I love the honesty from Jeremy. We all knew there were some real problems with Jeremy and his teammates and coaches last season. He is very easy to read. Just look at his face and you know how things are going.
it's not that there's no faith in Jeremy, it's that they (Morey, McHale, some Houston fans) just do not like him very much. they would have someone else succeed in his place.
(I posted it under the original thread the other day, but the program deletes it automatically, apparently because I deleted one post under that thread as a way to edit):
I enjoyed your reply to mine because you were spot on about Morey's ulterior motives. Plus you picked up on a little more than I did regarding the Friedman interview that I appreciated. Except....
You were too generous on Morey's character when you wrote that "he didn't intentionally try to ruin Lin, but he didn't care if it did as long as it cemented Harden as a superstud SG".... I believe Morey DID INTENTIONALLY TRIED TO RUIN Lin (and he did "ruin" him for at least one season) because making Lin look incompetent ENABLED Morey to simultaneously accomplish two(2) of his major objectives for last season and this coming season (though consequences will come back around to him at some point) as follows:
1) Harden was made to appear much better offensively than he really was by having him play BOTH PG & SG in his high minutes. Any PG's or SG's stats would look superior playing both positions under the same play calls catering everything to that player (Plus they know that having confidence is extremely important in the game of basketball, so he could never do anything wrong - they treated Lin just the opposite until they accomplished what they wanted. By making Harden appear as if he's an ELITE Superstar, it "proved" to the fans (Morey, Morey!) - and more importantly to his peers and team owners (Morey's resume/reputation) - and most importantly to Mr Alexander (Morey got a fat and lengthy contract re-sign, as his contract was up) that Morey The Brilliant signed the "elite of the elites" in Harden that us mortals only saw as a mere superstar.... It also engineered Harden to be voted as an All-Star right off the bat and much hyped one at that, which was needed to recruit mega stars like Dwight; this in turn allowed Morey to get re-signed as the GM with flying colors and enabled him to negotiate for better terms with more power etc. as well.
2) Manipulating Lin to look stupid and incompetent (by having Harden usurp Lin's PG role on top of playing his designated SG role simultaneously for most of the time in extended minutes) also made Morey appear like a genius: Why, Mr Owner and the world, THAT WAS THE REASON why we waived Lin in the first place! Like McHale has said several times on behalf of the Rockets basketball minds, "Lin's Linsanity stats happen to all NBA players at some point in their career" (paraphrase). Mr Owner, you rich fool, you fell for smoke and mirrors! We, the basketball minds, got you Harden! And WHAT A BARGAIN HE IS at twice Lin's salary, being that he's so up there! Mr Owner, you on the other hand, got Lin the bust! We did the smart thing in waiving Lin, as a favor to you, but you were mad at us and then you meddled in our affairs by bring him back! You now DO look foolish to the world, which you stated would be the case if Lin didn't work out. On the other hand, we look brilliant and we can now write our own tickets!
I disagree, but the general shape of what you're saying makes sense. I think it is too much to say that Morey deliberately ruined Lin. But the two motivations that you point out can help explain why Morey didn't have great cause to intervene when McHale kept Lin on a short leash and marginalized Lin's minutes and role on the team.
i agree with both points but i feel it's more McHale's (and Sampson's) doing than Morey's. in fact, before last season started, i felt the Rockets would let McHale go mid-season because 1) he probably had the most say in who gets the last spot on the team and so he must have had a lot of influence on cutting Lin the year before, and 2) he had no way of making himself look good enough to salvage his own career as an NBA coach because of the "young and inexperienced" team he was dealt with which he kept whining about (plus if the team plays well, he would still look bad because Lin would have been the one to instrument that). but the situation completely turned around when they traded for Harden which allowed McHale to achieve three things, 1) playing Harden at the PG position which limited Lin's strength as the floor general, 2) expose Lin's (then) weakness which was spot up shooting, and 3) using that to prop Anybody But Lin as a better fit to start at the PG position along side Harden (noticed how he and Sampson kept giving Douglas and then Beverly infinite chances to succeed). by doing this, McHale effectively is saying to Les "i was not completely wrong to let Lin go", "i know much more than you about basketball", and "just let us professionals handle the basketball side of business". it's basically all politics. i believe Morey had his hands a bit tied once the team started winning (even though Lin played a big part in it). as a GM, you don't want people to think you are making coaching decisions but i'm sure he was dying knowing that the coaches were purposely ruining Lin's career when they could easily play Lin as the ball distributor and Harden as the spot-up shooter.
There is strong evidence that Harden enjoys privileges to jack up his statistics justifying his max contract. However Harden was injured at the end of the season and that tended to humble him a bit. After matching with other franchise players like Paul George, who won't be humbled.
Lin was taken out of his usual position was used to his weakness rather than his strength. But Lin said nothing but continuously working hard to the given role. Perhaps it's God's blessing in disguise. In this off season, Lin gets to work on his weaknesses more to make him a better and all round player than before.
Lin haters possibly organized by his ex-employers leashed out many attacks and libels to try to help the team rid of Jeremy in the media. The attempt of discrediting him was quite obvious even when Jeremy was making significant contributions in April. As a Lin fan, I have seen so much double standards applied to Lin as a solid NBA basketball player never had. It's raging but the true contributions of Lin to the team was made obvious when both Harden and Harden were taken out of their games because of injury.
To me, it seems that God has a wish to have Jeremy as the basketball evangelist. Ever since Lin was signed, the rockets has been blessed with lots of talents; Harden and D12 have come to make this team a contender. It's likely that the Rox will have a chance of the title in these 2 years.
Yes, in these 2 years before Parsons, Asik and Lin's contracts expire. Two years from now, the rockets couldn't afford them altogether anymore.
I still think Lin and Asik might go to the Laker one day. As to now, the Rockets is the most blessed team of all.
You've made many good points and I agree with you.... BUT I believer Morey was the mastermind - from beginning to end I thought that - it has also served him extremely well. Also, Morey is their boss and everything he had said in print and words pointed in that direction - if you read between the lines, his body language and his actions. They also knew that the Rockets had a fantastic pre-season without Harden at all, yet they were said to panic, so that they could the "Get Harden *NOW*" authorized (a day before the regular season). I know pre-season "doesn't count" but it does count a little (remember the Lakers).
Morey is in charge as Alexander is not as hands on as some other owners, if you believe the articles online. Alexander is no Dallas Cowboy owner playing GM.
Coaches are stooges unless the coach is also the GM or Vp like a Poppovich or DOc Rivers type. Even Erik Spoeltra is still a replaceable stooge and he won 2 titles (and I really like and respect Spo but just saying it is what it is)
GM's dictate who to play and who to use. If the coach won't do it, coach is fired. Morey had no incentive to play Lin at all once Harden was there. Morey had to make sure Harden became a "superstar" whatever that means. Coach Etch a Sketch and Sampson and whomever else already disliked Lin and Morey just allowed Coach Etch to do whatever he damn well pleased in killing Lin's role and confidence.
It was Morey's only play to cement his status as Rockets GM Genius both in the NBA and to his owner by having the Harden deal look brilliant. Lin was just caught in the crossfire. Things have worked out for Morey just fine, so you cannot fault him one bit since he is saving his own rear end and looking good doing it.
While I don't think Morey did anything malicious to Lin because he hates Lin, Morey could care less what happened to Lin once he decided to bring in Harden and do everything possible to have Harden shine on the court. Again Lin just got caught up in a bad situation. Morey again just was looking out for himself and making sure he looked brilliant as GM. He could have had both guards succeed on the court, but he wanted to ensure Harden became the undisputed #1 king of the team and to do so meant killing off Lin.
Lin will be fine this year but I don't believe he is doing himself any favors with Rockets management nor the coaching staff with his comments in Taiwan. I know the comments are taken out of context, but it doesn't matter because he can be quoted saying certain things and those words were said, no matter the context. Still I think Lin is going to play with an "I dont give a F*** " attitude this year so it probably won't hurt him anyways.
My fear for Lin is that teams won't want to touch him, not just for his game, but for the baggage that comes with Lin through no fault of his own. It has not been pleasant for the Rockets team to see their facebook and other media bombarded with hate. However, I do hope the Asian hate for the Rockets keeps growing and growing and becomes intolerable so they just dump Lin for draft picks.
Most importantly, harden's style of play suits morey's system down to a T. whereas, Jeremy's style of play perfectly clashes with morey's system.
so, it's nor a personal thing but morey simply wants his system to work and harden is to guy to make it happen not jeremy.
morey says a lot of false positive things about lin which i think is echoed in that espn article saying lin's a good player, 14ppg much like the year before, trying to be linsanity when he isn't... some wizard of oz out there is writing the script for everyone to repeat.
I concur; we're essentially in agreement; you're just a tad less cynical on Morey.
Your quote below is exactly why I felt (posted elsewhere) that it was Lin's "cry" for a trade. The trade will down, and many of us have guessed it since early last season the way Lin was treated in and out of the court, but Morey was probably waiting for that "I gotcha opponent GM!" type of deal - which will not happen through Morey-McHale's own making (which they may be in denial like everything else). However, now this should spur them to EXPEDITE the trade. Then the purpose is served! I don't want Lin to toil, hack, claw, scratch and vomit in the southern state for another month!
"Lin will be fine this year but I don't believe he is doing himself any favors with Rockets management nor the coaching staff with his comments in Taiwan. I know the comments are taken out of context, but it doesn't matter because he can be quoted saying certain things and those words were said, no matter the context." - swing
Etane, Harden and Lin basically plays the same style, except Harden isn't as good as a floor general, and he's bigger than Lin. the fast pace system was what Les wanted and Lin's game fits that even more. i think McHale would have rather the game slow down a bit and force the ball into his big guys (noticed he had the guards force it into the low post players every time even though it obviously wasn't working).
swinglinezigzag, i understand that there is a pecking order starting with Les, Morey, and then McHale. but i don't think that has much to do with who actually calls the shots on the floor. especially when the coach is a basketball Hall of Famer. the organization wouldn't want a bad reputation of being too controlling unless they want to fend off prospective coaches.
livyrlife, if you're implying that Morey let Adelman go to automatically mean that Morey meddled with the way the Rockets players were coached (like the way Lin and Harden was) then i'm not even going try to argue with you. because that is as blanketed a statement as can be.
blake, might be semantics when saying they play the same style.
yes they both want to handle the ball but think the similarity ends there.
harden loves to stand at the top of the key and stare down his defender while wasting away the shot clock before he does these in order or priority 1) eurostep to draw a foul 2) throw up a contested 3, or 3) pnr with a big.
lin on the other hand doesn't waste the shot clock but finds whoever is open and if no one is open then 1) he dribble drives or stops for midrange jumper, 2) pnr witha big 3) penetrate then pop out to a 3pt shooter.
and, the results in box score will be telling difference in terms of the difference in style they play. harden and one more star usually parsons will get all the points while all the rest of the players will be in single digit scoring.
in the few games when harden was not in the game, most players were able to generate the best game of the year with most or all of the starts hitting double digits scores. during linsanity, not only did lin score 20+ but ALL his starter teammates scored in double digits.
mentally, teammates, when playing with lin, all feel like they all have stake in the game. for example, greg smith all year played passively. he spent most of half a season on the bench. he got his best game when harden was out with a sprained knee against clippers. greg got his career best that game and played like he was possessed.
the game right after the clipper game, you should see how angry he was at harden for not playing D and for not passing the ball quick enough. he started playing with spirit and not the passive oaf that was just happy to get some minutes.
lastly, though they both want to be ball handlers, harden's penchant for 3 pters and lay ups makes him the prototypical player that fits within Morey's system. OTOH lin's penchant for 2pters which he needs to make to open up his drives works against morey's system. plus, lin's on court floor generaling takes the lime light away from morey's management by advanced stats. whereas, harden plays with no strategy at all.
If I could,I'd ask him to be specific which coach he was talking about, though even if we aren't closey-close yet,it's obviously McHale, the number 1 Jeremy hater.I toned down my disgust with Kelvin though.
I think Lin has to leave Houston because Parsons would have a big fat contract soon and Asik is also a center that many teams covet. Their new contracts would take the Rockets off the cap limit unless Lin was traded. Possibly Asik has to go too because he would be offered a big contract that the Rockets can hardly match when he became a free agent.
I can't wait till Lin is off the Rockets. He is going to kill them every time he plays them in the future. He's going to do to them much worse what he tried to do to Golden State last year.
The Clutchfan idiots will pretty much say "why couldn't he play like this when he was here?" Well he always could, he was just handcuffed for those that care to admit it...
I believe deep down inside, Lin feels he was totally handcuffed by the team and the coaches last year. That has nothing to do with living up to Linsanity. I think Lin realizes he just has to make the best of the hand he was dealt and focus on the positive. That's why all he can do is become really really good and improve and let the chips fall.
If his hard work the next few years makes him a top 5 guard, then so be it. If he isn't anything but a scrub, he's saying he's fine with it since he knows he did everything within his power to make himself the best player possible.
BUT But but but but..... I'm so anxious as to where Morey would trade Lin to. In alignment with Morey-McHale's own belief, THEY SHOULD NOT FEAR TRADING Lin to a WC team, preferably in their own division!!!
But I'm nervous about Sorry-McHell dualbags trading Lin to an EC team. The poor-team Detroit Pistons has been mentioned already. Ugh. Lin can still wind up a WC team thru a sign-and-trade though. Hahahaha.
I follow the NBA very closely. I can't see one team that would take Lin and make him the lead guard. Sacramento & maybe an Orlando could use a Lin, but I doubt they go for him. Every other team thinks they have their PG of the future as of now. Lin has nowhere to go...and even if he goes somewhere else, there is no guarantee Lin will be put in a star guard position...
While I believe Lin is a top 20 overall offensive guard in the entire NBA, I'm sure no GM or typical NBA fan agrees.
Lin should still play for another team somehow (Morey should take a low ball offer) and even if Lin is a backup PG for another team, his opportunity should surface soon enough - I feel.
Here's the actual article from ESPN. Notice how they twist Jeremy's words around to make him sound like a drama queen. When in fact, it was part of his testimonial about Christ.
