Is there anything concrete that we can do that can drastically and instantly change the current status quo? I'll take any kind of suggestion excluding murder...
I have an idea. We can flood the blogosphere stating that we will not purchase Rox gear, will not renew League Pass, and will not watch NBA games anymore. Someone will take notice :)
to add to Kauaiblue, everyone must avoid buying tickets to watch the games or attend them as well ...especially during the Asian trip to the Philippines and Taiwan...
If those Asian games are only 50% full, it will put the NBA on notice as well as the Rox that using Lin as a token starter to make money off Asians won't work long term.
Ah, no. Lin has to have the balls in the off season to demand a trade because even with a new coach, which there won't be, a Harden dominated team is a recipe for disaster. He needs to go to a team without a quote "superstar", without a ball-dominating, selfish asshole. Then and only then can Lin dominate, play with his wreckless abandon and free-spirited creativity, and you will then see an even bigger version of Linsanity. There is absolutely no reason why Lin, in the correct situation, can't average 28 pts per game, 12 assists per game, 5 rebounds per game, 3 steals per game and 1 blocked shot . Yeah, trust me, he's that good. And for all you dunder heads who think he has to improve his shot, his midrange game, his cross over dribble, his going left, etc. etc. that's pure horseshit. He has always had, and has the game right now to be a superstar.
I agree with you he can get those stats where he is the MAN. Problem is NO NBA team believes in him enough to give him that chance. Limited 6th Man? Sure. Token Starter? Yeah maybe...
But THE MAN? NOPE, which team would do it? Name me a team that Lin can go to where he will be THE MAN as the main guard? I too believe he can get those stats, but nobody will give him that shot. Aside from that, yes Lin does need to improve his game and skills even though he can already average great numbers if he were the man...
Here are the only teams that could use Lin and if he were lucky might be able to shine:
Lakers? Maybe but honestly, no not with Kobe there. But Kobe is only there 1 more year unless resigned.
Dallas? MAYBE
Sacramento? Maybe, if the coach changes and they get rid of their 5 PGs.
Utah? MAYBE
Atlanta? MAYBE but they have passable guards already.
Charlotte? Maybe but they like Kemba
Orlando? Maybe, but doubt they like Lin & are rebuilding.
--------------------
The only team that could really use Lin next year? There is only 1 - that is the Utah Jazz. And Lin kicked their ass every time they played since he was at GS Warriors. So I can see them going after him. And poor Lin, as the Asian kid stuck in Utah, it'll work for Utah and Lin and the rest of the NBA will love it that Lin can be hidden in Utah and away from the big American media and public eye.
In essence, Lin would be forgettable to everyone outside Lin fans and Utah fans. And the Rox want either Milsap or Jefferson so I can see it happening. And maybe Atlanta, but I don't see them wanting Lin, he doesn't fit the market there, or needing him though Houston wants Jsmooth.
So if there's a trade, I feel it's going to be Utah #1 and maybe Lakers #2. There's nowhere else for Lin to go....
No I will tell u the easiest way. Go to a game sit behind the bench. Have a large sign that says McHale is racist toward Asians but dont show it. Then during the first half, run onto the court with that sign raised. U will get arrested.
But u will bring this to attention where people will start looking into this thing in more detail. Rox will have a pr nightmare. Some may even grant u an interview.
I'm sure Lin won't be happy but who cares. If he isn't doing shit, then we take matters into our own hands. He can thank u later.
So who wants to sacrifice oneself for the greater good?!
I emailed his agent, Mr. Montgomery, yesterday to raise my concerns, just wanting to do something/anything to help out, even though I know it may not help much.
No shit Sherlock. If u r gonna consider such ridiculous idea serious, then u should go to jail. Lighten up.. Don't act like I just proposed harming McHale.
Tanner and Montgomery are his agents. I think Montgomery subcontracts certain things out to Tanner. In other words, Montgomery pays Tanner and not Lin.
I think had Tanner were Lin's agent from the get-go then Lin wouldn't add another agent. Montgomery runs a boutique agency so he doesn't have the proper channels or personnel to get certain things done.
Exactly u want an agent who has some power, who can force teams to cater to his clients. I don't know who this Montgomery guy is but he sounds pretty useless. Jeremy is way too big for him.
" Lin has been more efficient if less productive averaging 13.8 PPG and 5.0 APG but hitting 49% of his attempts. Lin’s problem has been a decline in minutes as much as a lack of performance. His defensive woes have been exploited and Beverley has been getting more minutes in his place.... Beverley is not only looking ahead at minutes from Lin but behind him from recently signed Aaron Brooks.... Beverly superb defender compared to poor defender Lin."
Tired of such comments from media and game commentators. In the game against Spurs which Beverly got good results, my impression was that he was hyperactive and got lucky buckets from half wildly thrown shots, similar to Tony Douglas. It's a big difference going all out as a 3 minute sub in the first quarter and being a start up PG.
But, if Beverly closes out the 4th quarter or, heaven forbid, starts out the first quarter, we can only see if it'll advantage the Rockets. It does seem, tho that McHale says one thing but does another to Lin.
If Lin starts poorly, he will get minimal minutes. If the Grizzlies blow out the Rockets, Lin will sit the 4th quarter. If the Rockets blow out the Grizzlies, Lin will sit the 4th quarter. If Beverley plays well, Lin will get reduced minutes. If Lin plays really well, he will get subbed out at the usual time regardless. Pretty much the only way that Lin actually gets starter minutes is if he plays really well, the game is close, and Beverley is turning the ball over excessively.
Meanwhile, none of the above rules apply to Harden or Parsons.
Originally, I thought that others' minutes were extended to showcase them and then they were promptly traded away eg, Patterson, Morris and even Aldrich who deserved few minutes. The exception is Harden who is the team franchise and needs to pad his stats in order to get into NBA all stars - which heaps prestige on Rockets.
They hid DMo until recently so that other teams wouldn't bid for him. I was hoping this is the same tactic for Lin - if he produces Linsanity figures, other teams will simply buy out his contract for him. Rockets will get little for the trade, other teams will benefit and if Rox make Lin unhappy, he'll start 'suffering injuries' until he moves to a team of his choice. But his 3rd year $15m will be a poison pill for him as well.
However, if Lin is traded away in the 2013 summer, it'll show how devious that Morey-McHale were conniving all along.
Lin needs to stop helping on defense and just play straight up defense like Beverly. Maybe then, he will be kept in the game. In McHales mind help defense will only make the helper look bad. Beverly never helps on defense, that's why he looks like he's a good defender. Beverly doesn't really pass the ball to other players except Harden anyway so this turnover level is extremely low and it keeps the coach happy because Harden has the ball. That's the reason you don't see ball movement when Beverly is in the the game. Beverly is smart in a sense that he knows the coach is incompetent so creating perception is the key.
While guys like Beverley are stinking up the game with piss poor defense and selfish play, Lin needs to not worry and simply make the most of whatever minutes he's given.
I like what Jason Terry, himself a badly maligned guard in the early parts of his career, said. Terry said that every time he steps on a court, he is auditioning for 30 NBA teams including his own.
Lin should avoid at all costs becoming a SCRUB like Harden or Parsons or Beverley who refuses to play defense and plays selfish hero ball. Lin needs to keep trying to be unselfish and play team basketball. He gets his best results when he's driving and dishing and defending, all of which require the help of at least DMo and Asik. Let other teams see who the REAL star on the Rockets is.
I agree with you KHuang. Just let Jeremy play his game. Help defense is usually a good strategy with good defensive coaches. Jeremy did pretty well in Woodson's defensive coaching. If Jeremy is such a bad defender why is he top 10 in THE NBA in steals. The numbers don't lie.
Harden is also top 10 in steals and is currently ranked even higher than Jeremy. Stats can be so deceptive that they don't offer the full picture of the intangible values added by players on the court...Har()en's higher steals ranking doesn't reflect Har()en's poor defense.
@Janelin7, I totally agree with you. James and Jeremy get steals. However, if you have 2 players in top 10 in the league in steals then why is their team defense so damn bad? This is a coaching problem not Jeremy and James' problem.
I know JLin wants to play his brand of basketball, which is being a team player who could sacrifice his own stats with the ultimate goal to have the team win, but at some point he has to make the decision that it's more important to establish himself as a legitimate starter and so-called consistent player by getting good scoring stats, even at the expense of team wins. His brand of basketball may be the winning style of play, but right now he couldn't even stay on the court, due to incompetent coaching or outright bias against him. With the current Rockets team, JLin has to temporarily abandon his team mentality and just play like he needs to maintain his rotation spot.
JLin has to remain aggressive to look to score, look for assists and not hockey-assists, & no more help defense unless the coaches specifically ask him to. There will be a time and place for JLin's winning style of basketball, but it probably won't be with the Rockets.
Lin is who he is, not who you want him to be. He just needs to play the way he wants to play, not change to the way some fans on a message board want him to play. If he's getting benched by doing it, then so be it. At least he gets the satisfaction by playing the way he wants to play.
Of course he will play the way as he sees fit. He will figure it out. I'm just suggesting in my opinion what I think is good for JLin in his current situation. I thought that was the point of having a discussion board, isn't it? We are all JLin fans here.
the problem is he is not though. He can't play his brand of basketball when nobody buys in. The great teams buy into one philosophy. This team seems to have a few;
1. Lin who believes in the energy of the ball 2. Harden who believes hes the next coming of Carmello 3. McHale who believes moving the ball is letting go of the ball after you pass the line.
McHale's to Lin, "you have to be aggressive by not being aggressive."
Lin, "right...wait... whaaat?"
McHale, "exactly"
Lin, "Jesus, please help me understand coach... he's harder to understand than the verses in the bible."
Passive resistance is a powerful tool to overthrow oppression. I agree that Lin needs to stop helping his teamates on defense and just focus on his own man. Just as I have advocated that he should just shoot instead of helping his teamates to get involved in the offense. Focus only on his own performance stats and just increase his personal value forbid future team.
Bruce Lee gave a lesson to a student about Kime or "tighten your mind". He told a student who was having a terrible match to focus only on one thing at a time. "A Zen master is not concerned with past or future, only with task at hand. Because he is tight, he is calm. Because there is room for only one thought, he has no haste or waste of his energy. Always remember, an unfocused or loose mind wastes energy."
"Kime is the art of focus and excluding all extraneous thoughts, thoughts that are not concerned with achieving your immediate goals."
For Lin, helping others on this team that does not apprecaite his efforts is like working for a boss who never gives you credit for your work and takes your ideas and passes it off to his boss as his own. You then must withhold your ideas and just do whats asked. Because no amount of effort on your part will ever promote your own success and only serves to promote someone else.
Lin has to free his mind from that unselfish mindset that is the hallmark of a traditional pg. Lin is not a Pg anymore, he is a shooting guard!
To illustrate this, I will give a personal example from my golf game. I've played for over 25 years and my putting was horrible because I was always leaving putts short for fear of 3 putting. More often than not, I wound up so short that I 3 putted anyways. Finally after 15 years of fearful putting, I decided that if I'm going to 3 putt anyways, I'm going to run it by the hole and try to make the comeback for par. It was this decision that transformed me into a clutch putter. Now anytime I play a scramble, my teammates always make me putt last to cover for them.
Once I freed my mind from the doubt of all that could go bad and focused on the one good thing that I wanted to happen, I became a not only a good putter, but a clutch putter.
Jeremy has to train his mind to let go of being the facilitator on an equal oppertunities system, one that is predicated on off ball movement to produce a good shot. Once he has put himself into the clear to shoot, he has to just shoot. He has to free his mind from his own inclination to pass and never hesitate to accept the opportunity to shoot. If he is able to do that, then he will become an important contributer to the Rox team offense.
He will become a clutch post up shooter once he frees his mind of all the what ifs and focus only on the single thing he wants to happen, that is to put the ball through the hoop. That's exactly how Harden, Parons and Delfino thinks, no matter how badly they are performing on any given night.
We've seen this from Lin. His last minute 3 to win the state championship in highschool, the Uconn game in college, the last minute 3 against Toronto, the 38 points against Kobe, the 38 against the Spurs, the 29 against OKC are examples of Lin in that clutch mode. When push comes to shove and the team needs his points, he then frees his mind to put the numbers up.
IMO, he's not going to "win" if the team wins with him playing back-up minutes, like the win against the Spurs. There would be more ammo for JLin doubters that he's not needed for the team's success.
I continue to assert that this league and Mchale only looks at raw stats and scoring as proof of legitimacy. By helping his team win will not promote his own value.
It's like a graduate research assistant doing work for his prof. If that prof has shown little respect for the student and will take his work to publish as his own then the student is a fool to work hard for his science. Winning for this student is to work hard within the perameters of his post grad studies while withholding his ideas until he gets his own posting. This is passive resistance, working the system to your own self promotion. It is a necessary evil, until such time as when you have total control of your own destiny.
For Lin, he has to gain respectability by putting up the stats for himself both on offense and defense. We all agree that Mchale is a ball watcher with little insight of team chemistry or over off ball activities. Lin's help offense and defense is an attribute of his incredible court sense of all off ball activities. Mchale doesn't recognize this because he is a ball watcher and a simpleton linear thinking dolt. Once Lin gans league respectability he can then push for his style of play.
I read a comment by Morey that he didn't care for Lin not sticking to guarding his own man and going off to help other teammates.
I think it should only be done occasionally, because it leaves his man wide open shortly later, who then will shoot the ball himself or makes a quick pass to another open teammate. Plus, if the Rox don't want Lin to keep doing that, why do it?
I agree with Bob. At this point of JLin's career, he needs good raw stats (mostly scoring) to prove his worth. How often would ppl quote the win/loss record when they judge how good you are as a player? There are so many other factors that lead to team wins. The win/loss record is important for coaches.
If JLin is on a team that buys into his concept of team basketball and values what he brings to the table, then yeah, he could sacrifice his stats in exchange to make all his teammates better, which would lead to more wins. However, the Rockets isn't that type of team. Morey mentioned that JLin had trouble finding his role in the Rockets' offense earlier this season... something about fitting a square peg into a round hole. I think that conflict is still not resolved.
Why expend so much energy doing help-defense, when it will wear Lin out for his offense and playmaking passes? It's even more taxing for Lin than most other PGs in the league, because of the Rockets fast-paced style.
Think about this...what if morey or alexander forced mchale to bench lin for saftey issues. remember new york. Morey: mchale u got bench jeremy. mchale:we cant win or make it to the playoff without jeremy Morey: look mchale you find a way or your arce is fired. (harden and parson as the only scoring option left) Reasoning: the nba is a business first. If lin gets hurt or injured like he did in new york right before playoffs. Do you know how much money nba will lose. Think china watching the rockets jersey sales commercial ad and ratings. All nba teams share revenues. having said that if lin is still benched during playoffs then 100 percent mchale hates lin. Why not just tell lin why he is getting bench. Knowing jeremy he would go nuts because he does not want to be treated like piece of meat simply make money even though he is a good player.
I don't think that's the case. You mean JLin's health is more important than Harden's health to the Rockets? Harden is the franchise player. They paid max money for him. If McHale could bench JLin with no repercussions from Morey or Mr. Alexander, it probably means that JLin is not going to be a vital part of the Rockets' future. They are using this playoff run to feature Harden and probably hoping to attract another superstar to join the Rockets in the offseason.
Geeez, someone who just started watching?.... Naive or a teenager..... SMH.
David Lee: I hate to tell you:
The world is a much more cynical place than you think. It's made up of roughly 10% of very good people, 10% of very evil people, and the rest are made up of people with varying degrees of good and evil. Therefore, at any time you don't know who you're dealing with - or, in this case, what kind of coach someone is: McHale has proven to be a Lin disbeliever & hater (the regular season is almost over, so we know!); and Morey has proven to be a Lin disbeliever.
Morey panicked when Lin failed to perform in the preseason as if he never had the surgery. Thus, with the Harden trade *AND* dissing Lin simultaneously, Morey was resurrecting his resume for the NBA's basketball minds (team owners, pundits, GMs, coaches, sports writer and announcers) to see. "See, this is why the Rockets basketball minds - and I'm the leader of it - never believed in Lin as the team owner did", "I wasn't going to be embarrassed by my peers, which is why I've leaked the 'no confidence in Lin by the Rockets' basketball minds' info the day after I was forced let Lin sign at the dotted line" (The paper was signed July 17; the info was leaked to the press on July 18). And, in an effort to EXAGGERATE the brilliance of trading for Harden, Morey-McHale team has done everything to help Harden pad his stats.
