Well, that's the season for Jeremy. With the Knicks down 0-3, there's no use in him coming back now. Even MJ in his prime couldn't will this Knicks team to four straight victories.
Melo went 7-23 and Novak only took 2 shots despite starting. On one possession that summed up the game/season, Melo had the ball in the corner with Novak wide-open. But Melo just wouldn't pass it. Instead he turned it over trying to beat a tight defender.
It's not that Melo is a bad guy or that he's not a super-talented offensive player. But no team that runs through him will ever compete for a title. I read that he has the WORST playoff record of any active NBA player (with at least 36 games or something). That's not a coincidence. 10 games, yes. 50 games, no.
Anyway, Jeremy should jump ship ASAP as long as Melo is there. Just sign a one-year deal, Jeremy! And then make Dolan and Grunwald choose the direction of the Knicks.
If they choose Melo over J-Lin, you can "take your talents" to Brooklyn or Phoenix or Toronto. Just don't have an ESPN special to announce it, ha.
I saw a glimpse during the game when the commentators said Melo has the worst playoff record in NBA history, but didn't get a chance to hear the whole story. Anyone has a link to clear up this fact??
Here is something similar about Melo's playoff record. Seems like he takes teams down with him. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303916904577373974101773782.html
The point of Lin playing isn't the team winning. The Knicks likely wouldn't win with a healthy Lin. The point of Lin playing is gaining invaluable post-season floor experience against a likely finalist in order to advance Lin's development.
Aside from Eric's correct statement about playoff experience, it would also be great for Knick fans to see Lin on the court for the last game of the season.
If Lin made one pass to Novak for a 3, MSG would go bonkers even if the Knicks were down 40 in the 4th quarter!
The emotional good vibes from seeing Lin play even 2 minutes of garbage time in his final game as a Knick would be THE HIGHLIGHT of the entire miserable Knicks season.
Lol. Jeremy is not mascot. Please. I hate people using him as a marketing tool. And cite everything about him for marketing but not his actual bball skills.
I agree with Cara. There is no good reason for him to come back less than 100% which from everything I have been reading he would be if he came back for game 4. Its going to be a intresting offseason. My prediction as stated in a previous thread Woodson is gone if he goes 0-4 which he likely will.
Cara, Bohdi: You're assuming Lin isn't already stressing his knee in practice. The choice isn't between playing and resting, because Lin is already playing. He has been increasing his practice intensity and supposedly simulating game action, albeit 3-on-3. The choice is between Lin only playing in practice and playing in the actual game.
If Lin is doing all the game stuff in practice anyway, and making his knee sore, what good reason is there for him not to do the same game stuff and making the same knee sore in the (likely) last game of the season for 5-10 minutes?
The only good reason would be if Lin is still holding back in practice, which is not what has been reported, and he's such a fierce competitor and would be so hyped about playing his 1st NBA play-off experience that Lin wouldn't be able to hold himself back from going full bore on a knee that he's been babying in practice.
ALL players in the NBA are "mascots" and "marketing tools".
The NBA isn't some ivory tower bastion of academia that devotes itself to so-called "higher learning". It is an ENTERTAINMENT business where people pay money to cheer and jeer basketall players.
What's wrong about seeing Jeremy Lin on an NBA court for the last time? Why does he always have to be "LinVP" every time he takes a dribble? Can't a simple fan like me cheer one last time for a guy who might not even be on the team next year?
I root for Lin to come back. The deafening cheers of the crowd will be a fitting sendoff for Lin's humble domination this season.
What an aweful person to select for the Sportmanship Award -- a wife-beater and a person who has anger management issues. After that horrendous foul on Lin in Dallas, Jason Kidd is no gentleman on the court. I'd rather vote for Shane Battier or some other nice guy if it is not Lin. But definitely not Kidd.
Anyhow, Game 3 of the Knicks game was as expected. Melo, melo, and more melo. The other players seemed hesitant to shoot the ball or was always looking to defer to Melo first. When Miami doubled or tripled Melo, the game was pretty much over. There was no one to score the ball. Also, Melo should stop calling himself one of the leaders of the team during his post interviews. I have yet to see any leadership in him like I have seen in Chandler, Lin, and even Jefferies for that matter. And for him to keep saying he is the "leader of the team and got to keep everyone positive" is a bit ridiculous. Leadership is a person who influences and effects in a way so that others will follow. I sure don't see how the other team members are buying in or following Melo. Rather they have taken fewer shots and are looking hesitant out there if they're not punching fire extinguishers.
Linsanity 2.0 would be nice if Lin was healthy. But I hope he does not rush back if he is not 100%. This series may as well be over in 4 with the current lineup.
Get well JLin. We'll be out in force for next season.
What a reality check for Melo and Woodson. I don't even think that Lin, Amare or Shump would have saved the day. They better realise that this is a team game and it takes a TEAM to win.