He was saying that money and fame didn't give him happiness. And that the things he had trusted, like his coaches, fans, and team had abandoned him ... so he turned to God. Which is silly, because he has been devoted to playing for God since High School. But he makes it sound like something he decided to do this year after Linsanity ended.
Once that video came out, I knew it would get twisted to put him in a bad light. Still, I'm surprised that he's being framed as a whiner. He was called a 'whiny little bitch' by Houston sports radio.
It's funny how Skip Bayless, who was an Lin supporter last year, has totally done a 180, and is now trashing Jeremy on TV. There is no honesty or integrity in sports broadcasting, it left with Howard Cosell.
The strategy of the ESPN article is to cherrypick quotes out of context, and purposely not mention that it was a sermon-type of speech. Instead, the article just called it a 'youth conference' which is misleading and simply false. The talk isn't meant as a comment about his career situation the way an interview with a sports journalist might be; it's a sermon for Christ's sake
As a personal-account sermon, it has its own genre rules. Built into the generic storyline is a spiritual journey arc from darkness to light, so it's predictable that he is going to talk about his basketball struggles as well as his frustrated ambitions. I'm not saying Lin dramatized his misery last year (which was plain to fans following him even without hearing him verbalize it), but it is important to keep in mind that the genre has a typical storyline built into it, such as being too wrapped up in worldly things and then turning away from that.
Take it out of context and he can sound big headed. I think people -- both critics and fans -- are overanalyzing the video. It is what it is -- a talk which is motivated by delivering a spiritual message, and all the details of his life will be arranged and organized for that purpose.
Oh well,I don't expect any kind of integrity in the media,any media.They're walking double-edged swords.I expected it,they will take Jeremy's testimony out of context and use it against him.What I am waiting for now is Mc's reaction to his testimony.
As Gisele Bundchen said,"My husband cannot (bleep) throw the ball AND catch the ball".My take:"My husband cannot say how he really feels AND have the media truly understand it"
The ESPN crew doesnt even have pretensions of having 'journalistic integrity.' It's simply entertainment, the way that debates on Fox 'news' are entertainment. This is obvious from the format of their discussion panels: they deliberately distribute opposing and differing views to each of the speakers and have them yell at each other and put each other down. If person A takes one view, then person B is going to play the role of the opposing view. They just do whatever brings in audiences.
Good journalists should at least talk to Jeremy briefly and also understand the contexts of Jeremy's speech. They chose not to do it.
Let's not expect Morey et al just sit back and relax watching Jeremy open a can of worms. I'm certain that Morey's defending themselves at all costs now and the media's obviously biased (Morey might have played some PR with them behind the scene).
BTW, Chris Paul's named the new NBPA president. Brian Windhorst might be his henchman.
" cut.... He was called a 'whiny little bitch' by Houston sports radio."
Those jerks. They were phonies and jerks all along.
But I think if this refreshingly politically incorrect "thank goodness he finally told the truth and he's not a docile and polite to a fault and I'm no longer frustrated by him" statements spur the Rockets to speed up the trade, it's a good thing.
If Lin was called a 'whiny bitch' then I wouldn't make anything more out of it, but to call Lin a 'whiny LITTLE bitch" sounds to me like it comes from the stereotype of Asian men as weak and not masculine. Since when is a 6'3'' 200 pound guy a 'little bitch'? But when bigots talk about Asian men, that's standard fare.
Exactly O.......O. I got that as well. That's how less educated people talk.
Like I've said the other day, I think it was Lin's way of asking for a a trade - it's so unusual of him to do so. I'm so relieved that he got some things out of his chest because he's been too nice to the point of frustration by many of his fans. But I'm sure Lin was still very polite in relation to things and the extent that really went down with McHale and Morey.
Hopefully, the "incident" will spur Morey to EXPEDITE the trade. We all know he'll be traded (I and many other point to the signals since early last season)..... BUT, Lin is probably aware that Morey fancy himself never to "out-trade". However, Lin's lower trade value is largely attributable to the Morey-McHale team, so Morey shouldn't be waiting for an "ideal, I outsmarted you" type of trade offer to come along. That's not likely to happen unless they keep Lin Harden for a little longer to pump up his stats (a la the beard) - but then the team chemistry would be awkward. Thus Morey should EXPEDITE the trade. I hope it isn't to a terrible Eastern Conference team like Pistons - positively reptilian that Morey is.
I'd like to see those Houston hate radio shock jocks call JLin a "whiny little bitch" to his face. Most of these shock jocks are morbidly obese fat rednecks or creepy-looking crackers themselves. ;-)
As for BSPN, the self-styled world wide leader in sports has an axe to grind against Lin ever since they embarrassed themselves with their "ch*nk in the armor" headline and subsequent weasely "apology."
The America media is the living definition of the phrase Lowest Common Denominator.
i think lin got the exposure he got during linsantiy because the status quo thought he was nothing more than a feel good story. he's not going to get the same love affair from media like he did before. maybe from individual reporters like those who keep bringing up jeremy during those post game interviews with mchell. but, doubt any major network will show lin in favorable light anymore.
The headline makes it sound like he's complaining, which clearly he isn't, but even if it were, it isn't really so bad compared to how NBA star players typically whine. And even if it is taken out of context and gms and coaches actually take it as complaning, it at least has the (perhaps unintended) effect of relaying the message that "yes i will bitch about this" and "yes i can be a diva". This message has the effect of putting some pressure on the gm and coaches. Don't know how much pressure or how much influence, but I'm sure it will have at least some effect. And a second benefit may perhaps be that gms and coaches will associate him more with an NBA star. NBA stars also whine this way, so he must be a star. A bit of a reach, I know, but power of association is a strange and powerful thing.
You are right. The cat is out of the bag whether Lin intended it or not. I hope Lin and his people were anticipating this possibility when he reviewed his speech.
Not sure how morey or Mchale will take it and how harden will take it (his uld be interpreted as harden ruined my chance at stardom).
I'm looking forward to Lin's response when he get back.
Lin said the coaches 'lost faith' in him, but the truth is that McHale/Sampson didn't have faith in Lin to begin with. Everyone else besides Lin was allowed to play through their mistakes.
Just this: Toney Douglas playing key minutes instead of Lin -- are you friggin kidding me?
"Remind me. Were his back ups really getting more minutes than him during that period?"
Not in total minutes, but it was a matter of Lin starting but not getting to play out typical starter minutes, and instead being yanked in the closing of games. I'm too lazy to look at the game logs, but McHale/Sampson were replacing Lin with TD during fourth quarters. You may recall the keyword of that period: 'spark.' McHale/Sampson were saying they put TD in for his 'spark' and his defense when journalists asked during post-game interviews why TD was playing in place of Lin.
Toney Douglas was signed by the Warriors. He's going to make his presence felt in the rivalry between the rockets and the warriors.
But if Houston is going for the title, they have to play Lin more because of the high level of competition. Yes, I think God has a hand to put together a mighty line up for the Rockets; D12 + Harden + Lin + Asik + Parson. It looks formidable and certainly will have a chance when they improve altogether in one season. Their upside could very well make all of them international all stars.
There is a sharp writer named Alex Groberman of Opposing Views who isn't afraid to say something that informed or observant people already know; most pundits are either ignorant, pretend ignorance or in denial for pragmatic, herd instinct or racial reasons. He knows that the points Morey has made in Lin's defense (on recent Reddit) are common sense and pretty much true (other GMs, are you listening?). But then he tells it like it is and states the two main reasons for Lin's problems last season. Here's the excerpt:
Here is the thing: A lot about that is true. But at the same time, simply chalking up Lin’s shortcomings to rookie jitters, despite the fact that he isn’t a rookie and actually played on a bigger stage in the past, is ridiculous. Lin’s troubles stemmed from two things: injuries and bad coaching. Not bad coaching in the sense that Kevin McHale is a bad coach, but bad coaching in the sense that McHale chose to prioritize James Harden’s success over Lin’s. And because Lin was constantly forced to adjust as opposed to being able to just play his game, he was off key for a lot of last season.
Morey knows this, of course. Despite what he said at the AMA, there’s a reason why he made Lin available for trades prior to the Dwight Howard signing. He knows that, most likely, his Harden-Lin backcourt will never be as great as some folks think it can be."
In this case, Morey should try to keep Lin and make him start from bench I think. He knows how good Lin is (yes I believe he does, he just had to chose between Lin and Harden). Putting Lin to bench will immediately deepen the bench unit by a lot, a must for any play off team.
Yeah this is exactly right. "McHale chose to prioritize James Harden’s success over Lin’s."
So many things reflect that. One simple observation: when the Rockets blew out the other team and had little or no risk of losing, McHale would take Lin out of the game as (thus deflating his numbers) but still keep Harden in there to score against the opposing teams' bench (and thereby buff up Harden's stats). It was weird, because Harden needed the rest actually, he was playing through ankle injuries on and off throughout the season but he always got to stay in longer than most coaches would keep their star player during blowouts. Harden was manufactured into a star. (I am not disputing Harden's skills but emphasizing that stars don't just emerge like some natural process of selection; it is a process guided by the the team's decisions.)
You apparently saw a lot of Rockets games and have a great memory too..... I did also.
And many of us did talk the deflating of Lin numbers and inflating of Harden numbers in an unnatural fashion (you described it well and accurately above). I feel this is one the things that "support" my view that Morey-McHale-Sampson team had another agenda (that of "annihilating" Lin) besides prioritizing Harden.
I watched every Rox game last season including the pre-games, and viewed some games multiple times. =)
While it is right for us to point out how misinformed and misleading a lot of the sports coverage on Lin is, it is really worth keeping in mind that, unless they are the assigned beat writer for a particular team, most journalists only see a small fraction of the games that most teams play.
Realistically, that makes sense -- 30 teams, 82 games, with each game taking several hours, it's a staggering amount of time for a journalist even watch a fraction of that, not to mention the extra time needed to actually analyze and write about it. Like everyone else, they are very unlikely to do more than their job really requires unless they truly are absorbed by it (eg, Zach Lowe, who reviews hours of collated Synergy footage when he writes on particular players). What is required to write a typical article is very minimal: you don't have to watch many games but just need to consult per-game stats, which serve as a quick 'cheat sheet' so they don't have to provide meaningful context for the player's performance, then they just regurgitate the same stats in the article as journalist 'proof' of the judgments they made.
It's just a circular process based on cheat-sheet boxscores, instead of watching many games or really following what is going on with the team. How many times have you ever heard a writer disclose up front in an article how many games he’s watched? If they did that, they'd lose credibility. Instead, they assume an authoritative voice and talk about it as if they're informed, when in fact they are just hiding behind simple boxscores.
That is even true for the Rockets fanbase last year; a lot of those lameass fans didn’t watch the majority of the games – partly because of the CSN blackout situation. Nevertheless, they confidently issued their judgments and rebuttals about players and coaching.
I bring this up because if you keep in mind most general writers didn't watch most the Rockets games (and all of Lin's NY games, for that matter), the ridiculous coverage about Lin makes a lot more sense, and you just don't take it very seriously. They've probably spent more time viewing Lin-related media than actually watching Lin play.
Very true about "boxscore journalists" (especially) and "boxscore fans". Sad.
BTW, Morey knows that too. Heck, I even realized that myself. Which is all the more reason why the "stat manipulation" worked so well in Morey-McHale's favor: Pundits think Morey is a BB genius and Lin is a bust (BTW, Lin isn't overpaid EVEN if going by last season - after I compared stats and salaries for PGs.)
There is no other pro sports that is so conducive to a fantastic level of player-stat-manipulating by the coaches (and GMs like Morey who works with the coach when expedient) to achieve a certain outcome for a certain purpose for a certain period of time. For example, in baseball, a batter can only bat every 9th time.
Very true about "boxscore journalists" (especially) and "boxscore fans". Sad.
BTW, Morey knows that too.
Heck, I even realized that myself. Which is all the more reason why the "stat manipulation" worked so well in Morey-McHale's favor:
Pundits think Morey is a BB genius and Lin is a bust (BTW, Lin isn't overpaid EVEN if going by last season - after I compared stats and salaries for PGs.) "
Jeremy will make Morey look bad if he plays well because if he does he will expose how inefficient managing by advanced stats are at winning (important) basketball games.
I finally got to watch what is now a controversial video, and i'm in agreement with Psalm's interpretation that this was NOT an intentional attempt by Lin to discredit the rockets. The focus was on him, and how he was unable to fulfill the lofty expectations.
People on either side - the neg espn light and this forum's belief that Lin is "rebelling" against the Rox are both taking his words out of context. And I do not believe there was any ulterior motive on Lin's part to reveal the " truth". Plus I doubt a devout Christian like Lin would use a forum like this to promote his self interests. Not at all.
But it is a shame that due to media outlets like espn, people will think he is whining without watching what was actually said. Media sensationalism at its worst. SMH.
I'm actually disappointed that Lin sounds like he will never be able to achieve Linsanity again. In fact, he was again deprecating himself on not being able to do better.
Whatever. I really don't think Lin expected to get this type of reaction from the us media. He will clarify this when he comes back. Will some of you then consider that "backtracking"?
Do u think Lin was bad mouthing the Rox intentionally or unintentionally? don't know how people here can see it that way from such a harmless video.
To me, it just sounds like he is just recapping the struggles i already know he went thru last year. But i guess t to the mainstream media, it could sound like a revelation,
I still also agree with my own initial assessment :p
Let me copy-and-paste my take buried deep in the previous thread 'cause I'm too lazy to think now |-O
I guess many of us didn't have a chance to listen to the 30-min testimony. If anyone wants to listen to the 1st 10 min, you'll get the idea of him sharing the overall struggle caused by the burden of Linsanity hype. Coach losing faith was just the after-effect, not the main story.
============ psalm234August 21, 2013 at 7:11 PM
I wouldn't say it was a calculated move by Lin to expose McHale and Morey's role in marginalizing him. If it were true, he would leave out the part that he couldn't sleep or cry before the NO game, it would just make him look weak.