Well, the team owners aren't necessarily "basketball minds", but they are the ones hiring, extending contracts or firing..... As for the others, it was for reputation, pride and ego. But the thing is Lin *is* the real deal, you biased self-aggrandizing moron morey.
At the beginning of the season, a few people here attacked me for saying Harden pad his stats...lol
I harbor no hard feelings as I was more concerned about Jeremy's role in the team, his future in the NBA...too much at stake not to be worried about. At this juncture, it's clear that McHale and Morey are going all in to make Jeremy pay for the embarrassment.
If NBA is serious about protecting Jeremy from injury, the first thing the league should do is make sure the refs get their act together and do a better job in officiating! How did that malicious LAC player escape the flagrant foul call? Oh come on, if only anybody in the league is really "protecting" Jeremy in earnest!
Y r so dumb it hurts. Just look at kings vs lakers game six 2002. the nba threw that game to make money on game seven. Could u imagine how much more money the nba will make if jeremy lin was in front of every chinese tv screen. They are millionaires thats all they now how to do is make money. And if u think for one millisecond that these millionaires gives a SHIT about U pissing in your pants about jeremy not getting a few more minutes during the game when in a few weeks these millionaire r going to make killing off all those people in china and U. U must dumb ass fuck. Think outside the box. Think with your mind and not with your emotion and maybe just maybe u will get smarter like me. Idiot
@David Lee, I won't go as far to call you names. In fact, at times, I had the same reasoning as yours as to why Jeremy's treated this way. However, the NBA doesn't seem to care much about Jeremy's ability to "print" money for the league since he gets hammered constantly yet receives no foul calls from the refs.
You are the early observer. But because Harden is a very young guy and seems nice, a lot of people here probably wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think it's really more the fault of Morey and McHale who had an ulterior motive.
Harden also pads his stats with "crafty" type of free throws.
Both McHale and Harden relying too much on Harden's ability to draw fouls, may be a problem come playoff time, as some referees might get weary of calling too many "crafty" type of fouls that favor players like Harden, Kobe and Chris Paul (this season, Harden has been the king of them all at it).
Harden *manipulates* the foul-drawing a lot by RAISING HIS ARMS with the ball in his hands (shooting motion) and INITIATING THE CONTACT himself when double-teamed on his way to the lane: The act of raising his arms with the exaggerated "winging" of his elbows causes Harden's elbows to make contact with the opponent(s). Harden knows that it will be a forced shot, but he's betting that either the ball will luckily go in OR he'll get 2 FREE THROWS (it's usually free throws).
Crookedly, when Lin gets HARD-fouled while he's attempting a layup, he hardly ever gets the call !!!!! A layup is a high percentage shot and is often the result of harder work, NOT the crafty type of move to manipulate fouls in one's favor - not like Harden who wants to live on the FT line (he's been mostly successful thus far).
Folks need to re-visit some important events during the past 9 months. 1. Les Alexander personally chaired the 28-minute welcome media event for Jeremy Lin on July 19, 2012. This was after Les instructed Daryl Morey to increase Lin's verbal backloaded contract offer to $5m, $5m, $15m, which is the maximum allowed under the new CBA. Daryl may have expected the offer to be matched by the Knicks, but Les (as an owner) knew better. Therefore, Lin will remain a Houston Rocket as long as Alexander is the owner. He will not allow Lin to be traded away. 2. As announced by Les some time last month, Daryl's contract is being extended. We do not know the details, but it is said to be for 4 years. Les is extremely pleased with Daryl's handling of the Lin, Asik, and Harden contracts. 3. With the tragic death of his daughter, McHale is untouchable. Daryl has mentioned McHale for possible COY. If (by the Grace of God) McHale is able to reach the second round of the playoffs, he will for sure get the COY. 4. During preseason, Jeremy Lin did not play in the second of a B2B. This was announced by McHale before that game; the reason given being the healing of Lin's knee. Also, Daryl did mention how Lin's acceleration was tops but Lin's stops were poor, a perfect indication of Lin's knee not being fully healed. The latest news release stated Lin's knee is now 100%. 5. The coaching staff wanted to strengthen Lin's weakness as a spot-up shooter during game time. The best way to do that is to post him at the corner 3-pt. Lin's spot-up shooting has improved to around 50% behind the 3-pt line, albeit where he has a plan-view of the backboard. (Plan-view not plain view.) 6. Observe that video of the Rockets team during a recent time-out, where Lin was very vocal while pointing to Asik and Delfino. Meanwhile, McHale was watching and listening, patiently waiting for his turn to speak. (McHale recognizes Lin's forte as a leader, and McHale is attempting to merge Lin's system ('drive-by' dribbling in the paint) into his own system. It is like when Red Auerbach promised Bill Russell to merge Russell's game into his system and calling it the 'fast-break.') 7. The slow starts in the first quarters is evidence of the merger. As Lin has stated, it is his job to get teammates going. When they are slow, the poor starts are the result. McHale does not yet have the patience to wait for the development, particularly when the Pacers got hot. In conclusion:- We all need to settle down, sit back, and enjoy the evolution of this team. We will stumble every now and then, but McHale will figure it out before the playoffs start.
Don't forget the signing of JLin and Mr. Alexander's full support on display at the media event all happened before they signed Harden for max money. I think the Harden signing changed the Rockets' plan for JLin. They probably experimented with having both JLin & Harden on the court throughout the season to see if they are effective together.
With the recent overt benching of JLin (no more excuses since they said JLin's knees are 100%, and JLin had improved his shooting with the 20+ point games), maybe the experiment is over and the conclusion is that they can't have 2 ball-dominant guards on the same team. They need only 1 ball-dominant guard and rather spend money on another position. So if they had to choose one or the other, their obvious choice is to keep Harden and marginalize JLin.
McHale has no interest in Jeremy Lin. If you can't see that I really don't know what you have been watching. McHale is not in Lin's corner--he does not have Lin's interest in mind. You cannot be so obtuse really?
Everybody here gave McHale the benefit of the doubt for long time.
Plus - what about the numerous round-about public verbal jabs at Lin?
Plus - what about all the 4th quarter benching even when Lin played well? A half of those games didn't result in wins, although they were leading when Lin was yanked out.
Stanley Chang, I'm cool with what you said simply because opinions don't matter - it's how they evolve and compete that will reveal to us the truth, and it's been a great ride so far. Not perfect, but hey, we had Linsanity and waiting for sustained L-2 is better than waiting for the next Star Wars. Thanks for posting.
McHale already made up his mind about Lin since the day he was cut. So doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's not a believer of Jeremy's abilities. All I heard this season was; 1. Harden's unbelievable 2. TD/PB gave us a spark 3. Chandler's been great
Reporter, "what about Jeremy?"
McHale, "I thought the ball was sticky..."
Reporter, "I meant, what did you think of Jeremy's perfromance?'
McHale, "...he'll be fine, he's young, he's going to have his ups and downs."
Reporter, "why was Jeremy benched in the 4th today"
McHale, "We needed some defense and PB provided that for us tonight. He provided us with a spark."
Reporter, "What was the reason for the lost today?"
McHale, "Well Jeremy did horrible the first half. We've been playing catchup..."
1. Keep myself from being injured, meaning I will not drive to the rim and risk myself getting hammer by the big man unless the lane is wide open or it is a fast break.
2. Play with the flow of the game, meaning if coach asks me to camp behind the 3 pt. line, I would do so and shoot the ball when I was open, otherwise swing it to the teammate and run back to play defense.
3. Concentrate on my own opposing point guard and play one on one defense the best I could, no more help defense to risk my self being torched.
4. In the off-season, I will train very hard to improve my shooting, midrange, 3pt, floater etc., and my ball handling skills.
5. Starting next season, if I am or Mchale is still with the team, I'll stand up and challenge him if he still treats me like s h i t and force the FO to choose sides. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Every team has seen me play this season and I believe majority of them know who I am and how I played. I have confident I can improve my skill sets and many teams would line up for my service by either trade for me or sign me as a free agent.
Call me unprofessional but if my coach does not respect me and treated him like s h i t, I don't think it is fair to myself to play for him.
Also, Lin should do the same things that OTHER PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS do:
Hire a conditioning trainer who trains other sports pros (don't keep employing his friend Josh, who is young and inexperienced at the pro level training).
Hire a shooting coach whose clients are a top notch NBA players.
Hire a nutritionist who caters to pro sports guys.
Stop dreaming. There is nothing Lin can realistically do to improve his standing on this team. Nothing. How u guys cannot get that is mind boggling to me.
Just for Lin to improve his game and conditioning. He needs to maintain and improve himself all the time, because that's what anybody who is anybody in the NBA does. But also for Lin's future team! (;~)
I expect Lin to have a good game against Conley. Allen is going to shut down Harden, and Prince is going to shut down Parsons. Zach is going to bully DMo.
I don't know why teams haven't figured Harden out yet. Give him the lane and challenge him at the rim. He's going to go left 95% of the time. Double him when he has the ball and force it out of his hands. Dallas did that against CP3 and it worked...
The reasons teams "haven't figured it out" is because when Harden is shut down, Lin TAKES OVER.
Opponents are happy for Harden to play selfishly, to freeze out everybody except his corner passing targets Parsons and Delfino, to brick shots and turn over and play zero defense. That's how they beat the Rockets.
What opponents can't have is Lin scoring and dishing and defending and getting the whole team involved. When Lin gets the ball because opponents have forced it out of Harden's hands, that's when the Rockets blow opponents out.
Harden is still lightly guarded. He has been defended as hard as Lin only on a handful of occasions, and the Rockets won those games when Lin went off. This is why opponents are content to let Harden try to hero ball his way into victories.
Other teams already have a built-in defense against JLin, and that's his own coach lol. So yeah, they only need to focus on Harden. Rockets' philosophy is to live with Harden's iso, and to die with Harden's iso.
"Look, when he faces you up, sag a little and cheat to his left. Let him use up 10 seconds."
"What if he blows by me?"
"Let him go - we'll take our chances on the free throw line. The key is let him use up the clock. He'll pass it to someone with about 5 seconds left, and we box out for the transition."
"Ok ... what about Lin?"
"Half the time it's Bev. When Lin is in, just make sure you hold him on his first move so Harden calls for it."
This is an excellent video of LeBron learning from Hakeen Olajuwon, but this article is really interesting as well. It talks about Mike Brown's simplistic offense making James be point forward, dominating the ball. Then it talks about his shot charts evolving from Cleveland and now in Miami. Points out how Speolstra made LeBron so much more efficient playing OFF the ball. Totally relevant for Harden and Lin's situation right now
Grantland and Kirk Goldsberry write the most incredible articles.
The stats/analysis prove what we already knew: Harden is a amazing scorer, but his efficiency would be much improved if he played off the ball more instead of handling the ball all the time.
Then it's really mind boggling that the top rated, stats savvy Rox GM Morey doesn't seem to know Harden's is only an amazing scorer who should just focus on playing off the ball? The moreyball is stats driven, but the game plans are moving away from that direction...?
One other point I read the other day. The Rockets right now is a lot like the movie Moneyball. You have the savvy analytical GM. You have the stupid, old school coaches who are stubborn, won't play the GM's guys the right way, and rely on subjective bias and the eye test.
You have Morey trading away Douglas, but McHale still plays the next backup the same way. I wouldn't be surprised if just like Moneyball where the coach got fired, that Morey finally fires McFail and Sampson and elevates Finch to HC, who is a smart analytical non-biased coach with prior success in other leagues.
But if Lin is traded, they can do whatever, I don't care.... I feel strongly that Lin will be traded, basing on Morey's and McHale's actions and words. If they don't trade Lin next summer, I'll be very puzzled at their behavior toward Lin this season.
I personally I wouldn't follow Lin so much if he turns into a ball hog like many of you want him to. The reason I started following him when he was back at Harvard was because he plays so unselfishly. I love to watch his game. But I think many of you are fans of the person Lin whereas a basketball fan I'm just a huge fan of his game. I also love following his development as a player, the growing pains, the ups and downs, etc. He'll get through this he's too good not to. If you've been following Lin since Harvard you know there were far worse situations than he is in now.
If Lin goes rogue on his teammates and coaches, he just degenerates into an Asian Monta Ellis (great individual scorer, but doesn't make his teammates better and truly help team win at higher level).
That being said, McHale's substitution patterns for Lin really never even give him a chance to succeed.
Yes even if I look at his substitution patterns without even caring Lin is on the team, McHale doesn't seem to know how to manage minutes effectively for his starters. Sometimes you'll see Harden play an entire quarter with no rest while Harden is getting torched defensively. Also like Lin, Asik is on a extremely short leash. If he fumbles a couple of passes or misses one defensive rotation in comes Greg Smith. This leads to inconsistent rotations and Harden/Parsons playing 40+ night in and night out.
Yeah, that's why I compared McHale to Keith Smart. Aside from Lin, the entire rotation is inconsistent. Playing the hot hand on a nightly basis is not good coaching, that just means you don't know your players. Playing the hot hand is like a 2-QB system. Doesn't work because they can't get into a rhythm.
To be the most productive in the long term, you play your best players the most minutes. And if McHale thinks that Beverley is his best PG, then he should start Beverley and play him 36 mins a game.
I have watched all of Lin's game with Reno Big Horns except for one (they had technical difficulties during broadcast and game wasn't available in archives afterwards either), and my memory is that Lin always gets better as game progresses. I can understand pulling Lin early in first quarter (5 minute mark) and even not putting him back in second till say 6 minute mark if he gets off to sluggish start, and Harden is also struggling, because with Beverley in as nothing more than dribble ball up, pass to Harden, and get out of way, putting ball so predominantly in Harden's hands will hopefully get him going.
But when Harden is still struggling mightily in third, then perhaps Harden should have gone to bench when Bevereley normally subs in for Lin and let Lin run with TRob and Smith, even if it is just till beginning of fourth quarter.
Lin only really struggles against guards that 1) have small frames and can change directions instantly on a dime (e. g. Squeaky Johnson of Austin Toros always used to give Lin fits) or 2) few larger guards like Jose Calderon (don't know if Lin just can't read change of direction or what, but it is surprising he has so much difficulty with him).
If small guard that changes directions so quickly that Lin can't recover, and that guard is reason Rockets are losing in fourth quarter, then I can understand how Beverley might be right choice (if Harden and others are rolling on offense and lack of defense is only reason Rockets are not pulling away).
If individual match ups allow it, I'd like to see Beverley guarding opposing point guard and Lin off ball guarding someone in corner (so he can see all action in front of him and play free safety) while Harden rests. Beverley's ball pressure can produce lazy pass that Lin can pick off. Lin isn't a bad on ball defender; I just think he can be much, much more effective off ball (plus, because he isn't responsible for getting back to protect against transition, he can be more aggressive going for rebounds, too).
Right now, I think he is freezing Lin out because he is jealous of all the attention Lin gets because of his global fan base.
He wants to be the man in Houston, and unfortunately, looks like he will pull whole team, including Jeremy down, just to achieve that goal.
NBA League Pass Broadband ad with LeBron, Kobe, and Lin on it must infuriate him (Lin being on it is understandable because they are probably specifically marketing to Asian and Chinese market).
This isn't the one I saw linked on Clutchfans (IIRC, that one only shows LeBron, Kobe, and Lin), but here is NBA League Pass Broadband website (Lin and Kevin Durant there, in addition to LeBron and Kobe; no James Harden, which must piss him off):
Lin will never be a ball hog. He doesn't get the ball enough! He just has to shoot when and if he ever gets the ball back into his hands. We all agree that his production and stats are related to his numbers of time he shoots. He has to take his 15 shots. Besides, once he passes the ball to harden, he can't hog the ball because someone else is hogging the ball. Lin just needs to be ready when harden gives him the ball with 2 seconds left on the clock.
We keep talking about respect, and I keep reiterating that this league only respects stats. In order to play his game, Lin has to earn the respect through that system of grading. Only then can he have enough respect to play his own style of game.
Although the Rox is promoting Harden on full scale, he still hasn't made the list of popular NBA players in America itself, let alone international front yet.