I dont think the general public cares about these awards. Even the mvp award shouldnt matter much. Does mvp mean youre the #1 player in basketball? It just doesnt have the same meaning as in soccer when youre named the #1 player in the world. If youre a great player, awards should be the last thing youre worried about. Anything short of a championship is a disappointment...lebrons got alot to learn. Sorry for the sidetrack
Did anyone hear Steven A on Colin Cowherd's show? What a joke..he was apologizing for Carmelo Anthony and blaming all of his teammates past and present for all of his playoff failures. He called Jeremy a decent nba player that is over-hyped and not anywhere near the level of the Linsanity era. He cited anonymous sources that "know basketball"...what an idiot.
On a side note, am I the only one that just thinks its hilarious that the Knicks are down to Miami 3-0. Perhaps since I'm not a Knicks fan and Jeremy is out injured, I am able to view this event as a comedy. I couldn't have scripted this better: selfish ball hogging superstar Carmelo get's his coach fired. He takes over the team, coach, offense, and leads them to the playoffs. Then, he goes bust when it really counts. I've had a good day. Woodson won't be back after this showing. He's actually a good coach, but he's not an elite coach unfortunately because an offense centered around one single player will only take you so far.
Problem with the karmic justice angle is that going into the play-offs, it was widely recognized the Heat were the worst possible match-up for the Knicks. If the Knicks had finished 6th and faced the Pacers or dropped to 8th and faced the Bulls (even with Rose), the Knicks would have had a realistic shot at advancing. And I mean the Anthony-led Knicks sans Lin and Stoudamire. Same Knicks team against the Heat - very little chance. Once Shumpert was lost, thus severely hurting the Knicks' already thin guard rotation and guard play on both ends, then the team had no chance.
It wasn't as if Shumpert was able to stop anybody either.
It's not just Shumpert and Lin and Stoudemire that the Knicks are missing. Bill Walker and Renaldo Balkman are essentially nonscorers, but they are hustle players that do the dirty work that stars like Anthony and Stoudemire refuse to do.
The Knicks have traditionally struggled because they think that simply assembling "stars" past and present will solve all their problems. In truth, championship teams usually are made of MAINLY role players with a few transcendent superstars that do all the scoring and get all the glory. But no team can even make the playoffs without great role players.
Its funny last nite in the game the floor anouncer said Woodson said if you dont have a clear shot give the ball to melo. That doesnt sound like a good offensive team strategy to me. Shouldnt it be run x,y,z plays. If this team is mostly together next season I sure hope they can play better as a team.
Oh.. I did hear the Stephen A nubcake interview you refer to. He also said melo needs a Rhono or Chris Paul or an elite PG and Lin comming off the bench as backup. Its funny because when he makes those comments you realize how little he knows about basketball. He must have been listening to those Scouts that where at the Indiana game who where talking bad about JLin a month or so ago.
Perhaps Smith sees Lin as an NBA 3rd guard, which is an elite group and a key role on championship contenders.
Curiously, the Knicks cut Walker to pick up Gadzuric for veteran big man insurance, yet with Stoudamire out, chose to use the overmatched rookie Harrelson over Gadzuric. With the loss of Shumpert and Stoudamire, the Knicks need both another guard and big man off the bench and effectively have neither.
Any chance of Lin winning the Most Improved Player award? not that it matters ultimately, but it would be a nice present. Although, if the majority of the voters are remotely like Stephen A., I don't think Lin will get it or even get many votes.
My latest prediction is that Lin will be traded to Dallas for Kidd. This is an even more likely scenario as the Mavericks have become old really fast and Mark Cuban likes Lin and Asian players already. Kidd doesn't need to score and having a future HOF would mitigate the fan anger.
Yeah, Mark Cuban really likes Asian players (almost to his detriment).
I remember Wang Zhi Zhi coming into the NBA as a 2nd round pick. Wang was a 7'1" small forward in China who was converted to center for Don Nelson and the Mavs. I thought Don Nelson misused him as a rebounding defensive nonshooting foul accumulating center. If I were Wang's coach, I'd have played him at SF in a Lamar Odom Lakers role (Wang was a better Mav than Odom was a Mav). But then Wang washed out of the NBA not because of lack of skill, but because some Chinese government bureaucrat pulled him out of the NBA for hissy fit reasons.
I've ranted long and hard about how I despise Yi Jianlian's game. He TRIES to play like Wang Zhi Zhi, but he can't because he is not as talented as Wang was. Yi is a player who needs to stay close to the hoop and be a low usage dunking player on offense. And unlike the mobile Wang whose length covered up his lack of footspeed and thus was capable of good defense, Yi's poor reflexes negate whatever mobility he naturally has. Not even Jeremy Lin could turn Yi into a player.
Jeremy Lin has become even better than the player Donn Nelson hoped to turn him into. While Donn Nelson wanted Jeremy to play TWO years in the D league without getting called up to the NBA, Lin would step onto Dallas and immediately be the starter at PG.
Lin on Dallas with Dirk Nowitzki is scary. Nowitzki is like Steve Novak and Carmelo Anthony AND Amare Stoudemire fused into one guy!