I think he truly wanted to inspire the youth by being brutally honest but he also didn't care to "hide" the lack of faith by his coaches and GM anymore relegating him to the backseat. He referred to learning to know who to trust in one interview before the season ended. Then he learned Morey was shopping him around in the offseason without any takers.
I bet deep inside he thought this is Stanford incident all over again when the coach lied about the scholarship and he said, "How can I trust someone like that?". From that backstory in the book, I knew loyalty is a big thing for him so he just told that story as a matter of fact even if doesn't reflect well on his coaches. He must have felt being lied to on how he was supposed to be used when he was courted to become a foundational piece in the many interviews with McHale and Morey. Even with Harden as the main guy, there should have been more effort to let him be the secondary playmaker. But towards the end of the season, Parsons got to be featured as the ball handler. The foundational piece promise turns out to be replaceable door.
Who trades around foundational piece? NBA GM like Morey. So Lin'll play his best for his God, not for the disloyal human masters. In his heart, he'll say "I'll play my best, sir but not for you!"
I agree with Brent. His conclusion is just focusing to do his best for God and play freely without crushing burden, the results could be Linsanity or decent starter or anything in between.
He didn't say he had given up his All-Star dream so nothing has changed.
Solids, I think it was intentionally spoken. Reason is, if not he will rephrase a lot of sentences that related to the Rox personnel and focus only on HIS struggle. He basically just killed two birds with one stone. That is my take.
Brent, so when Lin comes back to the us and the media inevitably asks him to clarify.. What do I think Lin would do? Do u think Lin will stand by his statements or try to clarify it to appease the rockets? And if he does the latter ( which I think he will), would u think that he is backtracking and to some extents, gutless?
About what you've said the other day (where my reply got deleted), "Morey will attend his [Lin's] charity and all of that but ....."
You're thinking too kindly of Morey regarding the charity thing. In my opinion Morey is a reptilian Lin-hater (because it served him well) with a false facade (obviously necessary), except that he has the power to act which did far more damage to Lin's basketball career and reputation last season than the hateful words that were all over the internet. Appearing at Lin's charity was for a photo op: At that time - playing a ping pong game with Lin and the nice "I won" banter and all - Morey was also promoting the All-Star game soon to be held in Houston.
I agree Morey is a cold-hearted GM who has no problems being nice to players but trade them the next day, ztrta. I still remember PPat was shell-shocked getting traded to the Kings after weeks of Morey saying Houston won't make big changes. Morey even tweeted the next day to thank PPat for his service!
He truly believed in his method to analyze players and swing them for higher asset when their potential has maxed out. So to him, it's not personal to like players personally but send them out the door if he thinks a new player is worth more as trade chips. To him, his job is to help Houston win championships based on his spreadsheets.
Yes, he's a cold-hearted GM who believes "it's not personal, just business. I like you but I like the new player more."
Yeah, Brent but assuming this was a calculated intentional move and he backtracked saying "I have no issues with the coaches and the rox, I love this team, coach Mchale and morey" - would u lose respect for him?
I hope he doesn't go that route. I will lose respect for him he wimps out.
I want something to the effect of "This was about me and not them. I stand by what I shared with all of you. And i will continue to play hard ffor god and myself".
I don't think it would be smart move to say "this is about me" because Rocket fans will pile on him.
I'd expect something smart along the line of "I realize I'm not the true PG as in NY which happens to my strength. But I shouldn't let that stop me from doing my best to help my teammates to win championships. That's the right thing to do. It's not about me but it's all about the team wins"
That would give reporters some juicy bits to ask McHale and Morey, "Can't you at least explore to use Lin's strength to help the Rockets win more?"
But if this was truly not an intentional move and Lin has no animosity toward the rox and still feel indebted to them, would u feel disappointed in Lin?
And another thing is knowing that Lin already has share of haters who will knock him no matter what (some people think that all of this is an attention seeking behavior), should Lin even worry about offending his distracties but instead speak his mind?
of course, it would be foolish if Lin has no animosity at all of towards the Rox after the frequent benching and the unwillingness to use his strength as the playmaker.
I admire that you're so black and white, solidz but I believe it's somewhere in between in this Lin/Rox relationship.
I don't believe he hates their guts but he now knows the Rox system no longer has the best interest to help him realize his All-Star goal after the Harden trade. He'll do his best to help win championships no matter how they use him but I believe he won't extend his contract if he continues to be marginalized.
If he did, I'll be disappointed in him for accepting a role player. It's better to try somewhere else and fail than not ever knowing what could've been.
Solidz, no i will not lose respect because he backtracks. I mean we all know what happened and he already openly said it. He has a job to do and keep pushing it might not be a good idea anyway.
Don't give any press conference or interview regarding the Taiwan testimony. JUST SAY, "Out of context" over and over again to everybody.
If nothing as, it's economical both words and energy wise. (;-D). Besides, the more Lin explain, the more material the media has to take things OUT OF CONTEXT. AND - the more revenue for those sleazy lazy parroters.
Really. Wow. It's almost like talking something behind someone's back and then saying something else when confronted with it. That would be a total bitch -ass move and I would lose complete respect for him as a person.. I absolutely detest people who cower when it matters.
As everyone else has mentioned, whether intentional or not, the cat is out of the bag. So he needs to own up to what he said and speak the truth.
He can be diplomatic but the last thing I would want him to say is I have NO problem with how morey and Mchale treated me last season. I LOVE and respect them.
I would never have faith in a coward and a loser like that. It was bad enough how he kept his mouth shut last year.
Well, it might happen, but I think he will just deflect those questions. Not going to be that direct, but who knows, maybe he will stand by his words like u said.
Screw it, my rep precedes me. Noone wants to play.
@HPbasketball: Give me one guy few people are expecting to improve this season who will and one guy people are who won't.
Jdubin is a big Knicks blogger who contributed to that we'll always have linsanity book. I know there are still many Knicks fans out there who appreciate Lin more than this moronic Houston fanbase could ever will.
I have to say a lot of Lin talk lately .. Bad .........
And Good.
@TheWagofMutombo: @HPbasketball Conley put up 14/6/3 & ppl were all "wow, what a great year"…Lin put up 13/6/3 & ppl were like "wow, dude sux"…the NBA's weird
I like it that Lin finally told us a little (I'm sure there's a lot more to the Reptilians) to spur the trade to be expedited. Lin also needs to get the fuke out of Houston.
Since Morey-McHale team let people to believe that Lin is a scrub (not talking about the flipping offseason self-serving BS), I sure hope that he would be traded to a WC team, especially to the same division! (;~D)
People are insatiable beings.You do your best,they either praise you,tear you down,or expect more.I think that's how it pretty much sums up the LOFs,LOHs and the media. Half of those detractors were those who used to put him in a pedestal, now more than half of those moved to the other side of the fence.Some good majority of fans used to love what he did to Knicks; now they wanted him to burn. Jeremy,being the subject of adoration and ridicule, either gets positive comments about his testimony or have people take his testimony out of context,classify them as whine, or sometimes, indirectly put words into his mouth.
He will survive, if he did not say anything, the media would use his silence to put words into mouth anyway. If he said something, the degree of freedom that those media got is shrinked somehow IMO.
It's the offseason. No news to write about so bball writers figure out ways to manufacture news, especially by spinning stuff into sensationalist items. I doubt the video would not have gotten much news traction if there were games going on now.
Again, I believe in these years Lin will ascend to the elite level because it is what the team needs to be a title contender. No one will step in the way. NcHale, Morey and every team members will be in it whether they like it or not.
Again this team roster won't last for more than 2 seasons because of the capsize. They have already had D12 and Harden. They could at most sign one more and that means one out of (Parson, Asik and Lin). The way the propaganda shows, Parson + D12 + Harden were the choices over Lin and Asik.
Have much to look forward to in the next season. because everything seems to be working to the Rockets advantage even their schedule indicates that.
It's too bad that the haters will misinterpret the quotes out of context and think that Lin is blaming the coaches for his disappointing season last year.
The camera *LOVES* you too! Repost your pic-avatar dang it!
It's funny (hahaha) because I know of female botanists, artists, photographers, geologists, conservationists, poets and biologists (i.e., high achieving and creative female intellectuals who have to spend a lot of time outdoors) who really downplay their looks - the ones who are attractive. Some of them wear ugly wigs even in the hot summer, unless the size of hiking group is large enough.
hey now, I'm a cherry blossom tree, as you can see. :)
perhaps i'll post a pic on my personal blog [where it belongs] someday. i do have legitimate reasons for wanting to be private, w/c I'll keep to myself in the meantime. :)
Lin knows that every word that comes out of his mouth is scrutinized by the press. I am sure that his publicist read his sermon before it was put out there. Lin knows that no matter what he says the press will some how turn it around on him. So to me, I don't think Lin is surprised by the reaction of ESPN. Lin seems to be more focused and on a mission. I think Lin said it best when he said, he is not worried about what teams he plays on, he is focused on becoming a better b-ball player. I agree with @Kwok Wai Lai, that this going to be a good season for Lin and nothing is going to get in his way.
For heaven sake, Morey and McHale, just trade Lin to end the trauma.
Listen up Morey, money isn't everything. Life isn't a short sprint but a marathon, you might win your game against Lin this time but the karma train will come back to haunt you. The earlier you trade him the better it is for you. Don't be greedy.
I believe Morey 100% tried to trade Lin this summer. Problem is it isn't easy being the Asian American trade chip. I believe no team wanted Lin, and I believe Morey's asking price honestly wasn't even that high.
The funny thing is I believe the Rockets desperately wanted to dump Lin. And this is one time being an Asian castoff that nobody wants will help Lin shine because he's going to be stuck as the starting PG of a high profile Rox team this season.
Even if they continue to bench Lin and only allow him 15-20 minutes a game, so be it as long as he dominates in those 15-20 minutes. There will be enough exposure that other teams will notice this season. ESPN and all those people will be covering Lin EXTRA close this season to dump on him for the comments he made in Taiwan.
And if Morey really wants rid of Lin, they will utilize Lin in a way to make him shine the first 25 games of the year and then trade Lin QUICK.
I believe that is Morey's objective, trade Lin now or if there are no takers, trade Lin QUICK when he shows out in the first quarter of the season.
I said it before and I'll say it again, swing. Making Lin shine the first 25 games is absolutely a win-win strategy for either Lin and Houston Rockets.
His numbers will definitely improve but we don't know how much. If he averages 14pts/7asts helping the Rockets to be in the Top 3-4 in the West, other teams might bite. But if he averages even better especially in assists with 10pts/10 asts and making Howard and Harden shine in the Top 1-2 in the West, Howard might ask Morey not to trade Lin and see if Lin can help win championships.
The Rockets won't encounter a lose scenario if they're willing to 'feature' Lin more in the first 25 games.
But of course, it's entirely possible that they would focus more to run plays for their new Big 3 (Howard/Harden/Parsons) and let Lin find his place to push the pace and make occasional layups/threes.
I'm counting on Morey to do whatever it takes to improve Lin's number to trade him before Feb 1. That's what we, Lin fans, can only hope.
And ztrta, I also love the fact the writer (Alex Groberman) you alluded above has been writing many articles covering possible Lin trade scenario with many NBA teams (Pistons, 76ers).
It's important to have the media help many GMs see the benefit of acquiring Lin.
Psalm, I'm hoping for something more sinister like season ending injury for harden ( yeah I said it! Don't tell me aome of you are not secretly hoping for it. But I will speak for you all.)
Then they will be forced to use Lin and watch him go off.
The way they over utilize harden, this is a distinct possibility.
I don't think rockets will ever increase jeremy's value. They still have harden who could disagree with that and they are in win now mode so if the team wins they would be fool to trade anyone.
Because of the asian market i don't think jeremy will be traded. If rox really want to win the title they must play jeremy as their john stockton. Pnr Lin/Howard with harden and parsons gunning from 3. Asik could be the Jarred Jeffries. If they don't it will just be a complete mess with 2 primadonnas fighting for their own stats and a coach who still has to prove his value.
Let's see what happens. If jeremy will be traded it would at least be for a bigger upgrade at pf or in package with asik.
For me Morey did try to trade lin, and still he does, but probably he asks too much for him. See what happens...
harden is on horse pills. his ligaments heal themselves overnight. it's uncanny. very unlikely that he will miss many games through over use. only if something catastrophic happens to harden will he miss an exorbitant meaningful number of games.
Etane, that is an interesting observation you brought up and i suspect that Lin being free of those pills make Morey and Mhale alienate him(for all we know McHale use those pills too throughout his nba career). Grrr...
yesterday psalm asked me whether howard chen would lose his job if jeremy were to be traded.
maybe it's a good sign that khuang is not around since that probably means he lost his job as "forum mod" since jeremy is projected to be on a different team by season start.
no way. I can honestly say I don't wish any injuries to Harden or other players because I wouldn't wish others to do the same to Lin.
Besides, if Lin can show he runs the better PnR with Howard than Harden will, that would be winning the ultimate competition of who the best PG is when everyone is healthy.
i'm starting to like the idea of jeremy as a houston rockets' player. even with mchale or whoever. probably most of his teammates are using his popularity in asia to gain fame there. Harden, Howard, Parsons... they already use jeremy to be loved in taiwan...
Who knows what lies in the head of Morey and Mchale? Maybe mchale wanted to test jeremy's toughness, morey just wanted to give harden his extrabonus of his contract because of the allstar game presence...
All the expectations are just like what jeremy said: if jeremy were a 20+10 we'd probably say: oh, but he's not on a winning team. If he were a 20+10 on a winning team we'd like to see him getting the mvp, and the mvp finals too. Then trying to break the nba records.... well, what i learned from jeremy is just hope jeremy never lose faith in God, praying that all the nba moneys or the success don't change him and to reach his goal: be a better player everyday to spread the Word thru the whole world.
very well-said, @spotless. Just like he said in the testimony, those 3 things (money, worldly success, human approval) can destroy all of us when they become our self-identify.