KD, CP3, Rondo, Dwayne Wade, Steve Nash, Westbrook, Carmelo, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and a few more players are more popular than Harden. Harden has a long way to go before he become one of the more popular NBA players. His popularity globally will never ever surpass that of Jeremy's. With Harden's style of play, it's even more difficult for him to break into international market because most Jeremy's fans will despise him if he continues to be a ballhog and doesn't cease to play selfish basketball.
People in CF doesn't seem to understand that a great scorer doesn't mean great team player... and Houston had two in recent years, Steve Francis, Tracy McGrady anyone? Harden does not believe in getting others involved. All his passes are in the perimeter for shots or driving to the basket for an assist. What I mean by this is he does not exploit weaknesses. He does not see where the weak side defense is. Lin on the other hand will get the ball where it needs to even if it means that he doesn't get any credit, hockey passes, throwing it to the post, etc...
Completely agree with u. I've seen harden swing it to the weak side maybe a couple of times...but those were on drives while Jeremy would swing it on the perimeter....swinging it from the drive is out I necessity because of collapsed defenders while from the perimeter it is I exploit structural weaknesses in the defense....but the league is all about numbers unfortunately
All u guys saying Lin can improve in this system are delusional or just refusing see to see the obvious. You can cherry pick all u want about the little things to say things are not as bad they seem but that is the type of attitude that will make jeremy into a bench player in a few uears.
GET IT STRAIGHT! No matter what he does, he is not going to excel as long as McHale is around. U put rondo or cp3 in this situation, they will fail.
I will tell u whay Lin needs to in the off season. He needs to call a private meeting with Morey, les, and McHale and ask them point blank what is the role they are envisioning for the future for him and why Jeremy has such a short leash, how McHale has repeatedly undermined him , etc etc. there is an overwhelming evidence to support the mistreatment. He needs to raise his concerns about McHale stunting his development as a player. He needs to call them out on all the accolade they gave him before getting harden. This can be done in a very private professional way, away from public view. If it leaks out then u know the organization is trying to eff him over.
If Jeremy thinks that he can work in his game over the summer and then he will be treated with respect.. He is not gonna go anywhere.
Right on. He should not complain publicly like Jennings other players, you just come off as a whiner and sore loser. But he should definitely have a private meeting, no holds barred.
I think Morey would be glad to trade Lin to another team. Morey loves to flip players, and he should be able to get very good trade value for Lin.
My only question is, how does his third year count towards the cap for the trade partner? Is it $8M like it counts for the Rockets?
I think it counts as $8 million towards the cap for all 3 years but he actually gets paid $5M/$5M/$15M. The team that trades for him will have to pay him $15 million in the third year.
Absolutely correct Solidz75. The Rockets are a graveyard for Lin. A deadend. A disaster. And it's not if McHale is gone then everything will be peachy keen for Lin!!! Harden is just as big a problem for Lin as the coach. And Harden is not going anywhere. Lin cannot succeed ever with the Harden-misled Rockets. Harden is a career disaster for Lin and Lin knows it.
In the movie Jacoob's Ladder, Tim Robbins the main character returns to his old life only to start seeing demons and and strange things. People are chasing him. He is fighting for his his life and his sanity.
When he stops fighting he sees things as they are. He realizes he's not in a bad place.
I think that's where Lin is right now. He's not in hell like some of you think he is. There's only 15 games left in the season and it will be all over sone enough. He's getting 20-30 minutes per game. It's his first run for the playoffs and potentially his first playoff run. He should dial it back and enjoy the experience.
In the current system he can score 16-20 point per game for the remaining games easily. He just needs to pass less and shoot when he's open. Looking to pass less will also reduce his number of turnovers.
He should address his grievances in his summer exit interview. He believes he could do more for the team and that the offense should incorporate his skill set more. Otherwise, he won't resign with the Rox after his third year. I think that should put some fear into Morey and Alexander. They could potentially look foolish just like Dolan for letting Lin go without getting anything in return. They will incorporate his style more or they will trade him.
After the season ends Lin will have more leaverage. Don't fight it. Just accept the situation right now and enjoy what's left of the season. That would be my advice for Lin and Lin fans.
Yeah, as a JLin fan, I've given up on the Rockets in its current structure, especially with McHale as the coach. The good thing is that there is less than 3 weeks of regular season basketball left before the playoffs so the torture would be soon over. Before the season started, I was looking forward to seeing the Rockets games, but now I'm not excited about watching anymore. It's not fun to see JLin getting misused and disrespected. There are a few highlights in the season, such as JLin's return to MSG and the win over the Thunder, but those type of games are few and far between. For the remaining games, I'll just enjoy whatever time JLin gets to play basketball on the court and just let everything else go.
Hopefully, some change will happen during the offseason. Either they replace the coach, or JLin gets traded. I can't imagine having to watch another season like this one.
As remarkably rapid as Paul George’s improvement has been, Rockets coach Kevin McHale raved about how far the Pacers’ All Star has come in his third season.
“His shot’s better. His feel is better,” McHale said. “I thought his niche in the league might be defense and kind of just scrapping, but he can handle the ball, pass the ball, shoot the ball. He’s become a heck of an offensive player.”
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This just shows you Mchale is not a believer of anyone unless you prove it to him. Had Mchale been George's coach, George would be limited to a taller version of Tony Allen.
Mchale is a guy who respects the players with either (A) obvious superstar game/skills/athleticism (ie Lebron, Kobe, etc whether or not they are black hole ballhogs who dont play defense); or (B)100% overt confidence on and off the court almost bordering on overt cockiness to go with some game (ie, KG,CP3, Kobe, Lebrons, even JR Smith, even Harden & Parsons etc).
Lin is neither so Lin struggles under Mchale while none of these barriers would be there under D'Antoni, who clearly is more of Lin's type of coach probably because Lin plays a game that D'Antoni approves of more than anything.
Mchale has already clearly said Lin doesn't have it and isn't capable of more than being a role player & a good kid. He literally is quoted as saying Lin is a selfish scrub not capable of being a top elite PG who wins games.
Lin will have to play insane basketball under Mchale's style of play. For Lin to win over Mchale, Lin has to shoot 60-70% from the field, hit 90% of his open shots, and NEVER turn the ball over, NOT EVEN ONCE, EVER. Mchale will only allow Parsons and Harden to turn the ball over, period.
That is unfair and unrealistic and idiotic, but that is what it will take for Mchale to be won over by Lin. So it's either play in that way to win over Mchale or play Lin ball and try to oust the coach or get traded or find his butt glued to the bench...
Before signing any contracts in the future, JLin should make sure that the team has a clause somewhere in that contract that states that they would never hire Kevin McHale as coach/assistant coach/GM during JLin's tenure with the team, aka the "No Thank You McHale" clause! :D
Don't really give a hoot what McHale thinks or trying to win him over. It's done. Stick a fork in it as far as the McHale Lin fiasco relationship. Either Lin will demand a trade in the off season because he's no idiot or Lin will be traded. End of story.
The funny thing is that, had the Rockets and McHale treated JLin fairly and with respect -- and then benched him in favor of someone who OUTPLAYS him -- I still would have become a loyal and life-long Rockets (and McHale) fan. I would have perceived the Rox as an organization that wanted Jeremy and gave him the opportunity to thrive. Now, as long as this mistreatment continues, I will always root against the Rockets and McHale (this is assuming that I even pay attention to the NBA). I don't think I am alone in this sentiment. Just from a marketing and branding standpoint (without even taking into consideration that Jeremy is a star talent who helps his teams WIN), Rockets are very short sighted.
I had a coach just like McHale once, albeit not in basketball.
This coach picked on me and singled me out. There were other Asian kids in the group, but he yelled and cursed and screamed at me every time I screwed up. I was his whipping boy, and I was just a little kid. I started out at the bottom and remained there for a few years.
Gradually, I improved. All the screaming and nitpickings and demoting and bullying caused me to work on my art with an intensity that the other kids never knew. I became a perfectionist, albeit a realistic one. Other kids wilted, but I perservered and eventually became super strong. By the end, my coach still didn't respect me but I had serious pro level capability that really revealed itself when I faced off against other pros when I was still in high school. Today I am a polished pro who's unshakeable in confidence and ability, and it doesn't even matter to me anymore if my colleagues or coaches undercut me because I always resurface in a better form.
When I see Lin struggling with McHale, it looks exactly like that experience that I had with that superstar coach. I also see Lin toughening up and turning the entire experience to his own superstar benefit.
In my experience, the most talented guy usually gets the most coaching. Even if the coaches prefer other players, the malleable and attentive Lin is the guy receiving the most coaching. Lin HAS to go through this if he's going to be a true superstar and not the "flash in the pan" that people accuse him of being.
True superstars rise after they're pushed down to the bottom. That's LIN!
Interesting insight KHuang, seems like you, like JLin, are true students of your respective games. It might not be exactly what you are saying but it sounds like you were able to learn and grow even under a "bad" coach. JLin seems to be learning and growing inspite of his coach (won't say because of his coach). People with the mindset of constantly improving themselves and their skills (whatever field they're in) can at least learn and grow inspite of bad situations. There is no "perfect" situation in life, there are always pluses and minuses. It's about maximizing the experience even though you have to eat shit sometimes. Just as long as we don't ask for second helpings.
K Huang u write such utter crap about McHale and his treatment of Lin. Complete bullshit that Lin HAS to go through such nonsense. He deserves to be treated well, encouraged, trusted, and given the reins by the coach. Do you think it's healthy for him to be disrespected, humiliated, yanked, etc., etc. by his coach? What are you talking about? Lin never deserved this and does not HAVE to go through it!! McHale is the biggest idiot to treat Lin this way--McHale has done a huge disservice to Lin and the Rockets. They will lose rapidly if they even make the playoffs. Don't rationalize or support McHale's horrible mistreatment of Lin, ok? I never, ever in my wildest dreams before the season started thought Lin would be dealt with like this by his coach!!
KHuang, you talk about the steeling process whereby you come out like a diamond, and the person demanding that of you is a foil anyway because they may or may not be able to transcend themselves to realize the process was good, but they also are transformed by it. Many touch coaches or dads do not live to enjoy that, because they continue to live themselves through their chosen proteges.
Nice background.
Having said that, I see the different Bob C F Chan point of view, which is an older man's view of limiting output to achieve an end. I think he and you are not in conflict. What you are talking about is being the best at the art of the game (or, in your case, maybe music or something else). What he's talking about is to continue in the art of the game, but to narrow down for the time being because the situation cannot allow for both the art and personal skill building.
We all are dynamic to make choices under adversity, and it's good to see your points of view.
I play more than one instrument professionally, KauaiBlue. Music is my professional career, though I like Lin have had many people tell me to my face that it's not!
JoeTeam, I have experienced all sorts of instructors. While the best is to have a kind instructor who ALSO has great game, that kind of instructor is very rare. The next best thing for me was to have a meanass instructor who had great game, and I was always able to siphon off that quality no matter what personal invective was directed my way. I'd rather learn from an jerk superstar than a kindly mediocrity.
Jeremy Lin is experiencing McHale the SUPERSTAR. Lin wants to become a superstar, he's learning the hard way from a Hall of Famer how tough and good he's gotta be. It's on Lin to BLOCK OUT the personal attacks and focus on improving his game via McHale's constant carping.
By the way, I consider myself now BETTER than that superstar instructor. He would never admit it, but I can do everything he does and everything that he CAN'T do. I took all his invective and used it as JET FUEL to propel myself to become a better player than he could possibly imagine. As a result, I'm actually better loved by paying audiences and far more professionally functional than that superstar who left a wake of broken students and pissed off contractors behind him while currently "hiding" onstage in a large internationally known professional group!
Spencer Haywood, I actually completely sympathize with you.
I'd prefer McHale be a supportive but strong coach of Lin. But then McHale wouldn't be coaching the minimum wage Rockets, he'd be coaching the Miami Heat!
Lin is a tough guy. He's much tougher than McHale. And if things work out the way they seem to be, Lin's actually going to become a more impactful player than McHale was!
McHale was a wonderful player, but he did benefit from playing with Larry Bird. If McHale was the man by himself on a different team, I don't think he could carry that team the way Lin currently can!
Not sure anybody post this or not, it is pretty interesting and yet confusing.
==== Lin’s minutes had been limited by Patrick Beverley’s strong play against San Antonio and the Pacers, and by the rout of the Cavaliers. In the past three games, he averaged six points per game. In the previous three games he averaged 21.7 points.
“I don’t play well without spacing and I don’t play well when we’re really not getting out in transition,” Lin said. “Those are two things we need to get better at, that coach has talked to us about, is pushing the ball more, having the wings run down all the way to the corners, having the bigs run to the post area and having me and Pat pushing the ball and trying to make something happen.
“We have to get back to that formula. It hurts me. It hurts everybody. We’re all figuring it out. I have to keep reminding myself to stay patient and see this as growth. There’s always going to be certain parts of growth you don’t like. You wish you could speed through the process, but it doesn’t work like that.”
For the point guard a lack of ball movement can be especially difficult because he is most likely to give the ball up early in the possession, but not get it back. ==== So Lin is basically saying that there is somebody ball hogging, and they are not running, thus no ball movement,and Lin would not perform well in that kind of situation. ........ and yet McHale respond that part with pull Lin out instead goes to the source of the problem?
Feigen is a very interesting reporter, that he never say bad things about Rockets, but he does say some thing in a subtle way, like the last paragraph I quoted.
I think he hide his frustration pretty well, obvious better than us Lin Fans.
LOL, look at what a knowledgeable member over at Clutchfans wrote:
Originally Posted by PhiSlamma
As Torocan pointed out, this is just wrong. And it is ill-informed. A careless conception of how turnovers become baskets for the other team.
Lin's first TO led to an Indiana hoop, but it came in a basic offensive set. Meaning that it did not come on a fast break. A fast break is an easy basket, especially when there aren't enough defenders back.
Want to see what an easy basket looks like on a fast break?
Go to 0:23 into this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nftzOKqYWM
What you will see is an off-balanced James Harden forced shot that leads to a Pacers dunk.
On the play, Harden had Lin wide open to his right. Did he pass it? Nope. He took a bad shot -- one of many for Harden in the game -- and it led directly to 2 easy Pacers points.
Some bad shots are worse than turnovers.
So the next time you do the "6+6 = 12" thing, maybe you can think about what I'm saying here.
How many misses did Harden have last night? How many led to run-out Indy baskets?
I'm a Rockets fan. But some of the Lin hating on here is becoming pathetic.
Somehow I don't see Mchale calling out Harden in the press about wanting to get his while rest of team is trying to win games...
That resonate with my previous points about how not all turnovers aren't as bad as they seem. There are many cases where a risky play (that results in turnover) is a much better play than taking a bad shot. Old school coaches need to get out of the stone age and learn some basic stats and probability.
Morey is supposedly an advanced stats geek and should know this. Does he not have any influence on McHale?
Yes, even during Linsanity 1.0, a good deal of Lin's turnovers (aggressive passes in traffic going to rim) didn't result in quick run outs for other team; they were more like missed shots than anything else.
I remember other Knicks guards (forgot if it was with Knicks or Warriors) would make sloppy turnover passing ball around perimeter and it would get picked off for easy layup.
Sometimes, a few more turnovers for Lin is fine if he is aggressive and creating good opportunities for others.
Lin has also shown he can drastically cut down on turnovers when need be, so if it is closing minutes of game, perhaps he doesn't make some of those higher risk reward passes in traffic.
For 21 games that Jeremy has more TO than Harden, we have winning record. 17-4
when they have same TO numbers : 2-5
When Harden have more TO than Jeremy: 20-21
I don't understand how hard it is for McHale to understand when Jeremy is aggressive, and got more ball in his hand, we just got easier wins.... yet it is not hurting James's stats, Harden will have much more efficient numbers....
Of the several things I don't like, I particularly don't like the fact that IMO part of Lin's purported inconsistentency is a product of how Lin is being played. How does someone play consistently when his role and minutes are inconsistent and random to this day? At this late in the regular season. Nevertheless, I believe Lin will rise above it all in the grand scheme of things.
Exactly, you are one of the few perceptive people on this blog. All these jackasses that talk about Lin's inconsistent play, don't realize it has been created by McHale's constant yo-yoing and benching of Lin to keep him in check when he is hot. An the games where he has gotten off to a slower start, he has not been given the chance to stay in the game and play out of a slow start. Yes his 'inconsistent play' is really a crock of shit fabricated by the media on the back of McHale's devious designs.