Lin made a mistake when he chose the Warriors over the Mavs. The Mavs had a plan for him, unlike the Warriors, who wanted him for marketing reasons. With the way Lin tore up the D League, I doubt the Mavs would have stashed him down there for long - no more than 1 (last) year. Maybe less. Why? The Mavs have the perfect role for Lin. They rely on combo guards to play next to the still savvy, but rapidly athletically diminishing and increasingly stationary Kidd: see Terry, Beaubois, Barea, West. Lin would have defended PGs and played off the ball at SG, but he still would have been able to use his full skill-set on offense because Kidd mostly coordinates the offense from the perimeter and hardly penetrates anymore. The Mavs get their slashing-type playmaking (when they get it) mainly from the SG, which is a Lin specialty. Lin would have been a perfect complement to Kidd in a Kidd-Lin backcourt. With Kidd's career closing out, Lin could have started his career relying on his natural SG/PG combo guard strengths while learning from a Hall-of-Fame PG, and picked up more PG duties from Kidd as Kidd's role continued to diminish. In 1-3 years, a seasoned play-off tested Lin would have stepped into the Mavs starting PG role.
The Cuban-owned Mavs are a better organization than the Dolan-owned Knicks. While the starburst of Linsanity could have only happened with the particular situation on the Knicks when he subbed in against the Nets on Feb 4 and then the team losing Anthony and Stoudamire, and while I'm glad Lin is in NY for selfish reasons, Lin's career would have been better off had he chosen Dallas over the Warriors last season.
Yi looked so good in his D-League game. He was unstoppable and had no business playing against that talent level other than for exercise. The analysts even said so. I just don't understand why Yi hasn't performed better in the NBA.
My take on Yi after watching him on the Nets: NBA body, NBA run-jump athleticism, a few NBA skills, but no NBA mind for the game. His NBA traits and skills don't combine into an NBA player. Yi is like one of those projected five-tool players in baseball who look the part but can't actually play the game at a major league level.
Add to why Lin should have stayed with the Mavs: in addition to a good owner and management, a good coach in Carlisle who would have been less likely to overuse or underuse him.
You wouldn't even be here talking about Lin had he been stashed away for 2 years with the Mavs, Eric!
Lin would not have learned from Kidd. D league teams do not practice with their NBA affiliates, especially when both teams are on the road. Lin got more of the Kidd experience being flagrantly fouled in an NBA game than by not even being even in the same city as Kidd for more than half the season.
As much as Lin would've dominated the D league in his two wasted years there, there is no way he would've beaten out the 6 or so guaranteed contracts ahead of him.
Had Lin signed with Dallas, he would be CUT by his 3rd year and would be playing in Europe or China. Is that what you really want for Lin, Eric?
K: Lin dominated when he was in the D League last year and in his stint with the Bayhawks this year. Would Lin have been brought up for the Mavs championship run last year? I doubt it. But with the overhaul of the Mavs roster after their championship, do you believe the Mavs were so dogmatically committed to their Summer 2010 plan for Lin that management would have refused to bring up a D-League-dominating Lin earlier than originally planned? Plans change when players shine in the minors; it happens in baseball all the time, and the D League is the NBA's minor league.
The Mavs invited Lin on their summer league team in 2010 and offered him a contract because they were one of the few teams to recognize Lin's potential, particularly his potential fit with their system. More importantly, the Mavs had a lot of roster turnover this season with journeymen they don't intend to keep, with an eye on the big-name free agents the next 1-2 summers. Add the roster turnover to Lin's success in the D League and it's reasonable to project that the Mavs would have given Lin a legit shot this season. It's also reasonable to project, given Lin's play on the Knicks, that Lin would have seized the opportunity to slot into a perfect fit next to Kidd, and made the Mavs SG position his own.
You are DELUDING yourself if you think the Mavs would have brought up Lin and his 2nd year unguaranteed contract to replace the guaranteed contract roster spots of the guards they already had under contract.
The Mavs shed Barea for money purposes in order to make a run at Deron Williams and Dwight Howard this summer. You would be INSANE if you believe that an unguaranteed D league call up wouldn't have his contract cut for that reason. Oh yeah, that already happened at Golden State.
No undrafted NBA rookie, which is what Lin would've been this year, is going to come in and beat out Vince Carter and Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones for the SG position off the bench. It wouldn't matter how dominant Lin would be in practice, he'd be back to the D league after training camp. Oh yeah, that's what happened to Lin in Houston and then NY. Then Lin definitely would have ended up in China or Europe, just like he said he was going to do had the Knicks not gotten lucky and played him.
Lin wasted his entire rookie year sitting on an NBA bench, but at least he got in the NBA game enough to lead his team in PER per minute and nearly lead the entire NBA in blocks and steals per minute for guards. Had he played in the Dleague, that never would have happened.
Lin is a far smarter player than you think he is, Eric. He knows better than to follow your advice of playing in the Dleague where he DOES NOT BELONG.
K: You say that as though the Warriors didn't send Lin down to the D League, weren't a mess of an organization and team, and didn't already have 2 combo guards as established starters. The Warriors didn't have a role for Lin, didn't know what they had in Lin, and it showed. Lin made a mistake by signing with them and choosing the better contract over the better organization and opportunity.
