finishing strong at the rim scoring or getting a foul. Jeremy must do better without the ball in his hands. Harden and Lin both have responsibilities to improve.

 

Hey Lin. Just heard Beard is out tonight. You need to be our #1 scoring option. Do your Linsanity thing now.
Lin: Yes sir.
(One day later)
Coach: Hey Lin, BEARD IS BACK. We need to run our original game plan. Pass the ball every time you touch it, and then go park in the corner somewhere. Shoot the 3 when the ball reached you and if you missed them, park your ass on the bench.
Lin: Coach, Im sucked shooting 3s, can I take some mid-range?
Coach: Don't even think about it, if you dare to take one, you'll never play in the 4th Q.
Lin: Yes sir.