1. Jeremy makes the cover of Time magazine. What's next?
2. Jeremy played AAU ball like all of the top ballers. Who was the toughest guy he faced? Kevin Durant, who is actually a month younger than Jeremy.
3. JLin worked very hard this summer with Doc Shepler (coached JLin's coach, Peter Diepenbrock at Burlingame HS) on his shooting. Doc said Jeremy shot consistently over 70% on all his three point shooting drills. "He's the best shooter I've ever trained" said Doc who has worked with High School and College players for over 30 years. I believe when Melo gets back, Jeremy will go off with his 3 point shooting.
4. Coach Pete is headed to New York and I hear he's gonna be sitting next to Spike Lee on Sunday. Check out this great interview with him at the bottom.
5. I'm very happy for Roger Montgomery, Jeremy's agent. Great guy. He must be very, very, very busy lately.
6. The depleted New Orleans Hornets are up next. Backup PG Greivis Vasquez will likely start is playing well. However, look for Jeremy to have a little extra motivation. Vasquez and JLin both worked out for Memphis in 2010 and the Grizzlies picked Vasquez with the 28th pick in the 1st round. He was later traded to the Hornets.
7. Didn't look like Jeremy had any problem with Isiah Thomas and the Kings this time. Jeremy definitely had his swag on early in this one. Check out the highlights below.
I had predicted that neither Tyreke Evans or Isaiah Thomas could stop Lin.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that Lin blew the Kings out. They have been double and triple teaming him ever since he was an uncoached rookie in Golden State preseason.
I suspect that it's the Kentucky connection that has been trying to exact payback for Lin outplaying John Wall in Summer league. Both Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins played at Kentucky.
Lin had that "bad" game against Sac this year. I.was laughing when I watched that game because Lin turned the game into a two way mess by trying to make up for his mistakes. It was like watching a preschool basketball game, just with grown NBA pros screwing up all over the place.
Once Carmelo Anthony gets back on the Knicks, Lin's turnovers will magically decrease.
Been a huge fan of Jeremy since he joined the Warriors. Too bad we couldnt reap the benefits of his success, but Im happy for the guy.
ReplyDeleteSo much that I recreated his GW vs the Raptors in video game form. Would love it if you could share it with your readers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2LdetObhw
pretty freaking awesome...now Jeremy is the one sitting on the bench relaxing and cheering on the team during garbage time
ReplyDeletegary payton on jeremy:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2012/02/oregon_state_beavers_basketbal_63.html
hitler on jeremy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulKS6PstdfI
Too funny. Pure genius to blend a dark part of history with Linsanity.
DeleteGreat interview with Coach Peter. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteThe best news of all?
ReplyDeleteJeremy Lin is NOT dating Kim Kardashian!
David Brooks writes about religion and Linsanity today in NYT. This is my response as a professor in religion and theology.
ReplyDeletehttp://kwokpuilan.blogspot.com/2012/02/being-christian-and-linsane.html
Lin has made a habit of overcoming perceived obstacles. It started when he was a 5-foot-3, 120-pound freshman at Palo Alto (Calif.) High and AAU opponents used to fight over the chance to guard him, figuring there was no way the scrawny Asian kid could play.
ReplyDeletePossessing a quiet determination, Lin never backed down.
“It gave me confidence, I gained the respect of my teammates, and coaches started to play through me,” Lin said. “After that, it was just like, ‘Wow.’ ”
http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/other_nba/view.bg?articleid=1404164&format=&page=2&listingType=NBA#articleFull
Damn, streaks over...
ReplyDeletehttp://jlin-tv.com/nba/the-end-of-the-streak/
9 turnovers.
ReplyDeleteHaving not seen these games, why is he struggling so much with taking care of the ball?
He's giving away way too many possessions.
Well he had his points but the TO are killing him and his team.. Also outside shooting was a non factor, Novak and Crew went missing in this game... Hopefully they'll bounce back on Sunday...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBut 9 of them? Every time I check his box score, he's got like 6 or more - which is a number that would be the highest average in the NBA by a long-shot.
ReplyDeleteIf they start losing, he'll find his butt on the bench real quick, especially when Baron gets back.