You also say that as though Lin had a better chance of making cracking the rotation on teams other than a Mavs team that had a tailor-made role for Lin and recognized his potential to fill that role. Every team had higher profile guards signed, so moot point - Lin had to climb the ladder regardless. The ladder was just within closer reach and clearer in Dallas - especially with the roster overhaul - than anywhere else. Lin got lucky in NY. He was a long shot to be signed by the Knicks and then given an unlikely chance to seize his place in the NBA days before being cut. Lin made the opportunity in NY work for him, but it's not something he planned.
The flaw in my argument is that Lin would have had to foresee that the Mavs would overhaul their roster thus creating an opening for him sooner than expected. The strength of my argument is that not any guard is a perfect complement for twilight Kidd. Lin is. Roster overhaul or no, Lin would have had the distinct advantage over the other Mavs guards that once he shared the floor with Kidd, the fit would have been obvious. Complementing Kidd may not even have been necessary if Lin burst out with the level of play he showed during Linsanity. A good organization like the Mavs with an owner like Cuban and a coach like Carlisle wouldn't have been blind to the basketball that Lin showed world with the Knicks.
It's not like the Mavs are committed to West and Carter - they're journeyman rentals. As for Beaubois or Jones, neither are rookies anymore who must be given every possible opportunity, nor were they ever can't-miss prospects in the first place.
Good counter argument Eric. That's why you are one of my favorite coposters here.
Anytime an undrafted rookie PG enters the league, no matter how good he is, he is automatically behind other players on the depth chart.
Lin did not sign with the Warriors to beat out Curry and Ellis. He signed with them to beat out a bunch of journeyman players including Reggie Williams, CJ Watson, and other guards who weren't even established rotation players. The Warriors got Acie Law to replace Lin once the coaching staff decided that Law's ability to stink up the backup pg position was better than Lin's league leading defense and team leading PER. Thus the Warriors backups were correctly deemed by Lin to be less capable than Jones and Beaubois who Lin played behind in summer league even though he was incomparably better than both of them.
Had Lin signed with Dallas, he'd be thinking about trying to make the Dallas roster THIS FALL. That's because no undrafted rookie who has never played an NBA minute is going to beat out proven rotation players like Delonte West, Vince Carter, Jason Terry, and Rodrigue Beaubois. TWO years of Jeremy Lin would have been utterly wasted in the D league, and we'd be spending this summer worrying about whether Lin could even make an NBA team as a 15th man.
Lin picked GS's constantly shifting roster landscape with the gamble that he could occasionally play enough garbage minutes to be noticed by OTHER teams. His gamble paid off better than he could have possibly imagined.
Lin and his agent Roger Montgomery should be very proud of themselves for not postponing Lin's NBA debut for NEXT season, which is what would've happened had Lin signed with the Mavs.
K: It's all counter-factual speculation, of course, but I don't believe the Mavs were committed to keeping Lin in the D League for 2 years no matter what, then throwing him on the scrap heap. Yes, Lin started lower on the Mavs priority list than Jones and Beaubois, but he was still higher on the Mavs priority list than any other team. Did the Warriors want Lin as a marketing gimmick or as a basketball player? JesLee's reply implies the former. The Mavs wanted Lin the basketball player. He would have had an entire season to rise as a prospect in the same time span they dropped as prospects. Lin dominated the D League as a Warrior and Knick. It's reasonable to assume Lin would have played equally well in the D League as Mavericks property as he played as Warriors and Knicks property.
Lin wouldn't have replaced Barea in the Mavs championship rotation last year, but with his D League performance, there's a good chance he would have at least practiced with the Mavs last year.
This year, Lin wouldn't have needed to beat out Terry or Carter. Lin only would have needed to audition for a specific role, as Kidd's backcourt complement, against West, Beaubois, and Jones - a mediocre journeyman on a 1-year rental and 2 floundering prospects who've already had their shot. Against those three combo guards, I believe Carlisle, with Cuban and Nelson's blessing, would have given Lin a fair opportunity to earn the role. Based on what he showed this season, Lin would have seized that opportunity. An owner like Cuban is willing to eat some salary if it made basketball sense.
I am a layman (or woman) of basket ball, I just have a feeling that God indeed made a nearly perfect plan for Lin. He is a star now, nobody can deny it. As long as his body is healthy, he should have a bright shining career in NBA.
I even thought about the knee injury thing, maybe is part of GOD's plan, to avoid injury like Iman Shampert had?
Now that Lin is not only a NBA star, but also an international recognized figure with huge influence. I don't want to predict what Lin is going to do after NBA, but I certainly think he should be able to influence or change far more people's life than just being a pastor.
These awards are rigged and pointless. The only award that matters is the number of wins you have, and that championship ring on your finger.
ReplyDeletewhatever. Jeremy has had to prove himself time after time. Nothing has changed there.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's the season for Jeremy. With the Knicks down 0-3, there's no use in him coming back now. Even MJ in his prime couldn't will this Knicks team to four straight victories.
ReplyDeleteMelo went 7-23 and Novak only took 2 shots despite starting. On one possession that summed up the game/season, Melo had the ball in the corner with Novak wide-open. But Melo just wouldn't pass it. Instead he turned it over trying to beat a tight defender.