Early in season, Lin's inconsistency could be traced back to 1) still recovering from knee surgery (tender knee he couldn't push off of in training camp), and 2) McHale putting in positions he is not comfortable with (corner 3, not taking any midrange dribble drive pull up jumpers).
Now Lin's inconsistency is primarily the result that McHale doesn't give him a chance to succeed (one mistake and he is pulled early; if he is rolling, he gets pulled for Beverley at regular times; Harden is jealous of all attention Lin gets from his global fan base and won't let Lin help him complete comeback or closeout game when it is obvious Harden can't do it alone).
Also remember earlier in season that Clyde Drexler said Lin's range is only about 18 - 19 feet right now.
He isn't knock down three point shooter yet, but give him an off season or two to dedicate to those weaknesses, and somehow I don't think they will be weaknesses anymore (just automatic daggers when his defender sags off of him).
Lin's obviously not a knock down 3 pt shooter, but he's not as bad as some people perceive. Part of the perception is because he has a high arcing shot that results in airballs more frequently than a low arc shot.
Anyways, here are the facts, not perception: Lin: corner-3 38%, above-the-break-3 31% Harden: corner-3 38%, above-the-break-3 37% Parsons: corner-3 53%, above-the-break-3 34% Beverley: corner-3 53%, above-the-break-3 33% TDouglas: corner-3 39%, above-the-break-3 34%
The fact is, Lin's corner-3 % is the same as Harden's, and his above-the-break-3 is close to Parsons and Beverley, and overall he is close to Douglas, who is perceived as a good 3 pt shooter.
To the eye, Lin seems to struggle much more with corner three than say right of center behind the arc (I think I saw graphic showing he shoots highest percentage there).
I bet Lin's 3 point shooting percentage above the break could also be much higher if he just chose not to take some questionable threes.
e. g. sometimes he is not having great game and is frustrated and tries to play a bit of me ball and force up bad shot. Sometimes he wants to force a bit of Linsanity 1.0 and he puts up some threes above break that I say Jeremy that was not a good shot choice. Plus James holding ball for most of shot clock, not having thing for himself, then passing the ball to Lin with 2 seconds on shot clock and Lin has to chuck.
Still, that corner three shooting percentage, despite all of his problems early in season, is really eye opening!
Jeremy Lin Ephesians 3:20-21 -- Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory
Almost invariably, the really ugly games, ones were you want to punch the tv because of how offense looks, it's always Harden going iso and playing point guard and freezing Lin out.
Entry passes he gives to other players (not when he is already driving downhill to basket and has defense on it's heels) don't create better looks for teammate. Defender is still on him and only thing defense has to do is turn head from Harden to teammate he passed to. Lin can create so many easy looks for his teammates, and if nothing else, he breaks set defense down so when ball gets back to Harden with shot clock running down Harden can then attack in more of a quasi transition type situation.
totally agree. I find it very frustrating that McHale always talk one way, and do the other way. He keep saying need ball movement, and yet keep bench the person who move the ball the most. He kept saying that we need to push the pace, and yet see James walk the ball up. He will bench Jeremy for defensive reason when he is the only one play hard on D on the court.
What aggravates me more than Harden going one on one (dribble drive penetration with no attempt at team ball movement before falling back on iso Harden) is when he also tries and plays point guard.
Unless he is already running down hill toward basket and has defense on it's heels already (could take ball to basket himself, but chooses slick pass for teammate to get layup), he does nothing to get better looks for his teammates when he is just standing there, dribbling ball, looking over defense, and deciding what to do.
Milwaukee loss Lin was rolling in first quarter, getting teammates involved. Lin and Harden go to bench, and when they both return in second quarter, Harden stops passing the ball to Lin (side to side ball movement Kevin McHale supposedly preaches), hold the ball, if he can't beat man with his individual move, he goes into point guard mode and does not get easy look for teammate because defense didn't have to move at al, other than turning their head from Harden to whomever he passed to.
If KM continues to use Lin like he did in the previous game, I'm going to prepare myself to see the worst outcome of the remaining 11 games, so that I won't be too shocked - not good to my health.
Anyone that cares about Jeremy and the Rockets has been complaining about his mistreatment all season, and it's close to the end of the season, and the same BS still happens again and again, which leads me to suspect that M&M (McHale & Morey) did intend to tank the games from the very beginning. I fear they won't make it to the playoff <-- I do hope I am wrong.
As much as I love watching Jeremy play more minutes and as much as I feel the same confusion/anger/frustration/betrayal in every game that PB gets "starter treatment", I've found some peace by looking at the situation in the following optimistic ways:
(1) The Rockets will benefit in the playoffs from giving PB getting more minutes right now to build up his confidence. Winning the battle of the benches can win the game in the playoffs when the starters break even. I feel like the Spurs always have some bench guy in the playoffs that flies under the radar and ends up being the difference in the series.
(2) The NBA season is a grind and it is prudent for teams that can afford to do so to rest their starters before the playoffs begin. The Rockets aren't mathematically in yet, but they do have a small cushion. They are taking a risk, but I'm sure they know it. Also, Ty Lawson just came down with Plantar Fasciitis and might miss playoff games. If that happened to Jeremy, I'd feel a whole lot worse than I do now. Jeremy expends a lot of energy on BOTH ends of the court. On top of that he is large for a PG which compounds the energy his body exerts and increases his susceptibility to injury. Jeremy's style is also such that he does not distinguish between regular games and playoff games -- he will sacrifice his body for any win. This is great, but his coaches know this and might be trying to mitigate injury risk.
(3) PB is not a threat to Jeremy. I really whole-heartedly believe that. The Rockets owe it to themselves to see what they have in PB. Both for the playoffs and for potential trades in the offseason. They have Aaron Brooks backing up Jeremy if someone wants to trade a for PB and I'm cool with that. The Rockets might be showcasing PB to build up his trade value.
Anyone who thinks that Beverley is a threat to Lin is a moron and an idiot who knows shit about basketball. Which MclowIQ is an idiot and a moron who knows shit about basketball.
If I wanted to play conspiracy theorist, I would say that Lin is slowly being phased into sixth man role for playoffs because Harden wants to be the man (not share any of the glory with Lin) and Patrick Beverley gets out of the way and let's Harden dominate ball.
Problem is the Harden Lin backcourt can be so much more explosive and dangerous when they work together cooperatively, vs. staggering their minutes.
Truly hope that is not the case, but it might be something worth watching if what Lin fans honestly view as disrespect continues as we move towards playoffs.
Bev provides defense and hustle and that's mostly what he's good at. He doesn't have Lins court vision and he cannot be counted on as the main facilitator. He looks for his shot more too. He reminds me of TD.
Alright. I am beginning to get sick of post like this because u r trying to rationalize this situation by assuming that McHale and the Rox are looking out for Jeremy. Really, so they are trying to develop bev so that he will be effective off the bench come playoff time? So what about Jeremy... This is why they're sitting Lin out in the fourth quarter and taking away his minutes?
U could argue this could be true maybe in the beginning of the season. Not right now. Not after all that has happened. Do some of u even watch the effing games and come out here and say this is good for Jeremy's development? Wake up! We've seen enuff. There is nothing to indicate the contrary. Stop with these bs posts.
Beverley is a nice player, particularly as a defensive specialist, but he can't change a game like Lin potentially can.
Unfortunately, Rockets might have to get thumped bad in playoffs with Beverley playing with Harden before Harden truly realizes he needs Lin only to a slightly lesser extent than Lin needs Harden.
Beverley is not a good defense player. He is okay in this department. To the eye test, he does, but he got burned more than Lin. Even the conservative new guy aka idiot says that Beverley is a better defensive player. SMH
Beverley can't run an offense, can't break down the defense
Beverley can provide better on ball defense (in your face pressure defense), but I would agree that I think Lin is a better overall team defender, especially off ball when he can act as free safety and doesn't have to get back to protect against transition and rebound aggressively.
@Joe Yeah, my initial reaction was to look at it that way as well. Everyone in the NBA has confidence in their game -- a lot of players probably believe they are better than they actually are. There are a lot of talented players in the NBA, but their talents lie in different aspects of the game. I think what makes good teams great is when the stars understand their own games. When they understand their own games, they know where they need help from others and I think the entire team (not just Harden, although he is probably the one who steps on Jeremy's toes most) will get better as a result of that maturity.
I am okay McHale giving Harden and Parsons the opportunity to learn about their own shortcomings by losing with PB running point. They need to understand that the one and only way to have a good day at the office is getting a W. They need to understand that they are better right now when Jeremy runs point.
@Solidz I understand the frustration. Like I said in my OP, I choose to believe that it is in the best interest of the team and the playoffs. I am not worried about Jeremy in the playoffs, but it sounds like you might be. What will playing more in these last few regular season games do for his game in particular? Has he not had enough time during the entire regular season to improve?
I do have league pass and I do watch every game, just like you. I'm not saying this is what IS happening, it's what I believe. Just like you, I'm not part of the inner circle of the Rockets organization so everything is just speculation. I just know that I am a fan of Jeremy and I want the best for him and his team.
I think this forum is a good place to vent though... I like reading your "angry man" posts when I'm pissed about Jeremy's usage. Please keep it up.
Where are the MclowIQ worshipers who came in here once in awhile or stopped coming here because they feel that we bash Mcshithead too much. shit after shit that Mcshithead pulled, they still believe that the bastard is good for Lin or hoping that Mcshithead is turning the corner. Keep dreaming.
I'm sure some people feel the same way about you... thinking that maybe you take things too far... that while some of your criticism is objective, not all of it is. Bias is something that goes in many directions.
Agreed. I think this forum is great because we are single minded in that we all love watching Jeremy pwn noobs, but we also get to share all different opinions and debate them as well.
Well I expect a loss tonight. Two in a row, to good teams. Watch the rednation go into panic mode calling for McHale's head.
At this point, judging from his demeanor on the bench, I don't think lin cares if the rocket make it to the playoffs.
The best thing I can hope for is to see lin playing well in a loss but with McHale limiting him so people start to realize how important he is to this team.
And if the grizzlies are smart, they should do what George did to harden. Make it tough for harden in the first half, and watch harden ruin this team by going retard trying to pad up his stats.
For some reason tonight I feel Jeremy will have a good game with at least 34 mins in the game. I think McHale will feel guilty for one game of his treatment of Lin because of all the media questioning despite his post game brush offs of Lin's usage. But them after tonight it'll be back to Lin being dumped on and misused and abused. That's why I really hope they don't make the playoffs. So that McHale gets bitten in the ass real hard!!!
Rockets guard Jeremy Lin went from three-consecutive games scoring at least 20 points to three games failing to reach double figures. But Rockets coach Kevin McHale said that might indicate sluggishness and breakdowns of the Rockets’ offense as a whole more than Lin’s play, especially Wednesday against the Pacers.
That can be especially problematic because the Rockets run few plays to determine shots, instead preferring to run an offense built around pace and space. When they do play in the halfcourt and call a set, it is more often for James Harden to handle the ball in pick-and-roll.
“We’re a little more read and react,” McHale said. “It’s systemic to our team not moving the ball, not moving bodies enough, just being a little bit stagnant. Indiana puts you in positions, they do stymie you a little bit. We have to pick our pace back up. We have slowed back down some. This time of year, everybody is getting a little worn out, a little tired. We have to get our pace up.”
Lin’s minutes had been limited by Patrick Beverley’s strong play against San Antonio and the Pacers, and by the rout of the Cavaliers. In the past three games, he averaged six points per game. In the previous three games he averaged 21.7 points.
“I don’t play well without spacing and I don’t play well when we’re really not getting out in transition,” Lin said. “Those are two things we need to get better at, that coach has talked to us about, is pushing the ball more, having the wings run down all the way to the corners, having the bigs run to the post area and having me and Pat pushing the ball and trying to make something happen.
“We have to get back to that formula. It hurts me. It hurts everybody. We’re all figuring it out. I have to keep reminding myself to stay patient and see this as growth. There’s always going to be certain parts of growth you don’t like. You wish you could speed through the process, but it doesn’t work like that.”
For the point guard a lack of ball movement can be especially difficult because he is most likely to give the ball up early in the possession, but not get it back.
“It’s ebb and flow of the season,” McHale said. “Sometimes, it’s going to be there, sometimes not quite as much. He’s had some really good stretches. He’ll find it.”
CF bring seriously affected by a troll at the moment. But you can't do sh*t, Houston famous for its mass murderers - makes watching and playing BB like taking candy from a baby.
Is there anything concrete that we can do that can drastically and instantly change the current status quo? I'll take any kind of suggestion excluding murder...
ReplyDeleteKickstarter -> collect billions of dollars -> buy NBA team -> hire JLin!
Deletenoted willydilly, but not instant enough
Deleteanything else guys?
I have an idea. We can flood the blogosphere stating that we will not purchase Rox gear, will not renew League Pass, and will not watch NBA games anymore. Someone will take notice :)
Deleteto add to Kauaiblue, everyone must avoid buying tickets to watch the games or attend them as well ...especially during the Asian trip to the Philippines and Taiwan...
DeleteIf those Asian games are only 50% full, it will put the NBA on notice as well as the Rox that using Lin as a token starter to make money off Asians won't work long term.
And maybe then the Rox will kick him to the curb
Ah, no. Lin has to have the balls in the off season to demand a trade because even with a new coach, which there won't be, a Harden dominated team is a recipe for disaster. He needs to go to a team without a quote "superstar", without a ball-dominating, selfish asshole. Then and only then can Lin dominate, play with his wreckless abandon and free-spirited creativity, and you will then see an even bigger version of Linsanity. There is absolutely no reason why Lin, in the correct situation, can't average 28 pts per game, 12 assists per game, 5 rebounds per game, 3 steals per game and 1 blocked shot . Yeah, trust me, he's that good. And for all you dunder heads who think he has to improve his shot, his midrange game, his cross over dribble, his going left, etc. etc. that's pure horseshit. He has always had, and has the game right now to be a superstar.
DeleteI agree with you he can get those stats where he is the MAN. Problem is NO NBA team believes in him enough to give him that chance. Limited 6th Man? Sure. Token Starter? Yeah maybe...
DeleteBut THE MAN? NOPE, which team would do it? Name me a team that Lin can go to where he will be THE MAN as the main guard? I too believe he can get those stats, but nobody will give him that shot. Aside from that, yes Lin does need to improve his game and skills even though he can already average great numbers if he were the man...
Here are the only teams that could use Lin and if he were lucky might be able to shine:
Lakers? Maybe but honestly, no not with Kobe there. But Kobe is only there 1 more year unless resigned.
Dallas? MAYBE
Sacramento? Maybe, if the coach changes and they get rid of their 5 PGs.
Utah? MAYBE
Atlanta? MAYBE but they have passable guards already.
Charlotte? Maybe but they like Kemba
Orlando? Maybe, but doubt they like Lin & are rebuilding.
--------------------
The only team that could really use Lin next year? There is only 1 - that is the Utah Jazz. And Lin kicked their ass every time they played since he was at GS Warriors. So I can see them going after him. And poor Lin, as the Asian kid stuck in Utah, it'll work for Utah and Lin and the rest of the NBA will love it that Lin can be hidden in Utah and away from the big American media and public eye.
In essence, Lin would be forgettable to everyone outside Lin fans and Utah fans. And the Rox want either Milsap or Jefferson so I can see it happening. And maybe Atlanta, but I don't see them wanting Lin, he doesn't fit the market there, or needing him though Houston wants Jsmooth.
So if there's a trade, I feel it's going to be Utah #1 and maybe Lakers #2. There's nowhere else for Lin to go....
No I will tell u the easiest way. Go to a game sit behind the bench. Have a large sign that says McHale is racist toward Asians but dont show it. Then during the first half, run onto the court with that sign raised. U will get arrested.
DeleteBut u will bring this to attention where people will start looking into this thing in more detail. Rox will have a pr nightmare. Some may even grant u an interview.
I'm sure Lin won't be happy but who cares. If he isn't doing shit, then we take matters into our own hands. He can thank u later.
So who wants to sacrifice oneself for the greater good?!
Solidz, to say that is a poorly conceived idea is an understatement.
DeletePoor, poor idea even in jest....
I emailed his agent, Mr. Montgomery, yesterday to raise my concerns, just wanting to do something/anything to help out, even though I know it may not help much.
DeleteNo shit Sherlock. If u r gonna consider such ridiculous idea serious, then u should go to jail. Lighten up.. Don't act like I just proposed harming McHale.