It's just inexcusable for a PG to have that many TO's EVERY game.
It IS excusable if your team is winning as Lin's have.
DeleteBaron Davis is no savior. The faster you realize that, the less disappointed you will be when/if Davis gets onto an NBA court and doesn't produce like he used to.
While I do agree that Lin does need to.cut down on his turnovers, it is not all on Lin alone. Dantoni must set up his offense to deal with defensive adjustments and Lin's teammates need to step it up.
Benching Lin is a nice fantasy for some people, but the reality is that Lin plays despite the turnovers because he does.moee good than harm.
I said IF they start losing, then Lin may head to the bench if Baron is healthy. Lin is really lucky that he's the only real option at the PG spot for the Knicks right now. On another team, this TO binge he's on wouldn't fly.
DeleteHe's a smart player, which makes it surprising that he's so turnover prone. Teams see this, and it won't get any easier for Lin.
You want to blame Lin exclusively for the TOs. I am here to inform you otherwise
DeleteThe Knicks WON'T start losing, not with Lin playing like the league's best PG. He is simply too much of a winner to let the Knicks slide. He is the quintessential coach on the floor.
On another team, Lin wouldn't be playing with backcourt partners who would struggle to score and handle in the D league. Even league worst Charlotte has better backcourt talent than the Knicks do. Lin would have more help and so he would not turn the ball over as much.
Baron Davis, even healthy, cannot help. You must understand that he is not the same explosive player from last decade. When and if he plays, you'll finally realize that he cannot really play anymore. It wouldn't be wise for you to bench the NBA's best pg in favor of a player who should be considering retirement, even if the Knicks are losing.
I have written below that Lin has defenses loading up on him. The Knicks pay millions of dollars a year to Dantoni to counter those defenses. Dantoni better start varying his offense, and that is why he flamed out in Phx despite having Steve Nash.
Like I wrote below, help is on the way. Carmelo Anthony's 22 ppg sure would have helped, as the Knicks have bewn getting nothing from the SF positionneven during Linsanity.
Lin's game will result in high number of turnovers. Anytime you're playing aggressive, attacking the basket, getting assists in the paint, there are going to be some turnovers. That's the risk of playing the pick-n-roll. It's fun to watch, and it makes a better highlight than the typical pull-up jumpers.
ReplyDeleteThe turnover issue is a legitimate concern.
ReplyDeleteJeremy Lin is the sole focus of the opposing team's defense. Everybody know that if you stop Lin, you stop the Knicks.
Teams are able to gang up on Lin because the Knicks lack competent ball handlers. Opponents gang up on Lin's side of the court. Since the Knicks don't have a single player other than Lin who can attack the rim from tge opposite side of the court, opponents can load up on Lin with impunity. The Knicks try to beat that with a series of Princeton backdoor plays, but those only work against teams that miss defensive rotations.
Another thing that would greatly cut down on Lin's turnovers is a true post up player. The Knicks don't have a player that can consistently score in the pivot. A true postup player will get into the lane and collapse the zones that are designed to stop Lin's passing and dribbling. It's on Stoudemire to become a post up player, as his refusal to play inside killed the Suns too.
Help is on the way. The post up thing will be somewhat solved by the return of Carmelo Anthony who is one of the NBA's best.postup small forwards. When Dantoni's slick passing offense is derailed by great team defense, that is when a great individual scorer like Anthony shows his All Star offensive ability.
The ballhandling thing will theoretically be relieved by JR Smith who is a good rim attacker with some ability to change directions and a well scouted penchant for tunnel vision. He is sort of like Iman Shumpert but with more NBA experience. Smith is not the answer at SG, though he does provide decent value for low salary.
Lin is a great player, but no great player has consistently won in the NBA by himself.
KHuang,
ReplyDeleteAfter thinking about what you said, you are correct. I actually have not gotten to watch a FULL game of Jeremy play, so I don't know why / how he is getting so many turnovers. However, as you pointed out, Jeremy is expected to handle the ball, pass AND score all at the same time. When Jeremy is in the game, he probably handles the ball 85% to 90% of the time. Usually, most teams shooting guards / small forwards will handle the ball occasionally but that doesn't seem to be the case. While it would be great for him NOT to turn the ball over so much, when you have it so much, you can't be perfect.