It's not that Melo is a bad guy or that he's not a super-talented offensive player. But no team that runs through him will ever compete for a title. I read that he has the WORST playoff record of any active NBA player (with at least 36 games or something). That's not a coincidence. 10 games, yes. 50 games, no.
Anyway, Jeremy should jump ship ASAP as long as Melo is there. Just sign a one-year deal, Jeremy! And then make Dolan and Grunwald choose the direction of the Knicks.
DeleteIf they choose Melo over J-Lin, you can "take your talents" to Brooklyn or Phoenix or Toronto. Just don't have an ESPN special to announce it, ha.
I saw a glimpse during the game when the commentators said Melo has the worst playoff record in NBA history, but didn't get a chance to hear the whole story. Anyone has a link to clear up this fact??
DeleteHere is something similar about Melo's playoff record. Seems like he takes teams down with him.
Deletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303916904577373974101773782.html
The point of Lin playing isn't the team winning. The Knicks likely wouldn't win with a healthy Lin. The point of Lin playing is gaining invaluable post-season floor experience against a likely finalist in order to advance Lin's development.
DeleteAside from Eric's correct statement about playoff experience, it would also be great for Knick fans to see Lin on the court for the last game of the season.
DeleteIf Lin made one pass to Novak for a 3, MSG would go bonkers even if the Knicks were down 40 in the 4th quarter!
The emotional good vibes from seeing Lin play even 2 minutes of garbage time in his final game as a Knick would be THE HIGHLIGHT of the entire miserable Knicks season.
Lol. Jeremy is not mascot. Please. I hate people using him as a marketing tool. And cite everything about him for marketing but not his actual bball skills.
DeleteI agree with Cara. There is no good reason for him to come back less than 100% which from everything I have been reading he would be if he came back for game 4. Its going to be a intresting offseason. My prediction as stated in a previous thread Woodson is gone if he goes 0-4 which he likely will.
DeleteCara, Bohdi: You're assuming Lin isn't already stressing his knee in practice. The choice isn't between playing and resting, because Lin is already playing. He has been increasing his practice intensity and supposedly simulating game action, albeit 3-on-3. The choice is between Lin only playing in practice and playing in the actual game.
DeleteIf Lin is doing all the game stuff in practice anyway, and making his knee sore, what good reason is there for him not to do the same game stuff and making the same knee sore in the (likely) last game of the season for 5-10 minutes?
The only good reason would be if Lin is still holding back in practice, which is not what has been reported, and he's such a fierce competitor and would be so hyped about playing his 1st NBA play-off experience that Lin wouldn't be able to hold himself back from going full bore on a knee that he's been babying in practice.
ALL players in the NBA are "mascots" and "marketing tools".
DeleteThe NBA isn't some ivory tower bastion of academia that devotes itself to so-called "higher learning". It is an ENTERTAINMENT business where people pay money to cheer and jeer basketall players.
What's wrong about seeing Jeremy Lin on an NBA court for the last time? Why does he always have to be "LinVP" every time he takes a dribble? Can't a simple fan like me cheer one last time for a guy who might not even be on the team next year?
I root for Lin to come back. The deafening cheers of the crowd will be a fitting sendoff for Lin's humble domination this season.
eric, It's a huge difference between a 3 on 3 practice with Knicks and a 5 on 5 battle with Heats.
DeleteWhat an aweful person to select for the Sportmanship Award -- a wife-beater and a person who has anger management issues. After that horrendous foul on Lin in Dallas, Jason Kidd is no gentleman on the court. I'd rather vote for Shane Battier or some other nice guy if it is not Lin. But definitely not Kidd.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, Game 3 of the Knicks game was as expected. Melo, melo, and more melo. The other players seemed hesitant to shoot the ball or was always looking to defer to Melo first. When Miami doubled or tripled Melo, the game was pretty much over. There was no one to score the ball. Also, Melo should stop calling himself one of the leaders of the team during his post interviews. I have yet to see any leadership in him like I have seen in Chandler, Lin, and even Jefferies for that matter. And for him to keep saying he is the "leader of the team and got to keep everyone positive" is a bit ridiculous. Leadership is a person who influences and effects in a way so that others will follow. I sure don't see how the other team members are buying in or following Melo. Rather they have taken fewer shots and are looking hesitant out there if they're not punching fire extinguishers.
Linsanity 2.0 would be nice if Lin was healthy. But I hope he does not rush back if he is not 100%. This series may as well be over in 4 with the current lineup.
Get well JLin. We'll be out in force for next season.
What a reality check for Melo and Woodson. I don't even
ReplyDeletethink that Lin, Amare or Shump would have saved the day. They better realise that this is a team game and it takes a TEAM to win.