DeletePlease give me Lin's agent's e-mail. I would like to tell him a few things as well.
DeleteI went to his website (http://montgomerysportsgroup.com/contact/).
DeleteYou can write to him/his team personally:
Delete3790 El Camino Real # 194
Palo Alto, CA 94306
http://www.jlin7.com/pages/contact
Thanks guys for the info on his agent.
DeleteI went to the agency's website. It's a piss of shit. He also has twitter handle which is rarely ever used.
DeleteI think Lin hired another agent when he brokered the Rox deal.
Tanner and Montgomery are his agents. I think Montgomery subcontracts certain things out to Tanner. In other words, Montgomery pays Tanner and not Lin.
DeleteI think had Tanner were Lin's agent from the get-go then Lin wouldn't add another agent. Montgomery runs a boutique agency so he doesn't have the proper channels or personnel to get certain things done.
Exactly u want an agent who has some power, who can force teams to cater to his clients. I don't know who this Montgomery guy is but he sounds pretty useless. Jeremy is way too big for him.
Delete" Lin has been more efficient if less productive averaging 13.8 PPG and 5.0 APG but hitting 49% of his attempts. Lin’s problem has been a decline in minutes as much as a lack of performance. His defensive woes have been exploited and Beverley has been getting more minutes in his place....
ReplyDeleteBeverley is not only looking ahead at minutes from Lin but behind him from recently signed Aaron Brooks....
Beverly superb defender compared to poor defender Lin."
Tired of such comments from media and game commentators. In the game against Spurs which Beverly got good results, my impression was that he was hyperactive and got lucky buckets from half wildly thrown shots, similar to Tony Douglas. It's a big difference going all out as a 3 minute sub in the first quarter and being a start up PG.
But, if Beverly closes out the 4th quarter or, heaven forbid, starts out the first quarter, we can only see if it'll advantage the Rockets. It does seem, tho that McHale says one thing but does another to Lin.
We all know how this one's going to turn out:
ReplyDeleteIf Lin starts poorly, he will get minimal minutes.
If the Grizzlies blow out the Rockets, Lin will sit the 4th quarter.
If the Rockets blow out the Grizzlies, Lin will sit the 4th quarter.
If Beverley plays well, Lin will get reduced minutes.
If Lin plays really well, he will get subbed out at the usual time regardless.
Pretty much the only way that Lin actually gets starter minutes is if he plays really well, the game is close, and Beverley is turning the ball over excessively.
Meanwhile, none of the above rules apply to Harden or Parsons.
Maybe the accountability can be applied when Harden shaved his beard clean and Parsons become fat
DeleteLOL, never going to happen! :)
DeleteKeeping my fingers crossed so that JLIN would have a explosive game.
Originally, I thought that others' minutes were extended to showcase them and then they were promptly traded away eg, Patterson, Morris and even Aldrich who deserved few minutes. The exception is Harden who is the team franchise and needs to pad his stats in order to get into NBA all stars - which heaps prestige on Rockets.
DeleteThey hid DMo until recently so that other teams wouldn't bid for him. I was hoping this is the same tactic for Lin - if he produces Linsanity figures, other teams will simply buy out his contract for him. Rockets will get little for the trade, other teams will benefit and if Rox make Lin unhappy, he'll start 'suffering injuries' until he moves to a team of his choice. But his 3rd year $15m will be a poison pill for him as well.
However, if Lin is traded away in the 2013 summer, it'll show how devious that Morey-McHale were conniving all along.
Does anyone know what Mchale says when reporters ask why Lin's minutes are down and he not playing 4th qtr?
ReplyDeleteHas Mchale officially come out and stated Beverly will be playing 4th qtr?
ReplyDeleteLin needs to stop helping on defense and just play straight up defense like Beverly. Maybe then, he will be kept in the game. In McHales mind help defense will only make the helper look bad. Beverly never helps on defense, that's why he looks like he's a good defender. Beverly doesn't really pass the ball to other players except Harden anyway so this turnover level is extremely low and it keeps the coach happy because Harden has the ball. That's the reason you don't see ball movement when Beverly is in the the game. Beverly is smart in a sense that he knows the coach is incompetent so creating perception is the key.
ReplyDeleteLin should just play his game.
ReplyDeleteWhile guys like Beverley are stinking up the game with piss poor defense and selfish play, Lin needs to not worry and simply make the most of whatever minutes he's given.
I like what Jason Terry, himself a badly maligned guard in the early parts of his career, said. Terry said that every time he steps on a court, he is auditioning for 30 NBA teams including his own.
Lin should avoid at all costs becoming a SCRUB like Harden or Parsons or Beverley who refuses to play defense and plays selfish hero ball. Lin needs to keep trying to be unselfish and play team basketball. He gets his best results when he's driving and dishing and defending, all of which require the help of at least DMo and Asik. Let other teams see who the REAL star on the Rockets is.
I agree with you KHuang. Just let Jeremy play his game. Help defense is usually a good strategy with good defensive coaches. Jeremy did pretty well in Woodson's defensive coaching. If Jeremy is such a bad defender why is he top 10 in THE NBA in steals. The numbers don't lie.
DeleteHarden is also top 10 in steals and is currently ranked even higher than Jeremy. Stats can be so deceptive that they don't offer the full picture of the intangible values added by players on the court...Har()en's higher steals ranking doesn't reflect Har()en's poor defense.
Delete@Janelin7, I totally agree with you. James and Jeremy get steals. However, if you have 2 players in top 10 in the league in steals then why is their team defense so damn bad? This is a coaching problem not Jeremy and James' problem.
DeleteI know JLin wants to play his brand of basketball, which is being a team player who could sacrifice his own stats with the ultimate goal to have the team win, but at some point he has to make the decision that it's more important to establish himself as a legitimate starter and so-called consistent player by getting good scoring stats, even at the expense of team wins. His brand of basketball may be the winning style of play, but right now he couldn't even stay on the court, due to incompetent coaching or outright bias against him. With the current Rockets team, JLin has to temporarily abandon his team mentality and just play like he needs to maintain his rotation spot.
ReplyDeleteJLin has to remain aggressive to look to score, look for assists and not hockey-assists, & no more help defense unless the coaches specifically ask him to. There will be a time and place for JLin's winning style of basketball, but it probably won't be with the Rockets.
Lin is who he is, not who you want him to be. He just needs to play the way he wants to play, not change to the way some fans on a message board want him to play. If he's getting benched by doing it, then so be it. At least he gets the satisfaction by playing the way he wants to play.
DeleteOf course he will play the way as he sees fit. He will figure it out. I'm just suggesting in my opinion what I think is good for JLin in his current situation. I thought that was the point of having a discussion board, isn't it? We are all JLin fans here.
Deletethe problem is he is not though. He can't play his brand of basketball when nobody buys in. The great teams buy into one philosophy. This team seems to have a few;
Delete1. Lin who believes in the energy of the ball
2. Harden who believes hes the next coming of Carmello
3. McHale who believes moving the ball is letting go of the ball after you pass the line.
McHale's to Lin, "you have to be aggressive by not being aggressive."
Lin, "right...wait... whaaat?"
McHale, "exactly"
Lin, "Jesus, please help me understand coach... he's harder to understand than the verses in the bible."
Lol
DeletePassive resistance is a powerful tool to overthrow oppression. I agree that Lin needs to stop helping his teamates on defense and just focus on his own man. Just as I have advocated that he should just shoot instead of helping his teamates to get involved in the offense. Focus only on his own performance stats and just increase his personal value forbid future team.
ReplyDeleteBruce Lee gave a lesson to a student about Kime or "tighten your mind". He told a student who was having a terrible match to focus only on one thing at a time. "A Zen master is not concerned with past or future, only with task at hand. Because he is tight, he is calm. Because there is room for only one thought, he has no haste or waste of his energy. Always remember, an unfocused or loose mind wastes energy."
"Kime is the art of focus and excluding all extraneous thoughts, thoughts that are not concerned with achieving your immediate goals."
For Lin, helping others on this team that does not apprecaite his efforts is like working for a boss who never gives you credit for your work and takes your ideas and passes it off to his boss as his own. You then must withhold your ideas and just do whats asked. Because no amount of effort on your part will ever promote your own success and only serves to promote someone else.
Lin has to free his mind from that unselfish mindset that is the hallmark of a traditional pg. Lin is not a Pg anymore, he is a shooting guard!
DeleteTo illustrate this, I will give a personal example from my golf game. I've played for over 25 years and my putting was horrible because I was always leaving putts short for fear of 3 putting. More often than not, I wound up so short that I 3 putted anyways. Finally after 15 years of fearful putting, I decided that if I'm going to 3 putt anyways, I'm going to run it by the hole and try to make the comeback for par. It was this decision that transformed me into a clutch putter. Now anytime I play a scramble, my teammates always make me putt last to cover for them.
Once I freed my mind from the doubt of all that could go bad and focused on the one good thing that I wanted to happen, I became a not only a good putter, but a clutch putter.
Jeremy has to train his mind to let go of being the facilitator on an equal oppertunities system, one that is predicated on off ball movement to produce a good shot. Once he has put himself into the clear to shoot, he has to just shoot. He has to free his mind from his own inclination to pass and never hesitate to accept the opportunity to shoot. If he is able to do that, then he will become an important contributer to the Rox team offense.
He will become a clutch post up shooter once he frees his mind of all the what ifs and focus only on the single thing he wants to happen, that is to put the ball through the hoop. That's exactly how Harden, Parons and Delfino thinks, no matter how badly they are performing on any given night.
We've seen this from Lin. His last minute 3 to win the state championship in highschool, the Uconn game in college, the last minute 3 against Toronto, the 38 points against Kobe, the 38 against the Spurs, the 29 against OKC are examples of Lin in that clutch mode. When push comes to shove and the team needs his points, he then frees his mind to put the numbers up.
I disagree.
DeleteI think Lin should just be himself and play his game.
If he becomes more selfish, he'll lose games AND alienate us here.
I like Jeremy Lin just as he is. I want him to WIN.
IMO, he's not going to "win" if the team wins with him playing back-up minutes, like the win against the Spurs. There would be more ammo for JLin doubters that he's not needed for the team's success.
DeleteLin can still show he's a winner even if he plays low minutes and the team loses.
DeleteAs far as what other people think, Lin can't control that.
All Lin can and should do is continue to play the game the right way. That's what got him into the NBA and will keep him there.
I continue to assert that this league and Mchale only looks at raw stats and scoring as proof of legitimacy. By helping his team win will not promote his own value.
DeleteIt's like a graduate research assistant doing work for his prof. If that prof has shown little respect for the student and will take his work to publish as his own then the student is a fool to work hard for his science. Winning for this student is to work hard within the perameters of his post grad studies while withholding his ideas until he gets his own posting. This is passive resistance, working the system to your own self promotion. It is a necessary evil, until such time as when you have total control of your own destiny.
For Lin, he has to gain respectability by putting up the stats for himself both on offense and defense. We all agree that Mchale is a ball watcher with little insight of team chemistry or over off ball activities. Lin's help offense and defense is an attribute of his incredible court sense of all off ball activities. Mchale doesn't recognize this because he is a ball watcher and a simpleton linear thinking dolt. Once Lin gans league respectability he can then push for his style of play.
I read a comment by Morey that he didn't care for Lin not sticking to guarding his own man and going off to help other teammates.
DeleteI think it should only be done occasionally, because it leaves his man wide open shortly later, who then will shoot the ball himself or makes a quick pass to another open teammate. Plus, if the Rox don't want Lin to keep doing that, why do it?
I agree with Bob. At this point of JLin's career, he needs good raw stats (mostly scoring) to prove his worth. How often would ppl quote the win/loss record when they judge how good you are as a player? There are so many other factors that lead to team wins. The win/loss record is important for coaches.
DeleteIf JLin is on a team that buys into his concept of team basketball and values what he brings to the table, then yeah, he could sacrifice his stats in exchange to make all his teammates better, which would lead to more wins. However, the Rockets isn't that type of team. Morey mentioned that JLin had trouble finding his role in the Rockets' offense earlier this season... something about fitting a square peg into a round hole. I think that conflict is still not resolved.
I agree with Bob also.
DeleteWhy expend so much energy doing help-defense, when it will wear Lin out for his offense and playmaking passes? It's even more taxing for Lin than most other PGs in the league, because of the Rockets fast-paced style.
Think about this...what if morey or alexander forced mchale to bench lin for saftey issues. remember new york.
ReplyDeleteMorey: mchale u got bench jeremy.
mchale:we cant win or make it to the playoff without jeremy
Morey: look mchale you find a way or your arce is fired. (harden and parson as the only scoring option left)
Reasoning:
the nba is a business first. If lin gets hurt or injured like he did in new york right before playoffs. Do you know how much money nba will lose. Think china watching the rockets jersey sales commercial ad and ratings. All nba teams share revenues. having said that if lin is still benched during playoffs then 100 percent mchale hates lin.
Why not just tell lin why he is getting bench.
Knowing jeremy he would go nuts because he does not want to be treated like piece of meat simply make money even though he is a good player.
I don't think that's the case. You mean JLin's health is more important than Harden's health to the Rockets? Harden is the franchise player. They paid max money for him. If McHale could bench JLin with no repercussions from Morey or Mr. Alexander, it probably means that JLin is not going to be a vital part of the Rockets' future. They are using this playoff run to feature Harden and probably hoping to attract another superstar to join the Rockets in the offseason.
DeleteSilly rabbit... trix for kids!
DeleteThat's such horse crap what you said. Are you that seriously stupid?
DeleteGeeez, someone who just started watching?.... Naive or a teenager..... SMH.
DeleteDavid Lee: I hate to tell you:
The world is a much more cynical place than you think. It's made up of roughly 10% of very good people, 10% of very evil people, and the rest are made up of people with varying degrees of good and evil. Therefore, at any time you don't know who you're dealing with - or, in this case, what kind of coach someone is: McHale has proven to be a Lin disbeliever & hater (the regular season is almost over, so we know!); and Morey has proven to be a Lin disbeliever.
Morey panicked when Lin failed to perform in the preseason as if he never had the surgery. Thus, with the Harden trade *AND* dissing Lin simultaneously, Morey was resurrecting his resume for the NBA's basketball minds (team owners, pundits, GMs, coaches, sports writer and announcers) to see. "See, this is why the Rockets basketball minds - and I'm the leader of it - never believed in Lin as the team owner did", "I wasn't going to be embarrassed by my peers, which is why I've leaked the 'no confidence in Lin by the Rockets' basketball minds' info the day after I was forced let Lin sign at the dotted line" (The paper was signed July 17; the info was leaked to the press on July 18). And, in an effort to EXAGGERATE the brilliance of trading for Harden, Morey-McHale team has done everything to help Harden pad his stats.
At the beginning of the season, few people attacked me for saying Harden pad stat...lol
DeleteWell, the team owners aren't necessarily "basketball minds", but they are the ones hiring, extending contracts or firing..... As for the others, it was for reputation, pride and ego. But the thing is Lin *is* the real deal, you biased self-aggrandizing moron morey.
DeleteAt the beginning of the season, a few people here attacked me for saying Harden pad his stats...lol
DeleteI harbor no hard feelings as I was more concerned about Jeremy's role in the team, his future in the NBA...too much at stake not to be worried about. At this juncture, it's clear that McHale and Morey are going all in to make Jeremy pay for the embarrassment.
If NBA is serious about protecting Jeremy from injury, the first thing the league should do is make sure the refs get their act together and do a better job in officiating! How did that malicious LAC player escape the flagrant foul call? Oh come on, if only anybody in the league is really "protecting" Jeremy in earnest!
Y r so dumb it hurts. Just look at kings vs lakers game six 2002. the nba threw that game to make money on game seven. Could u imagine how much more money the nba will make if jeremy lin was in front of every chinese tv screen. They are millionaires thats all they now how to do is make money. And if u think for one millisecond that these millionaires gives a SHIT about U pissing in your pants about jeremy not getting a few more minutes during the game when in a few weeks these millionaire r going to make killing off all those people in china and U. U must dumb ass fuck. Think outside the box. Think with your mind and not with your emotion and maybe just maybe u will get smarter like me. Idiot
Delete@David Lee,
DeleteI won't go as far to call you names. In fact, at times, I had the same reasoning as yours as to why Jeremy's treated this way. However, the NBA doesn't seem to care much about Jeremy's ability to "print" money for the league since he gets hammered constantly yet receives no foul calls from the refs.