Just like death, It's never enough. Always hungry, always want more. He's on the right path to simply do his best for his God, even when we as fans often think his best is never enough. Linsanity happens when he plays freely and full of joy. I don't remember when he last smiled during games. Man, I miss those NY days.
honestly don't think lin was OVER EXPECTING anything.
he was told one thing and was delivered another.
plain and simple.
he has a hater coach that hates lin personally and a hater gm that hates lin's playing style.
he got sold a bad bill of goods. rug pulled behind him. bamboozled.
this expectations thing is lamentation to make himself feel better. it's rationalization. saying things to make himself feel better about being slighted. it's not real.
if anything, jeremy's not expecting enough of himself for being too meek all season long and not speaking up and demanding the ball and calling people out for ball hogging and stat padding.
I hope another team - preferably a WC team; even better a Southwest Division team - trades for Lin soon.
However, when I wrote, "are you listening, other GMs" about Morey's defense of Jeremy Lin, I was being SARCASTIC because Morey has changed his tune in an attempt to convince a team(s) to trade for Jeremy Lin. It's true that Morey has held other Reddit AMA sessions before, pretending to be mild toward Lin, but they were for PR to "soften" his and McHale's anti-Lin sentiments; BUT NOW INGhe's desperately trying to sell Lin to other GMs. The deal should be done pretty easily though if he undersells Lin, as it will be worth it for everybody.
The Rockets had a hard time finding a taker for Lin due mostly to Morey-McHale's marginalizing of him on the court and dissing him off the court. Therefore, Morey is doing exactly what he should be doing: Sell Lin to other general managers, probably concentrating more on Eastern Conference GMs, SIGH.
Morey needs to take part of the responsibility for how things have unfolded AND ACCEPT A LOW BALL OFFER to get the trade done SOON. I hope Morey trades Lin to a team in the SAME Southwest Division for competitive reasons, befitting his low view of Lin; at least to the same conference. WHAT IS MOREY AFRAID OF??? Why was he trying to trade Lin to an Eastern Conference team??? And especially a POOR TEAM in the Detroit Pistons?!?! The Pistons are located in the city making news for it's BANKRUPCY !!!!!! Morey: You & McHale dissed Lin most of the regular season, implying that he was a bust (until late in the season when Harden has already "become" the super elite and you had to start thinking about selling Lin to other GMs !). So then what the fuke are you afraid of ?!
Lin just opened a pandora's box. Both for himself and the Rox. It is befitting of his character. Having to fight ignorance and prejudice throughout his career there are things that he has learned to do to combat it, mostly in a passive aggressive nature. Throughout the season he acted this way with the coaches, subconsciously dissing them in his own subtle ways. Much of it we probably don't see behind the scenes. This is why I think Mchale absolutely hated him. The recent events is another example. Is it a good thing? Well, it can go one of two ways.....really, really bad or really good. I think it will turn out to but really refreshing for both sides. Now it's "even Stevens". Rox tried to trade him, Lin lashed out. The slate is clean. Not so fast. He still got to confront Mchale. He's got to sit down with Mchale have a heart to heart. Demand to run the offense. Mchale is the type that you got to confront him to get respect. Nothing to lose. Either get a new role or get traded.
hope not. in my mind, if jesus were a real person at all, he was a proletariat socialist communist humanist who will fight for all who are oppressed by da power.
the patient and meek jesus offering paradise in afterlife is creation by the romans to control the commoners.
The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it.
Spot on, via! For some reason, I read one part this way: He will not let you be tempted by Morey than you can bear. lol
With all due respect psalm, Jeremy's wings already strong enough to soar higher than the rest of his peers. But some asshole aren't happy and fucking caged him.
i don't know psalm, i keep wishing he'd go back to the Synoptics and leave St Paul for a while...
JLin's fav verse~ Romans 5:3-5 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
the verse embraces and glorify suffering. no pushback.
Jesus rebuked and turned tables all over the place, and would never allow his disciples to suffer the pharisees...
Jalen Rose: I think I was defending Lin against a negative tweet. Said something to the effect of "have u been drinking again?" A jab against his DUI. Bam blocked.
And Jason Friedman : for calling him out on his conflict of intrerest as a fake journalist.
And oh yeah, by ochocinco for calling him out when he played for the patriots ( I'm a jets fan).
via, I wouldn't proclaim I know how Jeremy thinks but IMHO the Synopsis and St. Paul messages don't conflict with each other.
In this current matter of dealing with his situation in Houston, Jeremy might very well be following St. Paul's message to a young Timothy, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control." 2 Timothy 1:7, Amplified Bible.
He can't be rash to lash out with his marginalized role in Houston but also can't be timid cowering in the corner with the multiple benching or the uncomfortable spot-up shooter role. Even Tony Parker had to endure multiple benching by Popovich in his younger days, and he still experienced it recently in brief spurts in the latest NBA Finals.
Jeremy hasn't acquired Kobe's or CP3's status with multiple rings or years of experience to determine the best role they should play in the system. He needs to pay his dues like any other players in the first few years. Steve Nash was in the supporting role in his Dallas years but he managed to shine later on. So Jeremy needs to be patient and learn more PG skills.
It's hard to be patient as Lin fans after witnessing Linsanity but Jeremy too needs to learn his craft (playing multiple gears as JKidd suggested) so he can have longer staying power in the NBA.
And via, about the righteous anger that Jesus demonstrated in turning the money-change tables in the temple, it wasn't to protect his disciples from the Pharisees but because those people made the mockery of God by charging exorbitant price for the sacrificial animals. For the most time, Jesus taught his disciples to forgive not 7 times but 77 times (symbolizing infinity).
Anyway before I continue rambling, I can only speculate that perhaps these are some teachings that inspire Lin's mindset as a Christian to persevere and endure struggles, forgive but not be a door mat by hiding the injustice. He's a young guy so let's allow him to make mistakes. God knows I made many more silly mistakes at his age and still does :) ok, I'll stop
psalm, i didn't mean the table turning was for his disciples. i get that. :) i meant Jesus never asked of his disciples to suffer the provocations/ accusations of the pharisees in silence, he meant them to follow his actions. He refused to put himself under the pharisees' hypocritical invocation of religious law, instead he did as he saw fit. He obeys not man, but his Father. and he wanted his disciples to do the same.
[I do understand JLin is doing the best that he knows how to, atm...]
yah psalm. what jesus meant was not to back down from people just because they have wealth and power. whereas, if i remember correctly, the church people were kicking out the devout but poor to make room for the rich but less devout? jesus was like no the church is not just for the rich, it's for the people, everyone.
There's nothing non-biblical about wanting it leave a bad work situation for a better one. The suffering and persevering passages were aimed at early Christians who were literally going through physical suffering (jail, beatings, fed to lions, etc) because of their faith. Lets keep that in context. Jeremy is not suffering for his faith.
I went through a similar situation a few years back where I thought my role ay my job didn't really fit me well. I felt guilty wanting to leave and look for a better situation. But I thought "am I not supposed to persevere?" Spoke to my pastor and he asked "are u in debt?" No. "Would it put a financial strain on your family if you were to be unemployed for a bit?" No. " then leave! Go find something else that fits you better!" The point is, a lot of this is a wisdom question, not a right or wrong question. God wants us to be happy, to have good thing like a job we enjoy doing.
It may not be wise for Jeremy to ask for a trade and might be better to stick it out and see what happens this year, but there's nothing wrong if he were to ask for a trade.
oh yeah, I understand what u meant now :} absolutely, he called out the pharisees on their hypocrisy and legalistic ways so they love and care more about the sinners and the poor than the wealthy and the privileged.
But, just want to add, that fundamentally, things would not have been better for him if he were traded or if harden had never came. Yeah he would've had much better numbers and people would be talking linsanity part II, BUT his personal growth and maturity wouldn't have been better because he still would've been in the same mindset of seeking approval and validation from people rather than from god.
good point, fighton. Lin will need to persevere when being mocked for his faith but he just needs wisdom on if or when to change employment. The tricky part for him is to figure out what would Jesus do when asking for a trade :p
Not sure about that. That is a lot of ifs. We still don't know if Lin has completely shut off other people's expectations. He had similar message last year.
If harden didn't come, Lin would've been much better situation. He is not the type of kid to let things completely to his head.
Right after Linsanity, Medias in TW used the word GOD to describe him in every headlines, "豪神". This creates a lots of Haters because even Asians tends to think Asian is not going able to play NBA, and the overly hype from media did not help. So....I guess Lin is very very popular in Taiwan, if you count both Fans and Haters.
In Taiwan yes, but he's not nearly as popular in Mainland China, the land of 1.3 billion people and 300 million basketball fans that the NBA wants so much to keep.
ABC that was what I was getting at. I'm not sure if Lin has that much clout. I mean the Chinese cry over Kobe. If Lin was that popular, nba would have bigger reasons to raise his status.
Taiwan's media was describing JLIN as a God? That is so hilarious if it weren't so wacked. Apparently, ESPN has got nothing on Taiwan when it comes to breathless media hyberbole. LOL.
First to report the link is not working, JLinfan#1 :}
ReplyDeleteWe miss the face.
Second.
Deleteit's not that there's no faith in Jeremy, it's that they (Morey, McHale, some Houston fans) just do not like him very much. they would have someone else succeed in his place.
ReplyDelete*rather have..
Delete
DeleteHi Blake.
To swinglinezigzag (coz this thread is fitting):
(I posted it under the original thread the other day, but the program deletes it automatically, apparently because I deleted one post under that thread as a way to edit):
I enjoyed your reply to mine because you were spot on about Morey's ulterior motives. Plus you picked up on a little more than I did regarding the Friedman interview that I appreciated. Except....
You were too generous on Morey's character when you wrote that "he didn't intentionally try to ruin Lin, but he didn't care if it did as long as it cemented Harden as a superstud SG".... I believe Morey DID INTENTIONALLY TRIED TO RUIN Lin (and he did "ruin" him for at least one season) because making Lin look incompetent ENABLED Morey to simultaneously accomplish two(2) of his major objectives for last season and this coming season (though consequences will come back around to him at some point) as follows:
1) Harden was made to appear much better offensively than he really was by having him play BOTH PG & SG in his high minutes. Any PG's or SG's stats would look superior playing both positions under the same play calls catering everything to that player (Plus they know that having confidence is extremely important in the game of basketball, so he could never do anything wrong - they treated Lin just the opposite until they accomplished what they wanted. By making Harden appear as if he's an ELITE Superstar, it "proved" to the fans (Morey, Morey!) - and more importantly to his peers and team owners (Morey's resume/reputation) - and most importantly to Mr Alexander (Morey got a fat and lengthy contract re-sign, as his contract was up) that Morey The Brilliant signed the "elite of the elites" in Harden that us mortals only saw as a mere superstar.... It also engineered Harden to be voted as an All-Star right off the bat and much hyped one at that, which was needed to recruit mega stars like Dwight; this in turn allowed Morey to get re-signed as the GM with flying colors and enabled him to negotiate for better terms with more power etc. as well.
2) Manipulating Lin to look stupid and incompetent (by having Harden usurp Lin's PG role on top of playing his designated SG role simultaneously for most of the time in extended minutes) also made Morey appear like a genius: Why, Mr Owner and the world, THAT WAS THE REASON why we waived Lin in the first place! Like McHale has said several times on behalf of the Rockets basketball minds, "Lin's Linsanity stats happen to all NBA players at some point in their career" (paraphrase). Mr Owner, you rich fool, you fell for smoke and mirrors! We, the basketball minds, got you Harden! And WHAT A BARGAIN HE IS at twice Lin's salary, being that he's so up there! Mr Owner, you on the other hand, got Lin the bust! We did the smart thing in waiving Lin, as a favor to you, but you were mad at us and then you meddled in our affairs by bring him back! You now DO look foolish to the world, which you stated would be the case if Lin didn't work out. On the other hand, we look brilliant and we can now write our own tickets!
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DeleteI disagree, but the general shape of what you're saying makes sense. I think it is too much to say that Morey deliberately ruined Lin. But the two motivations that you point out can help explain why Morey didn't have great cause to intervene when McHale kept Lin on a short leash and marginalized Lin's minutes and role on the team.
Deletei agree with both points but i feel it's more McHale's (and Sampson's) doing than Morey's. in fact, before last season started, i felt the Rockets would let McHale go mid-season because 1) he probably had the most say in who gets the last spot on the team and so he must have had a lot of influence on cutting Lin the year before, and 2) he had no way of making himself look good enough to salvage his own career as an NBA coach because of the "young and inexperienced" team he was dealt with which he kept whining about (plus if the team plays well, he would still look bad because Lin would have been the one to instrument that). but the situation completely turned around when they traded for Harden which allowed McHale to achieve three things, 1) playing Harden at the PG position which limited Lin's strength as the floor general, 2) expose Lin's (then) weakness which was spot up shooting, and 3) using that to prop Anybody But Lin as a better fit to start at the PG position along side Harden (noticed how he and Sampson kept giving Douglas and then Beverly infinite chances to succeed). by doing this, McHale effectively is saying to Les "i was not completely wrong to let Lin go", "i know much more than you about basketball", and "just let us professionals handle the basketball side of business". it's basically all politics. i believe Morey had his hands a bit tied once the team started winning (even though Lin played a big part in it). as a GM, you don't want people to think you are making coaching decisions but i'm sure he was dying knowing that the coaches were purposely ruining Lin's career when they could easily play Lin as the ball distributor and Harden as the spot-up shooter.
DeleteThere is strong evidence that Harden enjoys privileges to jack up his statistics justifying his max contract. However Harden was injured at the end of the season and that tended to humble him a bit. After matching with other franchise players like Paul George, who won't be humbled.
DeleteLin was taken out of his usual position was used to his weakness rather than his strength. But Lin said nothing but continuously working hard to the given role. Perhaps it's God's blessing in disguise. In this off season, Lin gets to work on his weaknesses more to make him a better and all round player than before.
Lin haters possibly organized by his ex-employers leashed out many attacks and libels to try to help the team rid of Jeremy in the media. The attempt of discrediting him was quite obvious even when Jeremy was making significant contributions in April. As a Lin fan, I have seen so much double standards applied to Lin as a solid NBA basketball player never had. It's raging but the true contributions of Lin to the team was made obvious when both Harden and Harden were taken out of their games because of injury.