I dont think the general public cares about these awards. Even the mvp award shouldnt matter much. Does mvp mean youre the #1 player in basketball? It just doesnt have the same meaning as in soccer when youre named the #1 player in the world. If youre a great player, awards should be the last thing youre worried about. Anything short of a championship is a disappointment...lebrons got alot to learn. Sorry for the sidetrack
ReplyDeleteDid anyone hear Steven A on Colin Cowherd's show? What a joke..he was apologizing for Carmelo Anthony and blaming all of his teammates past and present for all of his playoff failures. He called Jeremy a decent nba player that is over-hyped and not anywhere near the level of the Linsanity era. He cited anonymous sources that "know basketball"...what an idiot.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, am I the only one that just thinks its hilarious that the Knicks are down to Miami 3-0. Perhaps since I'm not a Knicks fan and Jeremy is out injured, I am able to view this event as a comedy. I couldn't have scripted this better: selfish ball hogging superstar Carmelo get's his coach fired. He takes over the team, coach, offense, and leads them to the playoffs. Then, he goes bust when it really counts. I've had a good day. Woodson won't be back after this showing. He's actually a good coach, but he's not an elite coach unfortunately
because an offense centered around one single player will only take you so far.
Problem with the karmic justice angle is that going into the play-offs, it was widely recognized the Heat were the worst possible match-up for the Knicks. If the Knicks had finished 6th and faced the Pacers or dropped to 8th and faced the Bulls (even with Rose), the Knicks would have had a realistic shot at advancing. And I mean the Anthony-led Knicks sans Lin and Stoudamire. Same Knicks team against the Heat - very little chance. Once Shumpert was lost, thus severely hurting the Knicks' already thin guard rotation and guard play on both ends, then the team had no chance.
DeleteIt wasn't as if Shumpert was able to stop anybody either.
DeleteIt's not just Shumpert and Lin and Stoudemire that the Knicks are missing. Bill Walker and Renaldo Balkman are essentially nonscorers, but they are hustle players that do the dirty work that stars like Anthony and Stoudemire refuse to do.
The Knicks have traditionally struggled because they think that simply assembling "stars" past and present will solve all their problems. In truth, championship teams usually are made of MAINLY role players with a few transcendent superstars that do all the scoring and get all the glory. But no team can even make the playoffs without great role players.
Its funny last nite in the game the floor anouncer said Woodson said if you dont have a clear shot give the ball to melo. That doesnt sound like a good offensive team strategy to me. Shouldnt it be run x,y,z plays. If this team is mostly together next season I sure hope they can play better as a team.
DeleteOh.. I did hear the Stephen A nubcake interview you refer to. He also said melo needs a Rhono or Chris Paul or an elite PG and Lin comming off the bench as backup. Its funny because when he makes those comments you realize how little he knows about basketball. He must have been listening to those Scouts that where at the Indiana game who where talking bad about JLin a month or so ago.
DeletePerhaps Smith sees Lin as an NBA 3rd guard, which is an elite group and a key role on championship contenders.
DeleteCuriously, the Knicks cut Walker to pick up Gadzuric for veteran big man insurance, yet with Stoudamire out, chose to use the overmatched rookie Harrelson over Gadzuric. With the loss of Shumpert and Stoudamire, the Knicks need both another guard and big man off the bench and effectively have neither.
Nope. That 3rd guard stuff doesn't explain Smith's hatred of Lin.
DeleteMost people hate Lin because he's Asian. Plain and simple. They hate the name, not the game.
Any chance of Lin winning the Most Improved Player award? not that it matters ultimately, but it would be a nice present. Although, if the majority of the voters are remotely like Stephen A., I don't think Lin will get it or even get many votes.
ReplyDeleteRyan Anderson of the Magic won it.
DeleteMy latest prediction is that Lin will be traded to Dallas for Kidd. This is an even more likely scenario as the Mavericks have become old really fast and Mark Cuban likes Lin and Asian players already. Kidd doesn't need to score and having a future HOF would mitigate the fan anger.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Mark Cuban really likes Asian players (almost to his detriment).
DeleteI remember Wang Zhi Zhi coming into the NBA as a 2nd round pick. Wang was a 7'1" small forward in China who was converted to center for Don Nelson and the Mavs. I thought Don Nelson misused him as a rebounding defensive nonshooting foul accumulating center. If I were Wang's coach, I'd have played him at SF in a Lamar Odom Lakers role (Wang was a better Mav than Odom was a Mav). But then Wang washed out of the NBA not because of lack of skill, but because some Chinese government bureaucrat pulled him out of the NBA for hissy fit reasons.
I've ranted long and hard about how I despise Yi Jianlian's game. He TRIES to play like Wang Zhi Zhi, but he can't because he is not as talented as Wang was. Yi is a player who needs to stay close to the hoop and be a low usage dunking player on offense. And unlike the mobile Wang whose length covered up his lack of footspeed and thus was capable of good defense, Yi's poor reflexes negate whatever mobility he naturally has. Not even Jeremy Lin could turn Yi into a player.
Jeremy Lin has become even better than the player Donn Nelson hoped to turn him into. While Donn Nelson wanted Jeremy to play TWO years in the D league without getting called up to the NBA, Lin would step onto Dallas and immediately be the starter at PG.
Lin on Dallas with Dirk Nowitzki is scary. Nowitzki is like Steve Novak and Carmelo Anthony AND Amare Stoudemire fused into one guy!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete* Oops, too many spelling mistakes. Take 2.