Whenever Carmelo gets back, he can handle the ball if needed. Plus as pointed out, Carmelo is a pretty good one-on-player. Even though he may be a ball stopper, it's nice to have a one-on-one player when your offense is not going well. Jeremy won't have to force drives or shots. He can give it to Carmelo and be a catch and shoot guy occasionally.
We'll see how this goes in the next few weeks.
Even the top Point Guards turn over the ball a lot, e.g. Nash's 7 turnovers tonight. Looking at the game, I saw a couple times when Jeremy drove to the basket and was fouled, but no foul was called, which resulted in turnovers. I would say about 2-3 turnovers today were because of his handles, and the inability of his teammates to shoot well resulted in him forcing a lot of drives.
ReplyDeleteThere are many factors that have contributed to Lin's high TOs.
ReplyDelete1) The worst way to handle a pass is to force yourself with no other options but to pass. If you keep your dribble or position when driving, then the defender would have to respect your movement or shot and give your the space to work. Yet more than often Jeremy would get in the air before the window opens. That means he has no choice but to "hope" that his man would arrive in time for the pass, and the opponents are too slow to intercept it. In the Kings and Toronto's game , a couple times his opponents were there ready to take away that slip pass to the post. Lin probably saw that too, but he had no choice since he was in the air already and was below the backboard to put up a shot.
2) Jeremy has been handling the ball TOO MUCH. There's a statistic analysis showing that with the way D'Antoni orchestrates the offense, the PG is responsible for a massive majority of the ball, and of course that'd translate into a lot of assists AND TOs. It's almost inevitable. It would had been ok if it was pure ball handling like JKidd of today (I say today because Kidd was a TO machine when he was doing everything by being a triple-double threat everyday), but Lin was asked to do everything on offense AND playing heavy minutes. Fatigue plays a huge role in TOs. If I remember it correctly, ESPN reported an advance stats based on TO and ball handling time showing that Jeremy is actually slightly less TO-prone than Nash. The only outlier is actually CP3, and that's why he is one of the best all time. To overcome this, Lin just has to pace himself better when tired, just like what he did today in the 2nd half. This could lead to fewer dimes, but TOs could be demoralizing when they start to pile up.
3) The shooters couldn't make shyt. Today, actually, I'd pin this on the shooters. Actually, we could almost pin today's loss on 3 pt and FT shooting ALONE. In D'Antoni's system, if one clicks, it triggers many other positives, and vice versa. One huge reason that Lin was getting TOs like that was because he was constantly sandwiched by big men in the paint AND perimeter help defense, due to the inaccurate firepower from long range. 4/24 (and 2 contributed by Lin, so it should be read as 2/21) is definitely insufficient for the perimeter defenders feeling comfortable leaving their men open and hit hard on Lin. Had Walker, Fields, Shump, especially Novak been able to drop just a couple more 3s on the kick out passes, Lin would had been much more open to drive, the Knicks would had added several more points on the board, and today's game could had been VERY, VERY different. We're lucky that Lin's jumpers were falling actually, because that's not really where his strength is.
For all and all, Lin's been playing like mad trying to single-handedly steal another win. With the way shooters went cold from outside AND the whole team gave up on the FT line (19/29, 65.5%), no defense in the world could rescue from that. My philosophy in sport competition in general, is that you have to start from holding onto the things you could control. Making FTs in basketball is DEFINITELY something you can control. Making wide open 3s is definitely something you can control, if you're a wing player, same as post players making lay-ups when the guards get you a good pass. Same with defensive rebounds, defense intensity and hustle plays. (That's why I think Keith Smart is doing an extremely poor job because that team just did not hustle and deserved to be blown away.) Today, the Knicks as a team gave up on the most controllable aspect of the game on the line (actually, they've been showing sloppy FTs against Toronto already), and they deserved to lose. Their hustle play at the end of the game just made the score sheet looked better, that's it.
Not bad of a wake up call actually. I'd say this could be a blessing in disguise for the long run.