@janelin,
DeleteYou are the early observer. But because Harden is a very young guy and seems nice, a lot of people here probably wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think it's really more the fault of Morey and McHale who had an ulterior motive.
Harden also pads his stats with "crafty" type of free throws.
Both McHale and Harden relying too much on Harden's ability to draw fouls, may be a problem come playoff time, as some referees might get weary of calling too many "crafty" type of fouls that favor players like Harden, Kobe and Chris Paul (this season, Harden has been the king of them all at it).
Harden *manipulates* the foul-drawing a lot by RAISING HIS ARMS with the ball in his hands (shooting motion) and INITIATING THE CONTACT himself when double-teamed on his way to the lane: The act of raising his arms with the exaggerated "winging" of his elbows causes Harden's elbows to make contact with the opponent(s). Harden knows that it will be a forced shot, but he's betting that either the ball will luckily go in OR he'll get 2 FREE THROWS (it's usually free throws).
Crookedly, when Lin gets HARD-fouled while he's attempting a layup, he hardly ever gets the call !!!!! A layup is a high percentage shot and is often the result of harder work, NOT the crafty type of move to manipulate fouls in one's favor - not like Harden who wants to live on the FT line (he's been mostly successful thus far).
SRry my post was not at u janelin it was JLi and spencer haywood
DeleteFolks need to re-visit some important events during the past 9 months.
ReplyDelete1. Les Alexander personally chaired the 28-minute welcome media event for Jeremy Lin on July 19, 2012. This was after Les instructed Daryl Morey to increase Lin's verbal backloaded contract offer to $5m, $5m, $15m, which is the maximum allowed under the new CBA. Daryl may have expected the offer to be matched by the Knicks, but Les (as an owner) knew better.
Therefore, Lin will remain a Houston Rocket as long as Alexander is the owner. He will not allow Lin to be traded away.
2. As announced by Les some time last month, Daryl's contract is being extended. We do not know the details, but it is said to be for 4 years. Les is extremely pleased with Daryl's handling of the Lin, Asik, and Harden contracts.
3. With the tragic death of his daughter, McHale is untouchable. Daryl has mentioned McHale for possible COY. If (by the Grace of God) McHale is able to reach the second round of the playoffs, he will for sure get the COY.
4. During preseason, Jeremy Lin did not play in the second of a B2B. This was announced by McHale before that game; the reason given being the healing of Lin's knee. Also, Daryl did mention how Lin's acceleration was tops but Lin's stops were poor, a perfect indication of Lin's knee not being fully healed. The latest news release stated Lin's knee is now 100%.
5. The coaching staff wanted to strengthen Lin's weakness as a spot-up shooter during game time. The best way to do that is to post him at the corner 3-pt. Lin's spot-up shooting has improved to around 50% behind the 3-pt line, albeit where he has a plan-view of the backboard. (Plan-view not plain view.)
6. Observe that video of the Rockets team during a recent time-out, where Lin was very vocal while pointing to Asik and Delfino. Meanwhile, McHale was watching and listening, patiently waiting for his turn to speak. (McHale recognizes Lin's forte as a leader, and McHale is attempting to merge Lin's system ('drive-by' dribbling in the paint) into his own system. It is like when Red Auerbach promised Bill Russell to merge Russell's game into his system and calling it the 'fast-break.')
7. The slow starts in the first quarters is evidence of the merger. As Lin has stated, it is his job to get teammates going. When they are slow, the poor starts are the result. McHale does not yet have the patience to wait for the development, particularly when the Pacers got hot.
In conclusion:- We all need to settle down, sit back, and enjoy the evolution of this team. We will stumble every now and then, but McHale will figure it out before the playoffs start.
If this is the beginning of the season, I may buy it. but....now I don't think so.
DeleteDon't forget the signing of JLin and Mr. Alexander's full support on display at the media event all happened before they signed Harden for max money. I think the Harden signing changed the Rockets' plan for JLin. They probably experimented with having both JLin & Harden on the court throughout the season to see if they are effective together.
DeleteWith the recent overt benching of JLin (no more excuses since they said JLin's knees are 100%, and JLin had improved his shooting with the 20+ point games), maybe the experiment is over and the conclusion is that they can't have 2 ball-dominant guards on the same team. They need only 1 ball-dominant guard and rather spend money on another position. So if they had to choose one or the other, their obvious choice is to keep Harden and marginalize JLin.
McHale has no interest in Jeremy Lin. If you can't see that I really don't know what you have been watching. McHale is not in Lin's corner--he does not have Lin's interest in mind. You cannot be so obtuse really?
DeletePCheung's post: Ditto!
DeleteSpencer's post: Ditto!
Everybody here gave McHale the benefit of the doubt for long time.
Plus - what about the numerous round-about public verbal jabs at Lin?
Plus - what about all the 4th quarter benching even when Lin played well? A half of those games didn't result in wins, although they were leading when Lin was yanked out.
Wake up, some people.
Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us 71 times, shame on us.
Deletereal-dsb,
DeleteHahahahaha..... A great one! My tummy is hurting from LOLing.
Stanley Chang, I'm cool with what you said simply because opinions don't matter - it's how they evolve and compete that will reveal to us the truth, and it's been a great ride so far. Not perfect, but hey, we had Linsanity and waiting for sustained L-2 is better than waiting for the next Star Wars. Thanks for posting.
DeleteThe best thing would be if houston would get a sign and trade for josh smith, giving in exchange our boy jeremy Lin.
ReplyDeleteSo jeremy would be next to kenny atkinson again and finally become an all star.
That would be great. Jeremy would become the new john stockhton ...
McHale already made up his mind about Lin since the day he was cut. So doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's not a believer of Jeremy's abilities. All I heard this season was;
ReplyDelete1. Harden's unbelievable
2. TD/PB gave us a spark
3. Chandler's been great
Reporter, "what about Jeremy?"
McHale, "I thought the ball was sticky..."
Reporter, "I meant, what did you think of Jeremy's perfromance?'
McHale, "...he'll be fine, he's young, he's going to have his ups and downs."
Reporter, "why was Jeremy benched in the 4th today"
McHale, "We needed some defense and PB provided that for us tonight. He provided us with a spark."
Reporter, "What was the reason for the lost today?"
McHale, "Well Jeremy did horrible the first half. We've been playing catchup..."
Is that a real conversation between McHale and the reporter? o.O
DeleteNo, just my opinion of what went on the whole season
DeleteReporter, "Jeremy did unbelievable tonight, 20+ and 9 assist in 25mins!"
DeleteMcHale, "Yeah, those are Chris Paul numbers but it'll never happen again. It was leftover from Linsanity."
If I were JLin, I would:
ReplyDelete1. Keep myself from being injured, meaning I will not drive to the rim and risk myself getting hammer by the big man unless the lane is wide open or it is a fast break.
2. Play with the flow of the game, meaning if coach asks me to camp behind the 3 pt. line, I would do so and shoot the ball when I was open, otherwise swing it to the teammate and run back to play defense.
3. Concentrate on my own opposing point guard and play one on one defense the best I could, no more help defense to risk my self being torched.
4. In the off-season, I will train very hard to improve my shooting, midrange, 3pt, floater etc., and my ball handling skills.
5. Starting next season, if I am or Mchale is still with the team, I'll stand up and challenge him if he still treats me like s h i t and force the FO to choose sides. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Every team has seen me play this season and I believe majority of them know who I am and how I played. I have confident I can improve my skill sets and many teams would line up for my service by either trade for me or sign me as a free agent.
Call me unprofessional but if my coach does not respect me and treated him like s h i t, I don't think it is fair to myself to play for him.
Excellent points!
DeleteAlso, Lin should do the same things that OTHER PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS do:
Hire a conditioning trainer who trains other sports pros (don't keep employing his friend Josh, who is young and inexperienced at the pro level training).
Hire a shooting coach whose clients are a top notch NBA players.
Hire a nutritionist who caters to pro sports guys.
Stop dreaming. There is nothing Lin can realistically do to improve his standing on this team. Nothing. How u guys cannot get that is mind boggling to me.
DeleteNOT for Lin to improve his standing on this team.
DeleteJust for Lin to improve his game and conditioning. He needs to maintain and improve himself all the time, because that's what anybody who is anybody in the NBA does. But also for Lin's future team! (;~)
I expect Lin to have a good game against Conley.
ReplyDeleteAllen is going to shut down Harden, and Prince is going to shut down Parsons. Zach is going to bully DMo.
I don't know why teams haven't figured Harden out yet. Give him the lane and challenge him at the rim. He's going to go left 95% of the time. Double him when he has the ball and force it out of his hands. Dallas did that against CP3 and it worked...
ReplyDeleteThe reasons teams "haven't figured it out" is because when Harden is shut down, Lin TAKES OVER.
DeleteOpponents are happy for Harden to play selfishly, to freeze out everybody except his corner passing targets Parsons and Delfino, to brick shots and turn over and play zero defense. That's how they beat the Rockets.
What opponents can't have is Lin scoring and dishing and defending and getting the whole team involved. When Lin gets the ball because opponents have forced it out of Harden's hands, that's when the Rockets blow opponents out.
Harden is still lightly guarded. He has been defended as hard as Lin only on a handful of occasions, and the Rockets won those games when Lin went off. This is why opponents are content to let Harden try to hero ball his way into victories.
Problem is it's also true when Lin is on the bench. So no, I don't think teams have figured it out yet.
DeleteThis team is suppose to have a 2 headed snake but when one of the heads are being tied to the bench, you only have one to deal with (Harden).
DeleteOther teams already have a built-in defense against JLin, and that's his own coach lol. So yeah, they only need to focus on Harden. Rockets' philosophy is to live with Harden's iso, and to die with Harden's iso.
DeleteAh yes, KHuang:
Delete"Look, when he faces you up, sag a little and cheat to his left. Let him use up 10 seconds."
"What if he blows by me?"
"Let him go - we'll take our chances on the free throw line. The key is let him use up the clock. He'll pass it to someone with about 5 seconds left, and we box out for the transition."
"Ok ... what about Lin?"
"Half the time it's Bev. When Lin is in, just make sure you hold him on his first move so Harden calls for it."
"Sounds like a plan, coach."
This is an excellent video of LeBron learning from Hakeen Olajuwon, but this article is really interesting as well. It talks about Mike Brown's simplistic offense making James be point forward, dominating the ball. Then it talks about his shot charts evolving from Cleveland and now in Miami. Points out how Speolstra made LeBron so much more efficient playing OFF the ball. Totally relevant for Harden and Lin's situation right now
ReplyDeletehttp://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9109245/how-lebron-james-transformed-game-become-highly-efficient-scoring-machine
Finished that article, it's one of Grantland's best articles I've ever read there. Such great analysis
DeleteGrantland and Kirk Goldsberry write the most incredible articles.
DeleteThe stats/analysis prove what we already knew: Harden is a amazing scorer, but his efficiency would be much improved if he played off the ball more instead of handling the ball all the time.
Then it's really mind boggling that the top rated, stats savvy Rox GM Morey doesn't seem to know Harden's is only an amazing scorer who should just focus on playing off the ball? The moreyball is stats driven, but the game plans are moving away from that direction...?
DeleteOne other point I read the other day.
ReplyDeleteThe Rockets right now is a lot like the movie Moneyball.
You have the savvy analytical GM.
You have the stupid, old school coaches who are stubborn, won't play the GM's guys the right way, and rely on subjective bias and the eye test.
You have Morey trading away Douglas, but McHale still plays the next backup the same way. I wouldn't be surprised if just like Moneyball where the coach got fired, that Morey finally fires McFail and Sampson and elevates Finch to HC, who is a smart analytical non-biased coach with prior success in other leagues.
Agree. But I won't credit Morey for McHale's firing. Les will be the one pull the trigger to send McHale packing.
DeleteFinch for the head coaching job!
DeleteBut if Lin is traded, they can do whatever, I don't care.... I feel strongly that Lin will be traded, basing on Morey's and McHale's actions and words. If they don't trade Lin next summer, I'll be very puzzled at their behavior toward Lin this season.
I personally I wouldn't follow Lin so much if he turns into a ball hog like many of you want him to. The reason I started following him when he was back at Harvard was because he plays so unselfishly. I love to watch his game. But I think many of you are fans of the person Lin whereas a basketball fan I'm just a huge fan of his game.
ReplyDeleteI also love following his development as a player, the growing pains, the ups and downs, etc. He'll get through this he's too good not to. If you've been following Lin since Harvard you know there were far worse situations than he is in now.
I agree.
DeleteIf Lin goes rogue on his teammates and coaches, he just degenerates into an Asian Monta Ellis (great individual scorer, but doesn't make his teammates better and truly help team win at higher level).
That being said, McHale's substitution patterns for Lin really never even give him a chance to succeed.
Yes even if I look at his substitution patterns without even caring Lin is on the team, McHale doesn't seem to know how to manage minutes effectively for his starters. Sometimes you'll see Harden play an entire quarter with no rest while Harden is getting torched defensively. Also like Lin, Asik is on a extremely short leash. If he fumbles a couple of passes or misses one defensive rotation in comes Greg Smith. This leads to inconsistent rotations and Harden/Parsons playing 40+ night in and night out.
Delete@Albino,
DeleteYeah, that's why I compared McHale to Keith Smart. Aside from Lin, the entire rotation is inconsistent. Playing the hot hand on a nightly basis is not good coaching, that just means you don't know your players. Playing the hot hand is like a 2-QB system. Doesn't work because they can't get into a rhythm.
To be the most productive in the long term, you play your best players the most minutes. And if McHale thinks that Beverley is his best PG, then he should start Beverley and play him 36 mins a game.
I have watched all of Lin's game with Reno Big Horns except for one (they had technical difficulties during broadcast and game wasn't available in archives afterwards either), and my memory is that Lin always gets better as game progresses. I can understand pulling Lin early in first quarter (5 minute mark) and even not putting him back in second till say 6 minute mark if he gets off to sluggish start, and Harden is also struggling, because with Beverley in as nothing more than dribble ball up, pass to Harden, and get out of way, putting ball so predominantly in Harden's hands will hopefully get him going.
DeleteBut when Harden is still struggling mightily in third, then perhaps Harden should have gone to bench when Bevereley normally subs in for Lin and let Lin run with TRob and Smith, even if it is just till beginning of fourth quarter.
Lin only really struggles against guards that 1) have small frames and can change directions instantly on a dime (e. g. Squeaky Johnson of Austin Toros always used to give Lin fits) or 2) few larger guards like Jose Calderon (don't know if Lin just can't read change of direction or what, but it is surprising he has so much difficulty with him).
If small guard that changes directions so quickly that Lin can't recover, and that guard is reason Rockets are losing in fourth quarter, then I can understand how Beverley might be right choice (if Harden and others are rolling on offense and lack of defense is only reason Rockets are not pulling away).
If individual match ups allow it, I'd like to see Beverley guarding opposing point guard and Lin off ball guarding someone in corner (so he can see all action in front of him and play free safety) while Harden rests. Beverley's ball pressure can produce lazy pass that Lin can pick off. Lin isn't a bad on ball defender; I just think he can be much, much more effective off ball (plus, because he isn't responsible for getting back to protect against transition, he can be more aggressive going for rebounds, too).
Right now, I think he is freezing Lin out because he is jealous of all the attention Lin gets because of his global fan base.
DeleteHe wants to be the man in Houston, and unfortunately, looks like he will pull whole team, including Jeremy down, just to achieve that goal.
NBA League Pass Broadband ad with LeBron, Kobe, and Lin on it must infuriate him (Lin being on it is understandable because they are probably specifically marketing to Asian and Chinese market).
This isn't the one I saw linked on Clutchfans (IIRC, that one only shows LeBron, Kobe, and Lin), but here is NBA League Pass Broadband website (Lin and Kevin Durant there, in addition to LeBron and Kobe; no James Harden, which must piss him off):
https://account.nba.com/leaguepass/broadband
Lin will never be a ball hog. He doesn't get the ball enough! He just has to shoot when and if he ever gets the ball back into his hands. We all agree that his production and stats are related to his numbers of time he shoots. He has to take his 15 shots. Besides, once he passes the ball to harden, he can't hog the ball because someone else is hogging the ball. Lin just needs to be ready when harden gives him the ball with 2 seconds left on the clock.