DeleteLin made a mistake when he chose the Warriors over the Mavs. The Mavs had a plan for him, unlike the Warriors, who wanted him for marketing reasons. With the way Lin tore up the D League, I doubt the Mavs would have stashed him down there for long - no more than 1 (last) year. Maybe less. Why? The Mavs have the perfect role for Lin. They rely on combo guards to play next to the still savvy, but rapidly athletically diminishing and increasingly stationary Kidd: see Terry, Beaubois, Barea, West. Lin would have defended PGs and played off the ball at SG, but he still would have been able to use his full skill-set on offense because Kidd mostly coordinates the offense from the perimeter and hardly penetrates anymore. The Mavs get their slashing-type playmaking (when they get it) mainly from the SG, which is a Lin specialty. Lin would have been a perfect complement to Kidd in a Kidd-Lin backcourt. With Kidd's career closing out, Lin could have started his career relying on his natural SG/PG combo guard strengths while learning from a Hall-of-Fame PG, and picked up more PG duties from Kidd as Kidd's role continued to diminish. In 1-3 years, a seasoned play-off tested Lin would have stepped into the Mavs starting PG role.
The Cuban-owned Mavs are a better organization than the Dolan-owned Knicks. While the starburst of Linsanity could have only happened with the particular situation on the Knicks when he subbed in against the Nets on Feb 4 and then the team losing Anthony and Stoudamire, and while I'm glad Lin is in NY for selfish reasons, Lin's career would have been better off had he chosen Dallas over the Warriors last season.
Yi looked so good in his D-League game. He was unstoppable and had no business playing against that talent level other than for exercise. The analysts even said so. I just don't understand why Yi hasn't performed better in the NBA.
DeleteMy take on Yi after watching him on the Nets: NBA body, NBA run-jump athleticism, a few NBA skills, but no NBA mind for the game. His NBA traits and skills don't combine into an NBA player. Yi is like one of those projected five-tool players in baseball who look the part but can't actually play the game at a major league level.
DeleteAdd to why Lin should have stayed with the Mavs: in addition to a good owner and management, a good coach in Carlisle who would have been less likely to overuse or underuse him.
DeleteYou wouldn't even be here talking about Lin had he been stashed away for 2 years with the Mavs, Eric!
DeleteLin would not have learned from Kidd. D league teams do not practice with their NBA affiliates, especially when both teams are on the road. Lin got more of the Kidd experience being flagrantly fouled in an NBA game than by not even being even in the same city as Kidd for more than half the season.
As much as Lin would've dominated the D league in his two wasted years there, there is no way he would've beaten out the 6 or so guaranteed contracts ahead of him.
Had Lin signed with Dallas, he would be CUT by his 3rd year and would be playing in Europe or China. Is that what you really want for Lin, Eric?
K: Lin dominated when he was in the D League last year and in his stint with the Bayhawks this year. Would Lin have been brought up for the Mavs championship run last year? I doubt it. But with the overhaul of the Mavs roster after their championship, do you believe the Mavs were so dogmatically committed to their Summer 2010 plan for Lin that management would have refused to bring up a D-League-dominating Lin earlier than originally planned? Plans change when players shine in the minors; it happens in baseball all the time, and the D League is the NBA's minor league.
DeleteThe Mavs invited Lin on their summer league team in 2010 and offered him a contract because they were one of the few teams to recognize Lin's potential, particularly his potential fit with their system. More importantly, the Mavs had a lot of roster turnover this season with journeymen they don't intend to keep, with an eye on the big-name free agents the next 1-2 summers. Add the roster turnover to Lin's success in the D League and it's reasonable to project that the Mavs would have given Lin a legit shot this season. It's also reasonable to project, given Lin's play on the Knicks, that Lin would have seized the opportunity to slot into a perfect fit next to Kidd, and made the Mavs SG position his own.
You are DELUDING yourself if you think the Mavs would have brought up Lin and his 2nd year unguaranteed contract to replace the guaranteed contract roster spots of the guards they already had under contract.
DeleteThe Mavs shed Barea for money purposes in order to make a run at Deron Williams and Dwight Howard this summer. You would be INSANE if you believe that an unguaranteed D league call up wouldn't have his contract cut for that reason. Oh yeah, that already happened at Golden State.
No undrafted NBA rookie, which is what Lin would've been this year, is going to come in and beat out Vince Carter and Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones for the SG position off the bench. It wouldn't matter how dominant Lin would be in practice, he'd be back to the D league after training camp. Oh yeah, that's what happened to Lin in Houston and then NY. Then Lin definitely would have ended up in China or Europe, just like he said he was going to do had the Knicks not gotten lucky and played him.
Lin wasted his entire rookie year sitting on an NBA bench, but at least he got in the NBA game enough to lead his team in PER per minute and nearly lead the entire NBA in blocks and steals per minute for guards. Had he played in the Dleague, that never would have happened.
Lin is a far smarter player than you think he is, Eric. He knows better than to follow your advice of playing in the Dleague where he DOES NOT BELONG.