To me, it seems that God has a wish to have Jeremy as the basketball evangelist. Ever since Lin was signed, the rockets has been blessed with lots of talents; Harden and D12 have come to make this team a contender. It's likely that the Rox will have a chance of the title in these 2 years.
Yes, in these 2 years before Parsons, Asik and Lin's contracts expire. Two years from now, the rockets couldn't afford them altogether anymore.
I still think Lin and Asik might go to the Laker one day. As to now, the Rockets is the most blessed team of all.
Blake,
DeleteYou've made many good points and I agree with you.... BUT I believer Morey was the mastermind - from beginning to end I thought that - it has also served him extremely well. Also, Morey is their boss and everything he had said in print and words pointed in that direction - if you read between the lines, his body language and his actions. They also knew that the Rockets had a fantastic pre-season without Harden at all, yet they were said to panic, so that they could the "Get Harden *NOW*" authorized (a day before the regular season). I know pre-season "doesn't count" but it does count a little (remember the Lakers).
ztrta, you're probably right.
DeleteMorey is in charge as Alexander is not as hands on as some other owners, if you believe the articles online. Alexander is no Dallas Cowboy owner playing GM.
Coaches are stooges unless the coach is also the GM or Vp like a Poppovich or DOc Rivers type. Even Erik Spoeltra is still a replaceable stooge and he won 2 titles (and I really like and respect Spo but just saying it is what it is)
GM's dictate who to play and who to use. If the coach won't do it, coach is fired. Morey had no incentive to play Lin at all once Harden was there. Morey had to make sure Harden became a "superstar" whatever that means. Coach Etch a Sketch and Sampson and whomever else already disliked Lin and Morey just allowed Coach Etch to do whatever he damn well pleased in killing Lin's role and confidence.
It was Morey's only play to cement his status as Rockets GM Genius both in the NBA and to his owner by having the Harden deal look brilliant. Lin was just caught in the crossfire. Things have worked out for Morey just fine, so you cannot fault him one bit since he is saving his own rear end and looking good doing it.
While I don't think Morey did anything malicious to Lin because he hates Lin, Morey could care less what happened to Lin once he decided to bring in Harden and do everything possible to have Harden shine on the court. Again Lin just got caught up in a bad situation. Morey again just was looking out for himself and making sure he looked brilliant as GM. He could have had both guards succeed on the court, but he wanted to ensure Harden became the undisputed #1 king of the team and to do so meant killing off Lin.
Lin will be fine this year but I don't believe he is doing himself any favors with Rockets management nor the coaching staff with his comments in Taiwan. I know the comments are taken out of context, but it doesn't matter because he can be quoted saying certain things and those words were said, no matter the context. Still I think Lin is going to play with an "I dont give a F*** " attitude this year so it probably won't hurt him anyways.
My fear for Lin is that teams won't want to touch him, not just for his game, but for the baggage that comes with Lin through no fault of his own. It has not been pleasant for the Rockets team to see their facebook and other media bombarded with hate. However, I do hope the Asian hate for the Rockets keeps growing and growing and becomes intolerable so they just dump Lin for draft picks.
Most importantly, harden's style of play suits morey's system down to a T. whereas, Jeremy's style of play perfectly clashes with morey's system.
Deleteso, it's nor a personal thing but morey simply wants his system to work and harden is to guy to make it happen not jeremy.
morey says a lot of false positive things about lin which i think is echoed in that espn article saying lin's a good player, 14ppg much like the year before, trying to be linsanity when he isn't... some wizard of oz out there is writing the script for everyone to repeat.
swinglinezigzag,
DeleteI concur; we're essentially in agreement; you're just a tad less cynical on Morey.
Your quote below is exactly why I felt (posted elsewhere) that it was Lin's "cry" for a trade. The trade will down, and many of us have guessed it since early last season the way Lin was treated in and out of the court, but Morey was probably waiting for that "I gotcha opponent GM!" type of deal - which will not happen through Morey-McHale's own making (which they may be in denial like everything else). However, now this should spur them to EXPEDITE the trade. Then the purpose is served! I don't want Lin to toil, hack, claw, scratch and vomit in the southern state for another month!
"Lin will be fine this year but I don't believe he is doing himself any favors with Rockets management nor the coaching staff with his comments in Taiwan. I know the comments are taken out of context, but it doesn't matter because he can be quoted saying certain things and those words were said, no matter the context." - swing
Etane,
DeleteHarden and Lin basically plays the same style, except Harden isn't as good as a floor general, and he's bigger than Lin. the fast pace system was what Les wanted and Lin's game fits that even more. i think McHale would have rather the game slow down a bit and force the ball into his big guys (noticed he had the guards force it into the low post players every time even though it obviously wasn't working).
swinglinezigzag,
i understand that there is a pecking order starting with Les, Morey, and then McHale. but i don't think that has much to do with who actually calls the shots on the floor. especially when the coach is a basketball Hall of Famer. the organization wouldn't want a bad reputation of being too controlling unless they want to fend off prospective coaches.
Blake, Mchale's predecessor was fired bcuz he defied Morey. Not sure what does that tell us?
Deletelivyrlife,
Deleteif you're implying that Morey let Adelman go to automatically mean that Morey meddled with the way the Rockets players were coached (like the way Lin and Harden was) then i'm not even going try to argue with you. because that is as blanketed a statement as can be.
blake, might be semantics when saying they play the same style.
Deleteyes they both want to handle the ball but think the similarity ends there.
harden loves to stand at the top of the key and stare down his defender while wasting away the shot clock before he does these in order or priority 1) eurostep to draw a foul 2) throw up a contested 3, or 3) pnr with a big.
lin on the other hand doesn't waste the shot clock but finds whoever is open and if no one is open then 1) he dribble drives or stops for midrange jumper, 2) pnr witha big 3) penetrate then pop out to a 3pt shooter.
and, the results in box score will be telling difference in terms of the difference in style they play. harden and one more star usually parsons will get all the points while all the rest of the players will be in single digit scoring.
in the few games when harden was not in the game, most players were able to generate the best game of the year with most or all of the starts hitting double digits scores. during linsanity, not only did lin score 20+ but ALL his starter teammates scored in double digits.
mentally, teammates, when playing with lin, all feel like they all have stake in the game. for example, greg smith all year played passively. he spent most of half a season on the bench. he got his best game when harden was out with a sprained knee against clippers. greg got his career best that game and played like he was possessed.
the game right after the clipper game, you should see how angry he was at harden for not playing D and for not passing the ball quick enough. he started playing with spirit and not the passive oaf that was just happy to get some minutes.
lastly, though they both want to be ball handlers, harden's penchant for 3 pters and lay ups makes him the prototypical player that fits within Morey's system. OTOH lin's penchant for 2pters which he needs to make to open up his drives works against morey's system. plus, lin's on court floor generaling takes the lime light away from morey's management by advanced stats. whereas, harden plays with no strategy at all.
If I could,I'd ask him to be specific which coach he was talking about, though even if we aren't closey-close yet,it's obviously McHale, the number 1 Jeremy hater.I toned down my disgust with Kelvin though.
ReplyDeleteMcHale couldn't contain his triumphant joy after Howard was signed and Lin was shopped around...yike
DeleteI wonder when Mc will be shopped out of Houston.
DeleteI think Lin has to leave Houston because Parsons would have a big fat contract soon and Asik is also a center that many teams covet. Their new contracts would take the Rockets off the cap limit unless Lin was traded. Possibly Asik has to go too because he would be offered a big contract that the Rockets can hardly match when he became a free agent.
DeleteI can't wait till Lin is off the Rockets. He is going to kill them every time he plays them in the future. He's going to do to them much worse what he tried to do to Golden State last year.
DeleteThe Clutchfan idiots will pretty much say "why couldn't he play like this when he was here?" Well he always could, he was just handcuffed for those that care to admit it...
I believe deep down inside, Lin feels he was totally handcuffed by the team and the coaches last year. That has nothing to do with living up to Linsanity. I think Lin realizes he just has to make the best of the hand he was dealt and focus on the positive. That's why all he can do is become really really good and improve and let the chips fall.
If his hard work the next few years makes him a top 5 guard, then so be it. If he isn't anything but a scrub, he's saying he's fine with it since he knows he did everything within his power to make himself the best player possible.
swinglinezigzag,
DeleteYour sentiments above are mine too exactly.
BUT But but but but..... I'm so anxious as to where Morey would trade Lin to. In alignment with Morey-McHale's own belief, THEY SHOULD NOT FEAR TRADING Lin to a WC team, preferably in their own division!!!
But I'm nervous about Sorry-McHell dualbags trading Lin to an EC team. The poor-team Detroit Pistons has been mentioned already. Ugh. Lin can still wind up a WC team thru a sign-and-trade though. Hahahaha.
zrta,
DeleteI follow the NBA very closely. I can't see one team that would take Lin and make him the lead guard. Sacramento & maybe an Orlando could use a Lin, but I doubt they go for him. Every other team thinks they have their PG of the future as of now. Lin has nowhere to go...and even if he goes somewhere else, there is no guarantee Lin will be put in a star guard position...
While I believe Lin is a top 20 overall offensive guard in the entire NBA, I'm sure no GM or typical NBA fan agrees.
Sigh..... I hope you're wrong swinglinezigzag.
DeleteLin should still play for another team somehow (Morey should take a low ball offer) and even if Lin is a backup PG for another team, his opportunity should surface soon enough - I feel.
TAKING A BREAK FROM TRAINING, SHANGHAI
ReplyDeleteThat's a "Crimson Typhoon" right there! Oh wait, it didn't end well for those guys. :(
DeleteHere's the actual article from ESPN. Notice how they twist Jeremy's words around to make him sound like a drama queen. When in fact, it was part of his testimonial about Christ.
ReplyDeleteHe was saying that money and fame didn't give him happiness. And that the things he had trusted, like his coaches, fans, and team had abandoned him ... so he turned to God. Which is silly, because he has been devoted to playing for God since High School. But he makes it sound like something he decided to do this year after Linsanity ended.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9588401/jeremy-lin-says-houston-rockets-coaches-lost-faith-last-season
Once that video came out, I knew it would get twisted to put him in a bad light. Still, I'm surprised that he's being framed as a whiner. He was called a 'whiny little bitch' by Houston sports radio.
DeleteIt's funny how Skip Bayless, who was an Lin supporter last year, has totally done a 180, and is now trashing Jeremy on TV. There is no honesty or integrity in sports broadcasting, it left with Howard Cosell.
DeleteAnyone with brains and no agendas can see the context if they read the article and not just the title.
DeleteEven ESPN put it in context in the sidebox, "I became so obsessed .. trying to be Linsanity. Coaches were losing their faith in me ..."
It's clear that the key issue is the obsession, not about coaches losing faith in him.
But haters will always hate to take things out of context. smh
The strategy of the ESPN article is to cherrypick quotes out of context, and purposely not mention that it was a sermon-type of speech. Instead, the article just called it a 'youth conference' which is misleading and simply false. The talk isn't meant as a comment about his career situation the way an interview with a sports journalist might be; it's a sermon for Christ's sake
DeleteAs a personal-account sermon, it has its own genre rules. Built into the generic storyline is a spiritual journey arc from darkness to light, so it's predictable that he is going to talk about his basketball struggles as well as his frustrated ambitions. I'm not saying Lin dramatized his misery last year (which was plain to fans following him even without hearing him verbalize it), but it is important to keep in mind that the genre has a typical storyline built into it, such as being too wrapped up in worldly things and then turning away from that.
Take it out of context and he can sound big headed. I think people -- both critics and fans -- are overanalyzing the video. It is what it is -- a talk which is motivated by delivering a spiritual message, and all the details of his life will be arranged and organized for that purpose.
Oh well,I don't expect any kind of integrity in the media,any media.They're walking double-edged swords.I expected it,they will take Jeremy's testimony out of context and use it against him.What I am waiting for now is Mc's reaction to his testimony.
DeleteAs Gisele Bundchen said,"My husband cannot (bleep) throw the ball AND catch the ball".My take:"My husband cannot say how he really feels AND have the media truly understand it"
The ESPN crew doesnt even have pretensions of having 'journalistic integrity.' It's simply entertainment, the way that debates on Fox 'news' are entertainment. This is obvious from the format of their discussion panels: they deliberately distribute opposing and differing views to each of the speakers and have them yell at each other and put each other down. If person A takes one view, then person B is going to play the role of the opposing view. They just do whatever brings in audiences.
DeleteHusband? oh wow :}
DeletePsalm- :)
DeleteGod bless the USA media
DeleteEven NY Daily news put a more honest title than ESPN, "Jeremy Lin was ‘obsessed’ with living up to Linsanity reputation, says Rockets coaches lost faith in him" in its hack job so it doesn't sound like he blamed the coaches.
DeleteGood journalism would say Jeremy Lin Shares Struggles Behind 'Linsanity' Hype (Video)
Good journalists should at least talk to Jeremy briefly and also understand the contexts of Jeremy's speech. They chose not to do it.
DeleteLet's not expect Morey et al just sit back and relax watching Jeremy open a can of worms. I'm certain that Morey's defending themselves at all costs now and the media's obviously biased (Morey might have played some PR with them behind the scene).
BTW, Chris Paul's named the new NBPA president. Brian Windhorst might be his henchman.
Jeremy may consider putting his entire speech transcripts on Christian newswire/newspapers/websites.
DeleteThe good thing is, no matter how they twist Lin's words. ESPN really can not do any worse..... lol
DeleteBased on the comments on that site, it looks like most of the people are seeing thru the lie.
DeleteI doubt those who are bad mouthing him have not seen the video.
0ccupati0 wrote:
Delete" cut.... He was called a 'whiny little bitch' by Houston sports radio."
Those jerks. They were phonies and jerks all along.
But I think if this refreshingly politically incorrect "thank goodness he finally told the truth and he's not a docile and polite to a fault and I'm no longer frustrated by him" statements spur the Rockets to speed up the trade, it's a good thing.