DeleteWe keep talking about respect, and I keep reiterating that this league only respects stats. In order to play his game, Lin has to earn the respect through that system of grading. Only then can he have enough respect to play his own style of game.
Although the Rox is promoting Harden on full scale, he still hasn't made the list of popular NBA players in America itself, let alone international front yet.
DeleteKD, CP3, Rondo, Dwayne Wade, Steve Nash, Westbrook, Carmelo, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and a few more players are more popular than Harden. Harden has a long way to go before he become one of the more popular NBA players. His popularity globally will never ever surpass that of Jeremy's. With Harden's style of play, it's even more difficult for him to break into international market because most Jeremy's fans will despise him if he continues to be a ballhog and doesn't cease to play selfish basketball.
Harden over glorified ball hog, more selfish than even Melo (if that's possible). He's nothing more nothing less.
DeletePeople in CF doesn't seem to understand that a great scorer doesn't mean great team player... and Houston had two in recent years, Steve Francis, Tracy McGrady anyone? Harden does not believe in getting others involved. All his passes are in the perimeter for shots or driving to the basket for an assist. What I mean by this is he does not exploit weaknesses. He does not see where the weak side defense is. Lin on the other hand will get the ball where it needs to even if it means that he doesn't get any credit, hockey passes, throwing it to the post, etc...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteCompletely agree with u. I've seen harden swing it to the weak side maybe a couple of times...but those were on drives while Jeremy would swing it on the perimeter....swinging it from the drive is out I necessity because of collapsed defenders while from the perimeter it is I exploit structural weaknesses in the defense....but the league is all about numbers unfortunately
DeleteAll u guys saying Lin can improve in this system are delusional or just refusing see to see the obvious. You can cherry pick all u want about the little things to say things are not as bad they seem but that is the type of attitude that will make jeremy into a bench player in a few uears.
ReplyDeleteGET IT STRAIGHT! No matter what he does, he is not going to excel as long as McHale is around. U put rondo or cp3 in this situation, they will fail.
I will tell u whay Lin needs to in the off season. He needs to call a private meeting with Morey, les, and McHale and ask them point blank what is the role they are envisioning for the future for him and why Jeremy has such a short leash, how McHale has repeatedly undermined him , etc etc. there is an overwhelming evidence to support the mistreatment. He needs to raise his concerns about McHale stunting his development as a player. He needs to call them out on all the accolade they gave him before getting harden. This can be done in a very private professional way, away from public view. If it leaks out then u know the organization is trying to eff him over.
If Jeremy thinks that he can work in his game over the summer and then he will be treated with respect.. He is not gonna go anywhere.
Right on. He should not complain publicly like Jennings other players, you just come off as a whiner and sore loser. But he should definitely have a private meeting, no holds barred.
DeleteI think Morey would be glad to trade Lin to another team. Morey loves to flip players, and he should be able to get very good trade value for Lin.
My only question is, how does his third year count towards the cap for the trade partner? Is it $8M like it counts for the Rockets?
I think it counts as $8 million towards the cap for all 3 years but he actually gets paid $5M/$5M/$15M. The team that trades for him will have to pay him $15 million in the third year.
DeleteAbsolutely correct Solidz75. The Rockets are a graveyard for Lin. A deadend. A disaster. And it's not if McHale is gone then everything will be peachy keen for Lin!!! Harden is just as big a problem for Lin as the coach. And Harden is not going anywhere. Lin cannot succeed ever with the Harden-misled Rockets. Harden is a career disaster for Lin and Lin knows it.
DeleteIn the movie Jacoob's Ladder, Tim Robbins the main character returns to his old life only to start seeing demons and and strange things. People are chasing him. He is fighting for his his life and his sanity.
ReplyDeleteWhen he stops fighting he sees things as they are. He realizes he's not in a bad place.
I think that's where Lin is right now. He's not in hell like some of you think he is. There's only 15 games left in the season and it will be all over sone enough. He's getting 20-30 minutes per game. It's his first run for the playoffs and potentially his first playoff run. He should dial it back and enjoy the experience.
In the current system he can score 16-20 point per game for the remaining games easily. He just needs to pass less and shoot when he's open. Looking to pass less will also reduce his number of turnovers.
He should address his grievances in his summer exit interview. He believes he could do more for the team and that the offense should incorporate his skill set more. Otherwise, he won't resign with the Rox after his third year. I think that should put some fear into Morey and Alexander. They could potentially look foolish just like Dolan for letting Lin go without getting anything in return. They will incorporate his style more or they will trade him.
After the season ends Lin will have more leaverage. Don't fight it. Just accept the situation right now and enjoy what's left of the season. That would be my advice for Lin and Lin fans.
Yeah, as a JLin fan, I've given up on the Rockets in its current structure, especially with McHale as the coach. The good thing is that there is less than 3 weeks of regular season basketball left before the playoffs so the torture would be soon over. Before the season started, I was looking forward to seeing the Rockets games, but now I'm not excited about watching anymore. It's not fun to see JLin getting misused and disrespected. There are a few highlights in the season, such as JLin's return to MSG and the win over the Thunder, but those type of games are few and far between. For the remaining games, I'll just enjoy whatever time JLin gets to play basketball on the court and just let everything else go.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, some change will happen during the offseason. Either they replace the coach, or JLin gets traded. I can't imagine having to watch another season like this one.
Agree 100%. Rockets blow.
DeleteMcHale praises George’s growth:
ReplyDeleteAs remarkably rapid as Paul George’s improvement has been, Rockets coach Kevin McHale raved about how far the Pacers’ All Star has come in his third season.
“His shot’s better. His feel is better,” McHale said. “I thought his niche in the league might be defense and kind of just scrapping, but he can handle the ball, pass the ball, shoot the ball. He’s become a heck of an offensive player.”
-------------------------------------------------
This just shows you Mchale is not a believer of anyone unless you prove it to him. Had Mchale been George's coach, George would be limited to a taller version of Tony Allen.
Mchale is a guy who respects the players with either (A) obvious superstar game/skills/athleticism (ie Lebron, Kobe, etc whether or not they are black hole ballhogs who dont play defense); or (B)100% overt confidence on and off the court almost bordering on overt cockiness to go with some game (ie, KG,CP3, Kobe, Lebrons, even JR Smith, even Harden & Parsons etc).
Lin is neither so Lin struggles under Mchale while none of these barriers would be there under D'Antoni, who clearly is more of Lin's type of coach probably because Lin plays a game that D'Antoni approves of more than anything.
Mchale has already clearly said Lin doesn't have it and isn't capable of more than being a role player & a good kid. He literally is quoted as saying Lin is a selfish scrub not capable of being a top elite PG who wins games.
Lin will have to play insane basketball under Mchale's style of play. For Lin to win over Mchale, Lin has to shoot 60-70% from the field, hit 90% of his open shots, and NEVER turn the ball over, NOT EVEN ONCE, EVER. Mchale will only allow Parsons and Harden to turn the ball over, period.
That is unfair and unrealistic and idiotic, but that is what it will take for Mchale to be won over by Lin. So it's either play in that way to win over Mchale or play Lin ball and try to oust the coach or get traded or find his butt glued to the bench...
Just say no to McHale!
DeleteBefore signing any contracts in the future, JLin should make sure that the team has a clause somewhere in that contract that states that they would never hire Kevin McHale as coach/assistant coach/GM during JLin's tenure with the team, aka the "No Thank You McHale" clause! :D
Don't really give a hoot what McHale thinks or trying to win him over. It's done. Stick a fork in it as far as the McHale Lin fiasco relationship. Either Lin will demand a trade in the off season because he's no idiot or Lin will be traded. End of story.
DeleteNoone can play that way. McHake can just go eff himself, stupid fuck.
DeleteThe funny thing is that, had the Rockets and McHale treated JLin fairly and with respect -- and then benched him in favor of someone who OUTPLAYS him -- I still would have become a loyal and life-long Rockets (and McHale) fan. I would have perceived the Rox as an organization that wanted Jeremy and gave him the opportunity to thrive. Now, as long as this mistreatment continues, I will always root against the Rockets and McHale (this is assuming that I even pay attention to the NBA). I don't think I am alone in this sentiment. Just from a marketing and branding standpoint (without even taking into consideration that Jeremy is a star talent who helps his teams WIN), Rockets are very short sighted.
ReplyDeleteI had a coach just like McHale once, albeit not in basketball.
ReplyDeleteThis coach picked on me and singled me out. There were other Asian kids in the group, but he yelled and cursed and screamed at me every time I screwed up. I was his whipping boy, and I was just a little kid. I started out at the bottom and remained there for a few years.
Gradually, I improved. All the screaming and nitpickings and demoting and bullying caused me to work on my art with an intensity that the other kids never knew. I became a perfectionist, albeit a realistic one. Other kids wilted, but I perservered and eventually became super strong. By the end, my coach still didn't respect me but I had serious pro level capability that really revealed itself when I faced off against other pros when I was still in high school. Today I am a polished pro who's unshakeable in confidence and ability, and it doesn't even matter to me anymore if my colleagues or coaches undercut me because I always resurface in a better form.
When I see Lin struggling with McHale, it looks exactly like that experience that I had with that superstar coach. I also see Lin toughening up and turning the entire experience to his own superstar benefit.
In my experience, the most talented guy usually gets the most coaching. Even if the coaches prefer other players, the malleable and attentive Lin is the guy receiving the most coaching. Lin HAS to go through this if he's going to be a true superstar and not the "flash in the pan" that people accuse him of being.
True superstars rise after they're pushed down to the bottom. That's LIN!
Hi KHuang,
DeleteThat is an awesome story. I think I read somewhere that you are in show business. Do you plan an instrument?
Interesting insight KHuang, seems like you, like JLin, are true students of your respective games. It might not be exactly what you are saying but it sounds like you were able to learn and grow even under a "bad" coach. JLin seems to be learning and growing inspite of his coach (won't say because of his coach). People with the mindset of constantly improving themselves and their skills (whatever field they're in) can at least learn and grow inspite of bad situations. There is no "perfect" situation in life, there are always pluses and minuses. It's about maximizing the experience even though you have to eat shit sometimes. Just as long as we don't ask for second helpings.
DeleteK Huang u write such utter crap about McHale and his treatment of Lin. Complete bullshit that Lin HAS to go through such nonsense. He deserves to be treated well, encouraged, trusted, and given the reins by the coach. Do you think it's healthy for him to be disrespected, humiliated, yanked, etc., etc. by his coach? What are you talking about? Lin never deserved this and does not HAVE to go through it!! McHale is the biggest idiot to treat Lin this way--McHale has done a huge disservice to Lin and the Rockets. They will lose rapidly if they even make the playoffs. Don't rationalize or support McHale's horrible mistreatment of Lin, ok? I never, ever in my wildest dreams before the season started thought Lin would be dealt with like this by his coach!!
DeleteFanForLife, no, Spencer. You need to calm your ass down. Stop instigating shit.
DeleteFanForLife, no, Spencer. You need to calm your ass down. Stop instigating shit.
DeleteKHuang, you talk about the steeling process whereby you come out like a diamond, and the person demanding that of you is a foil anyway because they may or may not be able to transcend themselves to realize the process was good, but they also are transformed by it. Many touch coaches or dads do not live to enjoy that, because they continue to live themselves through their chosen proteges.
DeleteNice background.
Having said that, I see the different Bob C F Chan point of view, which is an older man's view of limiting output to achieve an end. I think he and you are not in conflict. What you are talking about is being the best at the art of the game (or, in your case, maybe music or something else). What he's talking about is to continue in the art of the game, but to narrow down for the time being because the situation cannot allow for both the art and personal skill building.
We all are dynamic to make choices under adversity, and it's good to see your points of view.
To life!
I play more than one instrument professionally, KauaiBlue. Music is my professional career, though I like Lin have had many people tell me to my face that it's not!
DeleteJoeTeam, I have experienced all sorts of instructors. While the best is to have a kind instructor who ALSO has great game, that kind of instructor is very rare. The next best thing for me was to have a meanass instructor who had great game, and I was always able to siphon off that quality no matter what personal invective was directed my way. I'd rather learn from an jerk superstar than a kindly mediocrity.
Jeremy Lin is experiencing McHale the SUPERSTAR. Lin wants to become a superstar, he's learning the hard way from a Hall of Famer how tough and good he's gotta be. It's on Lin to BLOCK OUT the personal attacks and focus on improving his game via McHale's constant carping.
By the way, I consider myself now BETTER than that superstar instructor. He would never admit it, but I can do everything he does and everything that he CAN'T do. I took all his invective and used it as JET FUEL to propel myself to become a better player than he could possibly imagine. As a result, I'm actually better loved by paying audiences and far more professionally functional than that superstar who left a wake of broken students and pissed off contractors behind him while currently "hiding" onstage in a large internationally known professional group!
Spencer Haywood, I actually completely sympathize with you.
DeleteI'd prefer McHale be a supportive but strong coach of Lin. But then McHale wouldn't be coaching the minimum wage Rockets, he'd be coaching the Miami Heat!
Lin is a tough guy. He's much tougher than McHale. And if things work out the way they seem to be, Lin's actually going to become a more impactful player than McHale was!
McHale was a wonderful player, but he did benefit from playing with Larry Bird. If McHale was the man by himself on a different team, I don't think he could carry that team the way Lin currently can!
Rockets, Lin to try to get scoring going again
ReplyDeleteNot sure anybody post this or not, it is pretty interesting and yet confusing.
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Lin’s minutes had been limited by Patrick Beverley’s strong play against San Antonio and the Pacers, and by the rout of the Cavaliers. In the past three games, he averaged six points per game. In the previous three games he averaged 21.7 points.
“I don’t play well without spacing and I don’t play well when we’re really not getting out in transition,” Lin said. “Those are two things we need to get better at, that coach has talked to us about, is pushing the ball more, having the wings run down all the way to the corners, having the bigs run to the post area and having me and Pat pushing the ball and trying to make something happen.
“We have to get back to that formula. It hurts me. It hurts everybody. We’re all figuring it out. I have to keep reminding myself to stay patient and see this as growth. There’s always going to be certain parts of growth you don’t like. You wish you could speed through the process, but it doesn’t work like that.”
For the point guard a lack of ball movement can be especially difficult because he is most likely to give the ball up early in the possession, but not get it back.
====
So Lin is basically saying that there is somebody ball hogging, and they are not running, thus no ball movement,and Lin would not perform well in that kind of situation. ........ and yet McHale respond that part with pull Lin out instead goes to the source of the problem?
Feigen is a very interesting reporter, that he never say bad things about Rockets, but he does say some thing in a subtle way, like the last paragraph I quoted.
I think he hide his frustration pretty well, obvious better than us Lin Fans.
LOL, look at what a knowledgeable member over at Clutchfans wrote:
DeleteOriginally Posted by PhiSlamma
As Torocan pointed out, this is just wrong. And it is ill-informed. A careless conception of how turnovers become baskets for the other team.
Lin's first TO led to an Indiana hoop, but it came in a basic offensive set. Meaning that it did not come on a fast break. A fast break is an easy basket, especially when there aren't enough defenders back.
Want to see what an easy basket looks like on a fast break?
Go to 0:23 into this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nftzOKqYWM
What you will see is an off-balanced James Harden forced shot that leads to a Pacers dunk.
On the play, Harden had Lin wide open to his right. Did he pass it? Nope. He took a bad shot -- one of many for Harden in the game -- and it led directly to 2 easy Pacers points.
Some bad shots are worse than turnovers.
So the next time you do the "6+6 = 12" thing, maybe you can think about what I'm saying here.
How many misses did Harden have last night? How many led to run-out Indy baskets?
I'm a Rockets fan. But some of the Lin hating on here is becoming pathetic.
Somehow I don't see Mchale calling out Harden in the press about wanting to get his while rest of team is trying to win games...
That resonate with my previous points about how not all turnovers aren't as bad as they seem. There are many cases where a risky play (that results in turnover) is a much better play than taking a bad shot. Old school coaches need to get out of the stone age and learn some basic stats and probability.
DeleteMorey is supposedly an advanced stats geek and should know this. Does he not have any influence on McHale?
Yes, even during Linsanity 1.0, a good deal of Lin's turnovers (aggressive passes in traffic going to rim) didn't result in quick run outs for other team; they were more like missed shots than anything else.