K: You say that as though the Warriors didn't send Lin down to the D League, weren't a mess of an organization and team, and didn't already have 2 combo guards as established starters. The Warriors didn't have a role for Lin, didn't know what they had in Lin, and it showed. Lin made a mistake by signing with them and choosing the better contract over the better organization and opportunity.
DeleteYou also say that as though Lin had a better chance of making cracking the rotation on teams other than a Mavs team that had a tailor-made role for Lin and recognized his potential to fill that role. Every team had higher profile guards signed, so moot point - Lin had to climb the ladder regardless. The ladder was just within closer reach and clearer in Dallas - especially with the roster overhaul - than anywhere else. Lin got lucky in NY. He was a long shot to be signed by the Knicks and then given an unlikely chance to seize his place in the NBA days before being cut. Lin made the opportunity in NY work for him, but it's not something he planned.
The flaw in my argument is that Lin would have had to foresee that the Mavs would overhaul their roster thus creating an opening for him sooner than expected. The strength of my argument is that not any guard is a perfect complement for twilight Kidd. Lin is. Roster overhaul or no, Lin would have had the distinct advantage over the other Mavs guards that once he shared the floor with Kidd, the fit would have been obvious. Complementing Kidd may not even have been necessary if Lin burst out with the level of play he showed during Linsanity. A good organization like the Mavs with an owner like Cuban and a coach like Carlisle wouldn't have been blind to the basketball that Lin showed world with the Knicks.
It's not like the Mavs are committed to West and Carter - they're journeyman rentals. As for Beaubois or Jones, neither are rookies anymore who must be given every possible opportunity, nor were they ever can't-miss prospects in the first place.
Good counter argument Eric. That's why you are one of my favorite coposters here.
DeleteAnytime an undrafted rookie PG enters the league, no matter how good he is, he is automatically behind other players on the depth chart.
Lin did not sign with the Warriors to beat out Curry and Ellis. He signed with them to beat out a bunch of journeyman players including Reggie Williams, CJ Watson, and other guards who weren't even established rotation players. The Warriors got Acie Law to replace Lin once the coaching staff decided that Law's ability to stink up the backup pg position was better than Lin's league leading defense and team leading PER. Thus the Warriors backups were correctly deemed by Lin to be less capable than Jones and Beaubois who Lin played behind in summer league even though he was incomparably better than both of them.
Had Lin signed with Dallas, he'd be thinking about trying to make the Dallas roster THIS FALL. That's because no undrafted rookie who has never played an NBA minute is going to beat out proven rotation players like Delonte West, Vince Carter, Jason Terry, and Rodrigue Beaubois. TWO years of Jeremy Lin would have been utterly wasted in the D league, and we'd be spending this summer worrying about whether Lin could even make an NBA team as a 15th man.
Lin picked GS's constantly shifting roster landscape with the gamble that he could occasionally play enough garbage minutes to be noticed by OTHER teams. His gamble paid off better than he could have possibly imagined.
Lin and his agent Roger Montgomery should be very proud of themselves for not postponing Lin's NBA debut for NEXT season, which is what would've happened had Lin signed with the Mavs.
Another good reason for Lin to sign with GS at that time: It would be easier to establish a large fan base in his hometown than elsewhere.
DeleteK: It's all counter-factual speculation, of course, but I don't believe the Mavs were committed to keeping Lin in the D League for 2 years no matter what, then throwing him on the scrap heap. Yes, Lin started lower on the Mavs priority list than Jones and Beaubois, but he was still higher on the Mavs priority list than any other team. Did the Warriors want Lin as a marketing gimmick or as a basketball player? JesLee's reply implies the former. The Mavs wanted Lin the basketball player. He would have had an entire season to rise as a prospect in the same time span they dropped as prospects. Lin dominated the D League as a Warrior and Knick. It's reasonable to assume Lin would have played equally well in the D League as Mavericks property as he played as Warriors and Knicks property.
DeleteLin wouldn't have replaced Barea in the Mavs championship rotation last year, but with his D League performance, there's a good chance he would have at least practiced with the Mavs last year.
This year, Lin wouldn't have needed to beat out Terry or Carter. Lin only would have needed to audition for a specific role, as Kidd's backcourt complement, against West, Beaubois, and Jones - a mediocre journeyman on a 1-year rental and 2 floundering prospects who've already had their shot. Against those three combo guards, I believe Carlisle, with Cuban and Nelson's blessing, would have given Lin a fair opportunity to earn the role. Based on what he showed this season, Lin would have seized that opportunity. An owner like Cuban is willing to eat some salary if it made basketball sense.
I am a layman (or woman) of basket ball, I just have a feeling that God indeed made a nearly perfect plan for Lin. He is a star now, nobody can deny it. As long as his body is healthy, he should have a bright shining career in NBA.
ReplyDeleteI even thought about the knee injury thing, maybe is part of GOD's plan, to avoid injury like Iman Shampert had?
Now that Lin is not only a NBA star, but also an international recognized figure with huge influence. I don't want to predict what Lin is going to do after NBA, but I certainly think he should be able to influence or change far more people's life than just being a pastor.
Happy for him and let's wait and see patiently.