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DeleteIf Lin was called a 'whiny bitch' then I wouldn't make anything more out of it, but to call Lin a 'whiny LITTLE bitch" sounds to me like it comes from the stereotype of Asian men as weak and not masculine. Since when is a 6'3'' 200 pound guy a 'little bitch'? But when bigots talk about Asian men, that's standard fare.
DeleteExactly O.......O. I got that as well. That's how less educated people talk.
DeleteLike I've said the other day, I think it was Lin's way of asking for a a trade - it's so unusual of him to do so. I'm so relieved that he got some things out of his chest because he's been too nice to the point of frustration by many of his fans. But I'm sure Lin was still very polite in relation to things and the extent that really went down with McHale and Morey.
Hopefully, the "incident" will spur Morey to EXPEDITE the trade. We all know he'll be traded (I and many other point to the signals since early last season)..... BUT, Lin is probably aware that Morey fancy himself never to "out-trade". However, Lin's lower trade value is largely attributable to the Morey-McHale team, so Morey shouldn't be waiting for an "ideal, I outsmarted you" type of trade offer to come along. That's not likely to happen unless they keep Lin Harden for a little longer to pump up his stats (a la the beard) - but then the team chemistry would be awkward. Thus Morey should EXPEDITE the trade. I hope it isn't to a terrible Eastern Conference team like Pistons - positively reptilian that Morey is.
sorry for a couple of typo.
DeleteI'd like to see those Houston hate radio shock jocks call JLin a "whiny little bitch" to his face. Most of these shock jocks are morbidly obese fat rednecks or creepy-looking crackers themselves. ;-)
DeleteAs for BSPN, the self-styled world wide leader in sports has an axe to grind against Lin ever since they embarrassed themselves with their "ch*nk in the armor" headline and subsequent weasely "apology."
The America media is the living definition of the phrase Lowest Common Denominator.
To hell with them.
Media does what media does. Remember Espn also helped to elevate Lin during Linsanity.
DeleteI remember Chris bosh, of all people, warning Lin of this exact thing ( media trying to bring u down after raising u up) at the height of linsanity.
I feel that this would've happened to anyone regardless of the race ( tebow anyone?!).
It is paramount for Lin to become immune to this- clearly he wasn't last year despite all he has gone thru in the past. He just needs to play better.
i think lin got the exposure he got during linsantiy because the status quo thought he was nothing more than a feel good story. he's not going to get the same love affair from media like he did before. maybe from individual reporters like those who keep bringing up jeremy during those post game interviews with mchell. but, doubt any major network will show lin in favorable light anymore.
DeleteThe headline makes it sound like he's complaining, which clearly he isn't, but even if it were, it isn't really so bad compared to how NBA star players typically whine. And even if it is taken out of context and gms and coaches actually take it as complaning, it at least has the (perhaps unintended) effect of relaying the message that "yes i will bitch about this" and "yes i can be a diva". This message has the effect of putting some pressure on the gm and coaches. Don't know how much pressure or how much influence, but I'm sure it will have at least some effect. And a second benefit may perhaps be that gms and coaches will associate him more with an NBA star. NBA stars also whine this way, so he must be a star. A bit of a reach, I know, but power of association is a strange and powerful thing.
DeleteYou are right. The cat is out of the bag whether Lin intended it or not. I hope Lin and his people were anticipating this possibility when he reviewed his speech.
DeleteNot sure how morey or Mchale will take it and how harden will take it (his uld be interpreted as harden ruined my chance at stardom).
I'm looking forward to Lin's response when he get back.
Lin said the coaches 'lost faith' in him, but the truth is that McHale/Sampson didn't have faith in Lin to begin with. Everyone else besides Lin was allowed to play through their mistakes.
ReplyDeleteJust this: Toney Douglas playing key minutes instead of Lin -- are you friggin kidding me?
Yep. SMH. I remember. I like Douglas but he definitely wasn't playing better when Lin kept getting benched.
DeleteHaving said that I hope Douglas does well with the Kings.
Remind me. Were his back ups really getting more minutes than him during that period?
DeleteI certainly have nothing bad to say about Toney Douglas as a person.
Deletebtw, Douglas is no longer with the Kings; he signed with the Warriors last month. Which may make the Rox-Warriors matchups even more interesting.
I think they did not, even on bad days, Lin would got 25 Mins..and TD or PB usually at most got 25, only a few games that they got more than 30 mins.
Delete"Remind me. Were his back ups really getting more minutes than him during that period?"
DeleteNot in total minutes, but it was a matter of Lin starting but not getting to play out typical starter minutes, and instead being yanked in the closing of games. I'm too lazy to look at the game logs, but McHale/Sampson were replacing Lin with TD during fourth quarters. You may recall the keyword of that period: 'spark.' McHale/Sampson were saying they put TD in for his 'spark' and his defense when journalists asked during post-game interviews why TD was playing in place of Lin.
I guess there were some games where TD got few more minutes than Lin? Maybe that Portland OT game where Lin sat out the entire OT.
Deleteyeah, that was one of the hardest part for me to watch last yr.....darn...
DeleteBut Lin did say his back ups were getting more minutes.... Maybe he said it for effect .
Deleteyeah, I remembered he said that.
DeleteToney Douglas was signed by the Warriors. He's going to make his presence felt in the rivalry between the rockets and the warriors.
DeleteBut if Houston is going for the title, they have to play Lin more because of the high level of competition. Yes, I think God has a hand to put together a mighty line up for the Rockets; D12 + Harden + Lin + Asik + Parson. It looks formidable and certainly will have a chance when they improve altogether in one season. Their upside could very well make all of them international all stars.
"Their upside could very well make all of them international all stars."
Deletethere is no such thing as an international All-Star. that's a really confused phrase.
wish GSW went after lin instead of douglas. wut were they thinking. coulda got lin as pg and move curry over to sg. have curry play jack's old role.
DeleteUmm they got klay..
Deleteoops i meant move klay to jack's old role.
DeleteThere is a sharp writer named Alex Groberman of Opposing Views who isn't afraid to say something that informed or observant people already know; most pundits are either ignorant, pretend ignorance or in denial for pragmatic, herd instinct or racial reasons. He knows that the points Morey has made in Lin's defense (on recent Reddit) are common sense and pretty much true (other GMs, are you listening?). But then he tells it like it is and states the two main reasons for Lin's problems last season. Here's the excerpt:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/nba/nba-rumors-could-jeremy-lin-be-traded-rockets-pistons# :
Here is the thing: A lot about that is true. But at the same time, simply chalking up Lin’s shortcomings to rookie jitters, despite the fact that he isn’t a rookie and actually played on a bigger stage in the past, is ridiculous. Lin’s troubles stemmed from two things: injuries and bad coaching. Not bad coaching in the sense that Kevin McHale is a bad coach, but bad coaching in the sense that McHale chose to prioritize James Harden’s success over Lin’s. And because Lin was constantly forced to adjust as opposed to being able to just play his game, he was off key for a lot of last season.
Morey knows this, of course. Despite what he said at the AMA, there’s a reason why he made Lin available for trades prior to the Dwight Howard signing. He knows that, most likely, his Harden-Lin backcourt will never be as great as some folks think it can be."
In this case, Morey should try to keep Lin and make him start from bench I think. He knows how good Lin is (yes I believe he does, he just had to chose between Lin and Harden). Putting Lin to bench will immediately deepen the bench unit by a lot, a must for any play off team.
DeleteYeah this is exactly right. "McHale chose to prioritize James Harden’s success over Lin’s."
DeleteSo many things reflect that. One simple observation: when the Rockets blew out the other team and had little or no risk of losing, McHale would take Lin out of the game as (thus deflating his numbers) but still keep Harden in there to score against the opposing teams' bench (and thereby buff up Harden's stats). It was weird, because Harden needed the rest actually, he was playing through ankle injuries on and off throughout the season but he always got to stay in longer than most coaches would keep their star player during blowouts. Harden was manufactured into a star. (I am not disputing Harden's skills but emphasizing that stars don't just emerge like some natural process of selection; it is a process guided by the the team's decisions.)
I am 100% against Lin start off the bench, but if he does, I guess I will still watch, painfully...
DeleteOccupatiO,
DeleteTo Sorry and McHell, priortizing Harden wasn't enough. Apparently, they wanted to kill 2 birds in one stone (described in my earlier post).
OccupatiO,
DeleteYou apparently saw a lot of Rockets games and have a great memory too..... I did also.
And many of us did talk the deflating of Lin numbers and inflating of Harden numbers in an unnatural fashion (you described it well and accurately above). I feel this is one the things that "support" my view that Morey-McHale-Sampson team had another agenda (that of "annihilating" Lin) besides prioritizing Harden.
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DeleteI watched every Rox game last season including the pre-games, and viewed some games multiple times. =)
DeleteWhile it is right for us to point out how misinformed and misleading a lot of the sports coverage on Lin is, it is really worth keeping in mind that, unless they are the assigned beat writer for a particular team, most journalists only see a small fraction of the games that most teams play.
Realistically, that makes sense -- 30 teams, 82 games, with each game taking several hours, it's a staggering amount of time for a journalist even watch a fraction of that, not to mention the extra time needed to actually analyze and write about it. Like everyone else, they are very unlikely to do more than their job really requires unless they truly are absorbed by it (eg, Zach Lowe, who reviews hours of collated Synergy footage when he writes on particular players). What is required to write a typical article is very minimal: you don't have to watch many games but just need to consult per-game stats, which serve as a quick 'cheat sheet' so they don't have to provide meaningful context for the player's performance, then they just regurgitate the same stats in the article as journalist 'proof' of the judgments they made.
It's just a circular process based on cheat-sheet boxscores, instead of watching many games or really following what is going on with the team. How many times have you ever heard a writer disclose up front in an article how many games he’s watched? If they did that, they'd lose credibility. Instead, they assume an authoritative voice and talk about it as if they're informed, when in fact they are just hiding behind simple boxscores.
That is even true for the Rockets fanbase last year; a lot of those lameass fans didn’t watch the majority of the games – partly because of the CSN blackout situation. Nevertheless, they confidently issued their judgments and rebuttals about players and coaching.
I bring this up because if you keep in mind most general writers didn't watch most the Rockets games (and all of Lin's NY games, for that matter), the ridiculous coverage about Lin makes a lot more sense, and you just don't take it very seriously. They've probably spent more time viewing Lin-related media than actually watching Lin play.
0ccupati0,
DeleteVery true about "boxscore journalists" (especially) and "boxscore fans". Sad.
BTW, Morey knows that too. Heck, I even realized that myself. Which is all the more reason why the "stat manipulation" worked so well in Morey-McHale's favor: Pundits think Morey is a BB genius and Lin is a bust (BTW, Lin isn't overpaid EVEN if going by last season - after I compared stats and salaries for PGs.)
There is no other pro sports that is so conducive to a fantastic level of player-stat-manipulating by the coaches (and GMs like Morey who works with the coach when expedient) to achieve a certain outcome for a certain purpose for a certain period of time. For example, in baseball, a batter can only bat every 9th time.
@ztrta,
DeleteSpot on!!!
"0ccupati0,
Very true about "boxscore journalists" (especially) and "boxscore fans". Sad.
BTW, Morey knows that too.
Heck, I even realized that myself. Which is all the more reason why the "stat manipulation" worked so well in Morey-McHale's favor:
Pundits think Morey is a BB genius and Lin is a bust (BTW, Lin isn't overpaid EVEN if going by last season - after I compared stats and salaries for PGs.) "
Jeremy will make Morey look bad if he plays well because if he does he will expose how inefficient managing by advanced stats are at winning (important) basketball games.
Delete[Audio gets a little better at the end]
ReplyDeleteJLIN INTERVIEW AT SHANGHAI AIRPORT
I finally got to watch what is now a controversial video, and i'm in agreement with Psalm's interpretation that this was NOT an intentional attempt by Lin to discredit the rockets. The focus was on him, and how he was unable to fulfill the lofty expectations.
ReplyDeletePeople on either side - the neg espn light and this forum's belief that Lin is "rebelling" against the Rox are both taking his words out of context. And I do not believe there was any ulterior motive on Lin's part to reveal the " truth". Plus I doubt a devout Christian like Lin would use a forum like this to promote his self interests. Not at all.
Well, maybe not intentionally, but do you think this video did the rebel part?
DeleteBut it is a shame that due to media outlets like espn, people will think he is whining without watching what was actually said. Media sensationalism at its worst. SMH.
DeleteNo. Not at all. The focus was on him. I think people here are making this to be more than what it is.
DeleteI guess you might be right, I mean we will never know, can only guessing here.
DeleteI'm actually disappointed that Lin sounds like he will never be able to achieve Linsanity again. In fact, he was again deprecating himself on not being able to do better.
DeleteWhatever. I really don't think Lin expected to get this type of reaction from the us media. He will clarify this when he comes back. Will some of you then consider that "backtracking"?
I don think he sounded that way. He just meant he will let go the Linsanity and working hard, and God will decide if he is an All-star or not.
DeleteDo u think Lin was bad mouthing the Rox intentionally or unintentionally? don't know how people here can see it that way from such a harmless video.
DeleteTo me, it just sounds like he is just recapping the struggles i already know he went thru last year. But i guess t to the mainstream media, it could sound like a revelation,
I still also agree with my own initial assessment :p
DeleteLet me copy-and-paste my take buried deep in the previous thread 'cause I'm too lazy to think now |-O
I guess many of us didn't have a chance to listen to the 30-min testimony. If anyone wants to listen to the 1st 10 min, you'll get the idea of him sharing the overall struggle caused by the burden of Linsanity hype. Coach losing faith was just the after-effect, not the main story.
============
psalm234August 21, 2013 at 7:11 PM
I wouldn't say it was a calculated move by Lin to expose McHale and Morey's role in marginalizing him. If it were true, he would leave out the part that he couldn't sleep or cry before the NO game, it would just make him look weak.
I think he truly wanted to inspire the youth by being brutally honest but he also didn't care to "hide" the lack of faith by his coaches and GM anymore relegating him to the backseat. He referred to learning to know who to trust in one interview before the season ended. Then he learned Morey was shopping him around in the offseason without any takers.