DeleteI remember other Knicks guards (forgot if it was with Knicks or Warriors) would make sloppy turnover passing ball around perimeter and it would get picked off for easy layup.
Sometimes, a few more turnovers for Lin is fine if he is aggressive and creating good opportunities for others.
Lin has also shown he can drastically cut down on turnovers when need be, so if it is closing minutes of game, perhaps he doesn't make some of those higher risk reward passes in traffic.
Talking about TO, this is funny.
DeleteFor 21 games that Jeremy has more TO than Harden, we have winning record. 17-4
when they have same TO numbers : 2-5
When Harden have more TO than Jeremy: 20-21
I don't understand how hard it is for McHale to understand when Jeremy is aggressive, and got more ball in his hand, we just got easier wins.... yet it is not hurting James's stats, Harden will have much more efficient numbers....
Of the several things I don't like, I particularly don't like the fact that IMO part of Lin's purported inconsistentency is a product of how Lin is being played. How does someone play consistently when his role and minutes are inconsistent and random to this day? At this late in the regular season. Nevertheless, I believe Lin will rise above it all in the grand scheme of things.
ReplyDeleteExactly, you are one of the few perceptive people on this blog. All these jackasses that talk about Lin's inconsistent play, don't realize it has been created by McHale's constant yo-yoing and benching of Lin to keep him in check when he is hot. An the games where he has gotten off to a slower start, he has not been given the chance to stay in the game and play out of a slow start. Yes his 'inconsistent play' is really a crock of shit fabricated by the media on the back of McHale's devious designs.
DeleteEarly in season, Lin's inconsistency could be traced back to 1) still recovering from knee surgery (tender knee he couldn't push off of in training camp), and 2) McHale putting in positions he is not comfortable with (corner 3, not taking any midrange dribble drive pull up jumpers).
DeleteNow Lin's inconsistency is primarily the result that McHale doesn't give him a chance to succeed (one mistake and he is pulled early; if he is rolling, he gets pulled for Beverley at regular times; Harden is jealous of all attention Lin gets from his global fan base and won't let Lin help him complete comeback or closeout game when it is obvious Harden can't do it alone).
Also remember earlier in season that Clyde Drexler said Lin's range is only about 18 - 19 feet right now.
DeleteHe isn't knock down three point shooter yet, but give him an off season or two to dedicate to those weaknesses, and somehow I don't think they will be weaknesses anymore (just automatic daggers when his defender sags off of him).
Lin's obviously not a knock down 3 pt shooter, but he's not as bad as some people perceive. Part of the perception is because he has a high arcing shot that results in airballs more frequently than a low arc shot.
DeleteAnyways, here are the facts, not perception:
Lin: corner-3 38%, above-the-break-3 31%
Harden: corner-3 38%, above-the-break-3 37%
Parsons: corner-3 53%, above-the-break-3 34%
Beverley: corner-3 53%, above-the-break-3 33%
TDouglas: corner-3 39%, above-the-break-3 34%
The fact is, Lin's corner-3 % is the same as Harden's, and his above-the-break-3 is close to Parsons and Beverley, and overall he is close to Douglas, who is perceived as a good 3 pt shooter.
Surprising statistic.
DeleteTo the eye, Lin seems to struggle much more with corner three than say right of center behind the arc (I think I saw graphic showing he shoots highest percentage there).
Nice find, real-dsb.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI bet Lin's 3 point shooting percentage above the break could also be much higher if he just chose not to take some questionable threes.
Deletee. g. sometimes he is not having great game and is frustrated and tries to play a bit of me ball and force up bad shot. Sometimes he wants to force a bit of Linsanity 1.0 and he puts up some threes above break that I say Jeremy that was not a good shot choice. Plus James holding ball for most of shot clock, not having thing for himself, then passing the ball to Lin with 2 seconds on shot clock and Lin has to chuck.
Still, that corner three shooting percentage, despite all of his problems early in season, is really eye opening!
Finally another article pointing out pretty much what everyone here has said. Don't know how great this site is but regardless.
ReplyDeletehttp://sportige.com/houston-rockets-jeremy-lin-shouldnt-be-cast-aside-for-james-harden-03-2013/
It makes you wonder if writers read this forum...I know clutch fans read this forum but won't post here
DeleteJLin post on Facebook:
ReplyDeleteJeremy Lin
Ephesians 3:20-21 -- Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory
From CF
ReplyDelete======
For this season's 69 games played so far, when Jeremy's FGA compare to James Harden's FGA:
There are total 22 games where James FGA - Jeremy's FGA =< 5,
the record is w-L = 19-3;
There are total 32 games where 5 < (James FGA - Jeremy's FGA) =<10,
the record is w-L = 11-21
There are total 15 games where (James FGA - Jeremy's FGA) > 10
the record is w-L = 9-6
It is so obvious which category we have the best chance of win.
Almost invariably, the really ugly games, ones were you want to punch the tv because of how offense looks, it's always Harden going iso and playing point guard and freezing Lin out.
DeleteEntry passes he gives to other players (not when he is already driving downhill to basket and has defense on it's heels) don't create better looks for teammate. Defender is still on him and only thing defense has to do is turn head from Harden to teammate he passed to. Lin can create so many easy looks for his teammates, and if nothing else, he breaks set defense down so when ball gets back to Harden with shot clock running down Harden can then attack in more of a quasi transition type situation.
Talking about TO, this is funny.
DeleteFor 21 games that Jeremy has more TO than Harden, we have winning record. 17-4
when they have same TO numbers : 2-5
When Harden have more TO than Jeremy: 20-21
@Joe
Deletetotally agree. I find it very frustrating that McHale always talk one way, and do the other way. He keep saying need ball movement, and yet keep bench the person who move the ball the most. He kept saying that we need to push the pace, and yet see James walk the ball up. He will bench Jeremy for defensive reason when he is the only one play hard on D on the court.
What aggravates me more than Harden going one on one (dribble drive penetration with no attempt at team ball movement before falling back on iso Harden) is when he also tries and plays point guard.
DeleteUnless he is already running down hill toward basket and has defense on it's heels already (could take ball to basket himself, but chooses slick pass for teammate to get layup), he does nothing to get better looks for his teammates when he is just standing there, dribbling ball, looking over defense, and deciding what to do.
Milwaukee loss Lin was rolling in first quarter, getting teammates involved. Lin and Harden go to bench, and when they both return in second quarter, Harden stops passing the ball to Lin (side to side ball movement Kevin McHale supposedly preaches), hold the ball, if he can't beat man with his individual move, he goes into point guard mode and does not get easy look for teammate because defense didn't have to move at al, other than turning their head from Harden to whomever he passed to.
If KM continues to use Lin like he did in the previous game, I'm going to prepare myself to see the worst outcome of the remaining 11 games, so that I won't be too shocked - not good to my health.
ReplyDeleteAnyone that cares about Jeremy and the Rockets has been complaining about his mistreatment all season, and it's close to the end of the season, and the same BS still happens again and again, which leads me to suspect that M&M (McHale & Morey) did intend to tank the games from the very beginning. I fear they won't make it to the playoff <-- I do hope I am wrong.
pics posted by gblee on tmblr...
ReplyDelete(I added my own interpretation)
1. Jeremy pic #1
KM: (blah...blah...blah...)
Jeremy: (meditating...)
2. Jeremy pic #2
KM: (still blah...blah...blah...)
Jeremy: (sigh...he's still talking...argh...)
2. Jeremy pic #3
Jeremy: (ah...whatever...)
damage control of Morey and Les.
Deletefrom
DeleteAs much as I love watching Jeremy play more minutes and as much as I feel the same confusion/anger/frustration/betrayal in every game that PB gets "starter treatment", I've found some peace by looking at the situation in the following optimistic ways:
ReplyDelete(1) The Rockets will benefit in the playoffs from giving PB getting more minutes right now to build up his confidence. Winning the battle of the benches can win the game in the playoffs when the starters break even. I feel like the Spurs always have some bench guy in the playoffs that flies under the radar and ends up being the difference in the series.
(2) The NBA season is a grind and it is prudent for teams that can afford to do so to rest their starters before the playoffs begin. The Rockets aren't mathematically in yet, but they do have a small cushion. They are taking a risk, but I'm sure they know it. Also, Ty Lawson just came down with Plantar Fasciitis and might miss playoff games. If that happened to Jeremy, I'd feel a whole lot worse than I do now. Jeremy expends a lot of energy on BOTH ends of the court. On top of that he is large for a PG which compounds the energy his body exerts and increases his susceptibility to injury. Jeremy's style is also such that he does not distinguish between regular games and playoff games -- he will sacrifice his body for any win. This is great, but his coaches know this and might be trying to mitigate injury risk.
(3) PB is not a threat to Jeremy. I really whole-heartedly believe that. The Rockets owe it to themselves to see what they have in PB. Both for the playoffs and for potential trades in the offseason. They have Aaron Brooks backing up Jeremy if someone wants to trade a for PB and I'm cool with that. The Rockets might be showcasing PB to build up his trade value.
Would love to hear your thoughts guys. :)
Anyone who thinks that Beverley is a threat to Lin is a moron and an idiot who knows shit about basketball. Which MclowIQ is an idiot and a moron who knows shit about basketball.
DeleteIf I wanted to play conspiracy theorist, I would say that Lin is slowly being phased into sixth man role for playoffs because Harden wants to be the man (not share any of the glory with Lin) and Patrick Beverley gets out of the way and let's Harden dominate ball.
DeleteProblem is the Harden Lin backcourt can be so much more explosive and dangerous when they work together cooperatively, vs. staggering their minutes.
Truly hope that is not the case, but it might be something worth watching if what Lin fans honestly view as disrespect continues as we move towards playoffs.
Bev provides defense and hustle and that's mostly what he's good at. He doesn't have Lins court vision and he cannot be counted on as the main facilitator. He looks for his shot more too. He reminds me of TD.
DeleteAlright. I am beginning to get sick of post like this because u r trying to rationalize this situation by assuming that McHale and the Rox are looking out for Jeremy. Really, so they are trying to develop bev so that he will be effective off the bench come playoff time? So what about Jeremy... This is why they're sitting Lin out in the fourth quarter and taking away his minutes?
DeleteU could argue this could be true maybe in the beginning of the season. Not right now. Not after all that has happened. Do some of u even watch the effing games and come out here and say this is good for Jeremy's development? Wake up! We've seen enuff. There is nothing to indicate the contrary. Stop with these bs posts.
Absolutely agree.
DeleteBeverley is a nice player, particularly as a defensive specialist, but he can't change a game like Lin potentially can.
Unfortunately, Rockets might have to get thumped bad in playoffs with Beverley playing with Harden before Harden truly realizes he needs Lin only to a slightly lesser extent than Lin needs Harden.
Beverley is not a good defense player. He is okay in this department. To the eye test, he does, but he got burned more than Lin. Even the conservative new guy aka idiot says that Beverley is a better defensive player. SMH
DeleteBeverley can't run an offense, can't break down the defense
Beverley can provide better on ball defense (in your face pressure defense), but I would agree that I think Lin is a better overall team defender, especially off ball when he can act as free safety and doesn't have to get back to protect against transition and rebound aggressively.
Delete@Joe Yeah, my initial reaction was to look at it that way as well. Everyone in the NBA has confidence in their game -- a lot of players probably believe they are better than they actually are. There are a lot of talented players in the NBA, but their talents lie in different aspects of the game. I think what makes good teams great is when the stars understand their own games. When they understand their own games, they know where they need help from others and I think the entire team (not just Harden, although he is probably the one who steps on Jeremy's toes most) will get better as a result of that maturity.
DeleteI am okay McHale giving Harden and Parsons the opportunity to learn about their own shortcomings by losing with PB running point. They need to understand that the one and only way to have a good day at the office is getting a W. They need to understand that they are better right now when Jeremy runs point.
@Solidz I understand the frustration. Like I said in my OP, I choose to believe that it is in the best interest of the team and the playoffs. I am not worried about Jeremy in the playoffs, but it sounds like you might be. What will playing more in these last few regular season games do for his game in particular? Has he not had enough time during the entire regular season to improve?
DeleteI do have league pass and I do watch every game, just like you. I'm not saying this is what IS happening, it's what I believe. Just like you, I'm not part of the inner circle of the Rockets organization so everything is just speculation. I just know that I am a fan of Jeremy and I want the best for him and his team.
I think this forum is a good place to vent though... I like reading your "angry man" posts when I'm pissed about Jeremy's usage. Please keep it up.
Where are the MclowIQ worshipers who came in here once in awhile or stopped coming here because they feel that we bash Mcshithead too much. shit after shit that Mcshithead pulled, they still believe that the bastard is good for Lin or hoping that Mcshithead is turning the corner. Keep dreaming.
ReplyDeleteI swear some people just don't know logic or have common sense. It's not that hard to use common sense and they are free.
DeleteI'm sure some people feel the same way about you... thinking that maybe you take things too far... that while some of your criticism is objective, not all of it is. Bias is something that goes in many directions.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I think this forum is great because we are single minded in that we all love watching Jeremy pwn noobs, but we also get to share all different opinions and debate them as well.
DeleteWell I expect a loss tonight. Two in a row, to good teams. Watch the rednation go into panic mode calling for McHale's head.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, judging from his demeanor on the bench, I don't think lin cares if the rocket make it to the playoffs.
The best thing I can hope for is to see lin playing well in a loss but with McHale limiting him so people start to realize how important he is to this team.
And if the grizzlies are smart, they should do what George did to harden. Make it tough for harden in the first half, and watch harden ruin this team by going retard trying to pad up his stats.
For some reason tonight I feel Jeremy will have a good game with at least 34 mins in the game. I think McHale will feel guilty for one game of his treatment of Lin because of all the media questioning despite his post game brush offs of Lin's usage. But them after tonight it'll be back to Lin being dumped on and misused and abused. That's why I really hope they don't make the playoffs. So that McHale gets bitten in the ass real hard!!!
ReplyDeleteMcsheadhead has NO SOUL. He doesn't know the meaning the word "guilty" means.
DeleteI was so angry last game was because the shit he pulled was with evil intent. There was a sinister or dark side to it that I was so disgusted with.
Time after time people giving him the benefit of the doubt. What has history tells you?
Rockets guard Jeremy Lin went from three-consecutive games scoring at least 20 points to three games failing to reach double figures. But Rockets coach Kevin McHale said that might indicate sluggishness and breakdowns of the Rockets’ offense as a whole more than Lin’s play, especially Wednesday against the Pacers.
ReplyDeleteThat can be especially problematic because the Rockets run few plays to determine shots, instead preferring to run an offense built around pace and space. When they do play in the halfcourt and call a set, it is more often for James Harden to handle the ball in pick-and-roll.
“We’re a little more read and react,” McHale said. “It’s systemic to our team not moving the ball, not moving bodies enough, just being a little bit stagnant. Indiana puts you in positions, they do stymie you a little bit. We have to pick our pace back up. We have slowed back down some. This time of year, everybody is getting a little worn out, a little tired. We have to get our pace up.”
Lin’s minutes had been limited by Patrick Beverley’s strong play against San Antonio and the Pacers, and by the rout of the Cavaliers. In the past three games, he averaged six points per game. In the previous three games he averaged 21.7 points.
“I don’t play well without spacing and I don’t play well when we’re really not getting out in transition,” Lin said. “Those are two things we need to get better at, that coach has talked to us about, is pushing the ball more, having the wings run down all the way to the corners, having the bigs run to the post area and having me and Pat pushing the ball and trying to make something happen.
“We have to get back to that formula. It hurts me. It hurts everybody. We’re all figuring it out. I have to keep reminding myself to stay patient and see this as growth. There’s always going to be certain parts of growth you don’t like. You wish you could speed through the process, but it doesn’t work like that.”
For the point guard a lack of ball movement can be especially difficult because he is most likely to give the ball up early in the possession, but not get it back.
“It’s ebb and flow of the season,” McHale said. “Sometimes, it’s going to be there, sometimes not quite as much. He’s had some really good stretches. He’ll find it.”
Who wrote this article ?
DeleteJonathon feign
DeleteHmmmmmm...... The damage control - for both McHale and Feigen the puppet writer - is way too little and way too late. Right Jeremy? I knew it!
DeleteCF bring seriously affected by a troll at the moment. But you can't do sh*t, Houston famous for its mass murderers - makes watching and playing BB like taking candy from a baby.
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