I bet deep inside he thought this is Stanford incident all over again when the coach lied about the scholarship and he said, "How can I trust someone like that?". From that backstory in the book, I knew loyalty is a big thing for him so he just told that story as a matter of fact even if doesn't reflect well on his coaches. He must have felt being lied to on how he was supposed to be used when he was courted to become a foundational piece in the many interviews with McHale and Morey. Even with Harden as the main guy, there should have been more effort to let him be the secondary playmaker. But towards the end of the season, Parsons got to be featured as the ball handler. The foundational piece promise turns out to be replaceable door.
Who trades around foundational piece? NBA GM like Morey. So Lin'll play his best for his God, not for the disloyal human masters. In his heart, he'll say "I'll play my best, sir but not for you!"
I agree with Brent. His conclusion is just focusing to do his best for God and play freely without crushing burden, the results could be Linsanity or decent starter or anything in between.
DeleteHe didn't say he had given up his All-Star dream so nothing has changed.
Yeah the people have just to listen to first 10 minutes and they will see this is nothing some people are making this out to be.
DeleteSolids, I think it was intentionally spoken. Reason is, if not he will rephrase a lot of sentences that related to the Rox personnel and focus only on HIS struggle. He basically just killed two birds with one stone. That is my take.
DeleteBrent, so when Lin comes back to the us and the media inevitably asks him to clarify.. What do I think Lin would do? Do u think Lin will stand by his statements or try to clarify it to appease the rockets? And if he does the latter ( which I think he will), would u think that he is backtracking and to some extents, gutless?
DeleteHiya psalm234,
DeleteAbout what you've said the other day (where my reply got deleted), "Morey will attend his [Lin's] charity and all of that but ....."
You're thinking too kindly of Morey regarding the charity thing. In my opinion Morey is a reptilian Lin-hater (because it served him well) with a false facade (obviously necessary), except that he has the power to act which did far more damage to Lin's basketball career and reputation last season than the hateful words that were all over the internet. Appearing at Lin's charity was for a photo op: At that time - playing a ping pong game with Lin and the nice "I won" banter and all - Morey was also promoting the All-Star game soon to be held in Houston.
I agree Morey is a cold-hearted GM who has no problems being nice to players but trade them the next day, ztrta. I still remember PPat was shell-shocked getting traded to the Kings after weeks of Morey saying Houston won't make big changes. Morey even tweeted the next day to thank PPat for his service!
DeleteHe truly believed in his method to analyze players and swing them for higher asset when their potential has maxed out. So to him, it's not personal to like players personally but send them out the door if he thinks a new player is worth more as trade chips. To him, his job is to help Houston win championships based on his spreadsheets.
Yes, he's a cold-hearted GM who believes "it's not personal, just business. I like you but I like the new player more."
Solidz, I think he will clarify it, because the words were already out. He made his points. I think he will go back to his typical generic answers.
DeleteYeah, Brent but assuming this was a calculated intentional move and he backtracked saying "I have no issues with the coaches and the rox, I love this team, coach Mchale and morey" - would u lose respect for him?
DeleteI hope he doesn't go that route. I will lose respect for him he wimps out.
I want something to the effect of "This was about me and not them. I stand by what I shared with all of you. And i will continue to play hard ffor god and myself".
I don't think it would be smart move to say "this is about me" because Rocket fans will pile on him.
DeleteI'd expect something smart along the line of "I realize I'm not the true PG as in NY which happens to my strength. But I shouldn't let that stop me from doing my best to help my teammates to win championships. That's the right thing to do. It's not about me but it's all about the team wins"
That would give reporters some juicy bits to ask McHale and Morey, "Can't you at least explore to use Lin's strength to help the Rockets win more?"
Fair enough.
DeleteBut if this was truly not an intentional move and Lin has no animosity toward the rox and still feel indebted to them, would u feel disappointed in Lin?
And another thing is knowing that Lin already has share of haters who will knock him no matter what (some people think that all of this is an attention seeking behavior), should Lin even worry about offending his distracties but instead speak his mind?
Deleteof course, it would be foolish if Lin has no animosity at all of towards the Rox after the frequent benching and the unwillingness to use his strength as the playmaker.
DeleteI admire that you're so black and white, solidz but I believe it's somewhere in between in this Lin/Rox relationship.
I don't believe he hates their guts but he now knows the Rox system no longer has the best interest to help him realize his All-Star goal after the Harden trade.
He'll do his best to help win championships no matter how they use him but I believe he won't extend his contract if he continues to be marginalized.
If he did, I'll be disappointed in him for accepting a role player. It's better to try somewhere else and fail than not ever knowing what could've been.
Solidz, no i will not lose respect because he backtracks.
DeleteI mean we all know what happened and he already openly said it. He has a job to do and keep pushing it might not be a good idea anyway.
My 2 cents worth advice to Lin:
DeleteDon't give any press conference or interview regarding the Taiwan testimony. JUST SAY, "Out of context" over and over again to everybody.
If nothing as, it's economical both words and energy wise. (;-D). Besides, the more Lin explain, the more material the media has to take things OUT OF CONTEXT. AND - the more revenue for those sleazy lazy parroters.
Really. Wow. It's almost like talking something behind someone's back and then saying something else when confronted with it. That would be a total bitch -ass move and I would lose complete respect for him as a person.. I absolutely detest people who cower when it matters.
DeleteAs everyone else has mentioned, whether intentional or not, the cat is out of the bag. So he needs to own up to what he said and speak the truth.
He can be diplomatic but the last thing I would want him to say is I have NO problem with how morey and Mchale treated me last season. I LOVE and respect them.
I would never have faith in a coward and a loser like that. It was bad enough how he kept his mouth shut last year.
Hopefully this will NOT happen.
Well, it might happen, but I think he will just deflect those questions. Not going to be that direct, but who knows, maybe he will stand by his words like u said.
DeleteLet's play jeopardy, LinSanes!!
ReplyDelete@JADubin5: @HPbasketball Jeremy Lin and Derrick Favors, respectively. Aaaaaand RIP my mentions as I slowly slink away and go to sleep.
What was the question?
Screw it, my rep precedes me. Noone wants to play.
Delete@HPbasketball: Give me one guy few people are expecting to improve this season who will and one guy people are who won't.
Jdubin is a big Knicks blogger who contributed to that we'll always have linsanity book. I know there are still many Knicks fans out there who appreciate Lin more than this moronic Houston fanbase could ever will.
@HPbasketball: So many "Lin won't" votes. Weird that this kid's this polarizing figure.
DeletePeople can thank espn for that.
I have to say a lot of Lin talk lately .. Bad .........
DeleteAnd Good.
@TheWagofMutombo: @HPbasketball Conley put up 14/6/3 & ppl were all "wow, what a great year"…Lin put up 13/6/3 & ppl were like "wow, dude sux"…the NBA's weird
Hahahaha.... how true.
DeleteI like it that Lin finally told us a little (I'm sure there's a lot more to the Reptilians) to spur the trade to be expedited. Lin also needs to get the fuke out of Houston.
Since Morey-McHale team let people to believe that Lin is a scrub (not talking about the flipping offseason self-serving BS), I sure hope that he would be traded to a WC team, especially to the same division! (;~D)
Lin has 101% not be Rockets this season
ReplyDeleteNow is wait the answers of Morey and McHale to all that Lin said
People are insatiable beings.You do your best,they either praise you,tear you down,or expect more.I think that's how it pretty much sums up the LOFs,LOHs and the media. Half of those detractors were those who used to put him in a pedestal, now more than half of those moved to the other side of the fence.Some good majority of fans used to love what he did to Knicks; now they wanted him to burn. Jeremy,being the subject of adoration and ridicule, either gets positive comments about his testimony or have people take his testimony out of context,classify them as whine, or sometimes, indirectly put words into his mouth.
ReplyDeleteHe will survive, if he did not say anything, the media would use his silence to put words into mouth anyway. If he said something, the degree of freedom that those media got is shrinked somehow IMO.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIt's the offseason. No news to write about so bball writers figure out ways to manufacture news, especially by spinning stuff into sensationalist items. I doubt the video would not have gotten much news traction if there were games going on now.
DeleteAgain, I believe in these years Lin will ascend to the elite level because it is what the team needs to be a title contender.
ReplyDeleteNo one will step in the way. NcHale, Morey and every team members will be in it whether they like it or not.
Again this team roster won't last for more than 2 seasons because of the capsize. They have already had D12 and Harden. They could at most sign one more and that means one out of (Parson, Asik and Lin). The way the propaganda shows, Parson + D12 + Harden were the choices over Lin and Asik.
Have much to look forward to in the next season. because everything seems to be working to the Rockets advantage even their schedule indicates that.
It's too bad that the haters will misinterpret the quotes out of context and think that Lin is blaming the coaches for his disappointing season last year.
ReplyDeleteINTERVIEW AND BDAY CELEBRATION
ReplyDeleteMORE FROM 上 海 佳 得 樂 見 面 會.
DeletePLAQUE-GIVING CEREMONY
Delete
DeleteI enjoyed viewing the good photos!
:) @ ztrta~ The camera loves him. ^^
Deletevia wong,
DeleteThe camera *LOVES* you too! Repost your pic-avatar dang it!
It's funny (hahaha) because I know of female botanists, artists, photographers, geologists, conservationists, poets and biologists (i.e., high achieving and creative female intellectuals who have to spend a lot of time outdoors) who really downplay their looks - the ones who are attractive. Some of them wear ugly wigs even in the hot summer, unless the size of hiking group is large enough.
hey now, I'm a cherry blossom tree, as you can see. :)
Deleteperhaps i'll post a pic on my personal blog [where it belongs] someday. i do have legitimate reasons for wanting to be private, w/c I'll keep to myself in the meantime. :)
*plum blossom
DeletePlease contact me when you do
Deletesolidz will do a countdown on the Via-sanity picture day!
Deletei read plum bussom.
DeleteI doubt I'll ever see via's face. All I can picture now is how she looks from the back. Sigh...
DeleteGrrr...
Delete[but lol too.]
Etane,
Deleteyou mean plump bussom.
I have a lot of typos too. (;~O)(;~D)
WTF is wrong with your spelling anyways. My god, spellcheck for once will ya?
DeletePlump bottom.
it's like a Rorschach test. obviously solidz' a butt guy while zt and i are boobs. but, i like small boobs while zt like plump ones.
DeleteLin knows that every word that comes out of his mouth is scrutinized by the press. I am sure that his publicist read his sermon before it was put out there. Lin knows that no matter what he says the press will some how turn it around on him. So to me, I don't think Lin is surprised by the reaction of ESPN. Lin seems to be more focused and on a mission. I think Lin said it best when he said, he is not worried about what teams he plays on, he is focused on becoming a better b-ball player. I agree with @Kwok Wai Lai, that this going to be a good season for Lin and nothing is going to get in his way.
ReplyDeleteFor heaven sake, Morey and McHale, just trade Lin to end the trauma.
ReplyDeleteListen up Morey, money isn't everything. Life isn't a short sprint but a marathon, you might win your game against Lin this time but the karma train will come back to haunt you. The earlier you trade him the better it is for you. Don't be greedy.
Should be For your own sake, not heaven's sake...
DeleteI believe Morey 100% tried to trade Lin this summer. Problem is it isn't easy being the Asian American trade chip. I believe no team wanted Lin, and I believe Morey's asking price honestly wasn't even that high.
DeleteThe funny thing is I believe the Rockets desperately wanted to dump Lin. And this is one time being an Asian castoff that nobody wants will help Lin shine because he's going to be stuck as the starting PG of a high profile Rox team this season.
Even if they continue to bench Lin and only allow him 15-20 minutes a game, so be it as long as he dominates in those 15-20 minutes. There will be enough exposure that other teams will notice this season. ESPN and all those people will be covering Lin EXTRA close this season to dump on him for the comments he made in Taiwan.
And if Morey really wants rid of Lin, they will utilize Lin in a way to make him shine the first 25 games of the year and then trade Lin QUICK.
I believe that is Morey's objective, trade Lin now or if there are no takers, trade Lin QUICK when he shows out in the first quarter of the season.
I said it before and I'll say it again, swing. Making Lin shine the first 25 games is absolutely a win-win strategy for either Lin and Houston Rockets.
DeleteHis numbers will definitely improve but we don't know how much. If he averages 14pts/7asts helping the Rockets to be in the Top 3-4 in the West, other teams might bite. But if he averages even better especially in assists with 10pts/10 asts and making Howard and Harden shine in the Top 1-2 in the West, Howard might ask Morey not to trade Lin and see if Lin can help win championships.
The Rockets won't encounter a lose scenario if they're willing to 'feature' Lin more in the first 25 games.
But of course, it's entirely possible that they would focus more to run plays for their new Big 3 (Howard/Harden/Parsons) and let Lin find his place to push the pace and make occasional layups/threes.
I'm counting on Morey to do whatever it takes to improve Lin's number to trade him before Feb 1. That's what we, Lin fans, can only hope.
And ztrta, I also love the fact the writer (Alex Groberman) you alluded above has been writing many articles covering possible Lin trade scenario with many NBA teams (Pistons, 76ers).
DeleteIt's important to have the media help many GMs see the benefit of acquiring Lin.
I seriously do not think harden and howard as well as coach mchell are championship caliber. They will be lucky to make it past 2nd round.
DeleteThey might have a shot if harden pulls an injury and mchell loses his job some time during regular season.
Psalm, I'm hoping for something more sinister like season ending injury for harden ( yeah I said it! Don't tell me aome of you are not secretly hoping for it. But I will speak for you all.)
DeleteThen they will be forced to use Lin and watch him go off.
The way they over utilize harden, this is a distinct possibility.
I don't think rockets will ever increase jeremy's value. They still have harden who could disagree with that and they are in win now mode so if the team wins they would be fool to trade anyone.
DeleteBecause of the asian market i don't think jeremy will be traded. If rox really want to win the title they must play jeremy as their john stockton. Pnr Lin/Howard with harden and parsons gunning from 3. Asik could be the Jarred Jeffries. If they don't it will just be a complete mess with 2 primadonnas fighting for their own stats and a coach who still has to prove his value.
Let's see what happens. If jeremy will be traded it would at least be for a bigger upgrade at pf or in package with asik.
For me Morey did try to trade lin, and still he does, but probably he asks too much for him. See what happens...
harden is on horse pills. his ligaments heal themselves overnight. it's uncanny. very unlikely that he will miss many games through over use. only if something catastrophic happens to harden will he miss an exorbitant meaningful number of games.
DeleteTheb What about a STD?
DeleteBtw where is out buddy khuang these days. U think we scared him off? That pussy.
DeleteEtane, that is an interesting observation you brought up and i suspect that Lin being free of those pills make Morey and Mhale alienate him(for all we know McHale use those pills too throughout his nba career). Grrr...
Deleteyesterday psalm asked me whether howard chen would lose his job if jeremy were to be traded.
Deletemaybe it's a good sign that khuang is not around since that probably means he lost his job as "forum mod" since jeremy is projected to be on a different team by season start.
mchell could be on drugs but he's already high on himself.
Deleteno way. I can honestly say I don't wish any injuries to Harden or other players because I wouldn't wish others to do the same to Lin.
DeleteBesides, if Lin can show he runs the better PnR with Howard than Harden will, that would be winning the ultimate competition of who the best PG is when everyone is healthy.
i'm starting to like the idea of jeremy as a houston rockets' player. even with mchale or whoever. probably most of his teammates are using his popularity in asia to gain fame there. Harden, Howard, Parsons... they already use jeremy to be loved in taiwan...
DeleteWho knows what lies in the head of Morey and Mchale? Maybe mchale wanted to test jeremy's toughness, morey just wanted to give harden his extrabonus of his contract because of the allstar game presence...
All the expectations are just like what jeremy said: if jeremy were a 20+10 we'd probably say: oh, but he's not on a winning team. If he were a 20+10 on a winning team we'd like to see him getting the mvp, and the mvp finals too. Then trying to break the nba records.... well, what i learned from jeremy is just hope jeremy never lose faith in God, praying that all the nba moneys or the success don't change him and to reach his goal: be a better player everyday to spread the Word thru the whole world.
Could God bless our kid.
Very true on the expectations part.
DeleteDuring the first two games of last season, everyone was disappointed with Jeremy's 17/6.
Everyone on this forum was like jeremy shoulda been 25/10!
I called them tiger moms who are complaining like you kid got an A- and shoulda gotten an A. That's when Khuang started calling me a racists... sigh.
And then u used the c word. U completely turn him upside the head.
DeleteWonder if he's got a guitar gig, he's been awefully quiet these days.
Maybe he found his love?
very well-said, @spotless. Just like he said in the testimony, those 3 things (money, worldly success, human approval) can destroy all of us when they become our self-identify.
DeleteJust like death, It's never enough. Always hungry, always want more.
He's on the right path to simply do his best for his God, even when we as fans often think his best is never enough. Linsanity happens when he plays freely and full of joy. I don't remember when he last smiled during games. Man, I miss those NY days.
That "never smiling" statement is overrated. He smiled plenty last season.
Deletehonestly don't think lin was OVER EXPECTING anything.
Deletehe was told one thing and was delivered another.
plain and simple.
he has a hater coach that hates lin personally and a hater gm that hates lin's playing style.
he got sold a bad bill of goods. rug pulled behind him. bamboozled.
this expectations thing is lamentation to make himself feel better. it's rationalization. saying things to make himself feel better about being slighted. it's not real.
if anything, jeremy's not expecting enough of himself for being too meek all season long and not speaking up and demanding the ball and calling people out for ball hogging and stat padding.
psalm234,
DeleteI hope another team - preferably a WC team; even better a Southwest Division team - trades for Lin soon.
However, when I wrote, "are you listening, other GMs" about Morey's defense of Jeremy Lin, I was being SARCASTIC because Morey has changed his tune in an attempt to convince a team(s) to trade for Jeremy Lin. It's true that Morey has held other Reddit AMA sessions before, pretending to be mild toward Lin, but they were for PR to "soften" his and McHale's anti-Lin sentiments; BUT NOW INGhe's desperately trying to sell Lin to other GMs. The deal should be done pretty easily though if he undersells Lin, as it will be worth it for everybody.
The Rockets had a hard time finding a taker for Lin due mostly to Morey-McHale's marginalizing of him on the court and dissing him off the court. Therefore, Morey is doing exactly what he should be doing: Sell Lin to other general managers, probably concentrating more on Eastern Conference GMs, SIGH.
Morey needs to take part of the responsibility for how things have unfolded AND ACCEPT A LOW BALL OFFER to get the trade done SOON. I hope Morey trades Lin to a team in the SAME Southwest Division for competitive reasons, befitting his low view of Lin; at least to the same conference. WHAT IS MOREY AFRAID OF??? Why was he trying to trade Lin to an Eastern Conference team??? And especially a POOR TEAM in the Detroit Pistons?!?! The Pistons are located in the city making news for it's BANKRUPCY !!!!!! Morey: You & McHale dissed Lin most of the regular season, implying that he was a bust (until late in the season when Harden has already "become" the super elite and you had to start thinking about selling Lin to other GMs !). So then what the fuke are you afraid of ?!
Lin just opened a pandora's box. Both for himself and the Rox. It is befitting of his character. Having to fight ignorance and prejudice throughout his career there are things that he has learned to do to combat it, mostly in a passive aggressive nature. Throughout the season he acted this way with the coaches, subconsciously dissing them in his own subtle ways. Much of it we probably don't see behind the scenes. This is why I think Mchale absolutely hated him. The recent events is another example. Is it a good thing? Well, it can go one of two ways.....really, really bad or really good. I think it will turn out to but really refreshing for both sides. Now it's "even Stevens". Rox tried to trade him, Lin lashed out. The slate is clean. Not so fast. He still got to confront Mchale. He's got to sit down with Mchale have a heart to heart. Demand to run the offense. Mchale is the type that you got to confront him to get respect. Nothing to lose. Either get a new role or get traded.
ReplyDeleteWhat would jesus do?
ReplyDeletebuy out his contract and try out with a different team.
Sounds good.
DeleteThe question might be: What does St Paul say that Jesus would want Christians to do? Endure...
Deletehope not. in my mind, if jesus were a real person at all, he was a proletariat socialist communist humanist who will fight for all who are oppressed by da power.
Deletethe patient and meek jesus offering paradise in afterlife is creation by the romans to control the commoners.
Until when? Just endure and take it in silence? I think he has endured more than anyone could possibly have endured in similar circumstances.
DeleteThe only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it.
DeleteSpot on, via!
For some reason, I read one part this way:
He will not let you be tempted by Morey than you can bear. lol
Just like the Butterfly Struggle story, I believe Lin is experiencing a similar struggle so his wings can be strong enough to fly away.
DeleteSo I'd suggest you drop the scissor (tweet button) to Morey, solidz :]
Psalm trust me. I don't know if he's ever read my tweets but let's just say I'm surprised I haven't been blocked.
Deletedont worry. no curses though. I'm very "professional" when it comes to negative tweets on tweeter.
really? haha, I got the imagery of you "professonally" wielded samurai sword left and right. But yes, never to Houston staff, right?
DeleteWith all due respect psalm, Jeremy's wings already strong enough to soar higher than the rest of his peers. But some asshole aren't happy and fucking caged him.
Deletei don't know psalm, i keep wishing he'd go back to the Synoptics and leave St Paul for a while...
DeleteJLin's fav verse~
Romans 5:3-5
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
the verse embraces and glorify suffering. no pushback.
Jesus rebuked and turned tables all over the place, and would never allow his disciples to suffer the pharisees...
I'm sick of waiting. When does Lin come back?
DeleteHe should be working on his jumps shot!!!
Psalm, I've been blocked by two people.
DeleteJalen Rose: I think I was defending Lin against a negative tweet. Said something to the effect of "have u been drinking again?" A jab against his DUI. Bam blocked.
And Jason Friedman : for calling him out on his conflict of intrerest as a fake journalist.
And oh yeah, by ochocinco for calling him out when he played for the patriots ( I'm a jets fan).
I guess these guys do read my tweets.
Solidz... respect. Who is next?
Deletedoes alexander have a twit account? solidz should start there.
Deleteno. he doesn't publicize his contact info.
Delete[emails sent to his wine business goes thru a minder.]
via, I wouldn't proclaim I know how Jeremy thinks but IMHO the Synopsis and St. Paul messages don't conflict with each other.
DeleteIn this current matter of dealing with his situation in Houston, Jeremy might very well be following St. Paul's message to a young Timothy,
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control."
2 Timothy 1:7, Amplified Bible.
He can't be rash to lash out with his marginalized role in Houston but also can't be timid cowering in the corner with the multiple benching or the uncomfortable spot-up shooter role. Even Tony Parker had to endure multiple benching by Popovich in his younger days, and he still experienced it recently in brief spurts in the latest NBA Finals.
Jeremy hasn't acquired Kobe's or CP3's status with multiple rings or years of experience to determine the best role they should play in the system. He needs to pay his dues like any other players in the first few years. Steve Nash was in the supporting role in his Dallas years but he managed to shine later on. So Jeremy needs to be patient and learn more PG skills.
It's hard to be patient as Lin fans after witnessing Linsanity but Jeremy too needs to learn his craft (playing multiple gears as JKidd suggested) so he can have longer staying power in the NBA.
And via, about the righteous anger that Jesus demonstrated in turning the money-change tables in the temple, it wasn't to protect his disciples from the Pharisees but because those people made the mockery of God by charging exorbitant price for the sacrificial animals. For the most time, Jesus taught his disciples to forgive not 7 times but 77 times (symbolizing infinity).
DeleteAnyway before I continue rambling, I can only speculate that perhaps these are some teachings that inspire Lin's mindset as a Christian to persevere and endure struggles, forgive but not be a door mat by hiding the injustice. He's a young guy so let's allow him to make mistakes. God knows I made many more silly mistakes at his age and still does :) ok, I'll stop
psalm, i didn't mean the table turning was for his disciples. i get that. :)
Deletei meant Jesus never asked of his disciples to suffer the provocations/ accusations of the pharisees in silence, he meant them to follow his actions. He refused to put himself under the pharisees' hypocritical invocation of religious law, instead he did as he saw fit. He obeys not man, but his Father. and he wanted his disciples to do the same.
[I do understand JLin is doing the best that he knows how to, atm...]
yah psalm. what jesus meant was not to back down from people just because they have wealth and power. whereas, if i remember correctly, the church people were kicking out the devout but poor to make room for the rich but less devout? jesus was like no the church is not just for the rich, it's for the people, everyone.
DeleteYeah psalm. Chill out.
DeleteThere's nothing non-biblical about wanting it leave a bad work situation for a better one. The suffering and persevering passages were aimed at early Christians who were literally going through physical suffering (jail, beatings, fed to lions, etc) because of their faith. Lets keep that in context. Jeremy is not suffering for his faith.
DeleteI went through a similar situation a few years back where I thought my role ay my job didn't really fit me well. I felt guilty wanting to leave and look for a better situation. But I thought "am I not supposed to persevere?" Spoke to my pastor and he asked "are u in debt?" No. "Would it put a financial strain on your family if you were to be unemployed for a bit?" No. " then leave! Go find something else that fits you better!" The point is, a lot of this is a wisdom question, not a right or wrong question. God wants us to be happy, to have good thing like a job we enjoy doing.
It may not be wise for Jeremy to ask for a trade and might be better to stick it out and see what happens this year, but there's nothing wrong if he were to ask for a trade.
oh yeah, I understand what u meant now :}
Deleteabsolutely, he called out the pharisees on their hypocrisy and legalistic ways so they love and care more about the sinners and the poor than the wealthy and the privileged.
Man, I am watching this CNN story on Ms. Tuff heroine in the Georgia shooting and made feel God will watch out for Lin just fine. This was a real life or death situation that ended peacefully. Watch it and you'll feel better :}
But, just want to add, that fundamentally, things would not have been better for him if he were traded or if harden had never came. Yeah he would've had much better numbers and people would be talking linsanity part II, BUT his personal growth and maturity wouldn't have been better because he still would've been in the same mindset of seeking approval and validation from people rather than from god.
Deleteno more no less... argghhh... and sinners of all wealth stratum.
Deletegood point, fighton. Lin will need to persevere when being mocked for his faith but he just needs wisdom on if or when to change employment. The tricky part for him is to figure out what would Jesus do when asking for a trade :p
DeleteNot sure about that. That is a lot of ifs. We still don't know if Lin has completely shut off other people's expectations. He had similar message last year.
DeleteIf harden didn't come, Lin would've been much better situation. He is not the type of kid to let things completely to his head.
Those who live in Taiwan, is Lin that popular there?
ReplyDeletei am from taiwan and i never heard of this lin fellow. do you mean jimmy lin? yah he's very popular in taiwan.
DeleteRight after Linsanity, Medias in TW used the word GOD to describe him in every headlines, "豪神". This creates a lots of Haters because even Asians tends to think Asian is not going able to play NBA, and the overly hype from media did not help. So....I guess Lin is very very popular in Taiwan, if you count both Fans and Haters.
DeleteI live in Taiwan... Lin's a legit SUPERSTAR here.
DeleteIn Taiwan yes, but he's not nearly as popular in Mainland China, the land of 1.3 billion people and 300 million basketball fans that the NBA wants so much to keep.
DeleteABC that was what I was getting at. I'm not sure if Lin has that much clout. I mean the Chinese cry over Kobe. If Lin was that popular, nba would have bigger reasons to raise his status.
DeleteTaiwan's media was describing JLIN as a God? That is so hilarious if it weren't so wacked. Apparently, ESPN has got nothing on Taiwan when it comes to breathless media hyberbole. LOL.
DeleteAnyways when does Lin return from china?
DeleteFrom how media covers him, you know Lin is not that popular in China. They know Lin is an American.
DeleteWhen does Lin return from china?
Deletewow, Lin is God in Taiwan? lol
DeleteTrue Ixy, next year they might ask Lin to do some healing on stage :) crazy
Well not in a true sense, it is just play of words...but still an over hype in TW for sure.
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