Will Lin get his freedom from the southern city? Hope so.
It's possible that Jeremy Lin could be waived via either a buyout or waiver (the Suns' Beasley wasn't cheap). Either way Lin would be free to sign with a decent team and have his money too.
The Rockets are said to have "aggressively shopped" Lin. But it didn't work because either they weren't truly aggressive or they were stupid.
1) They should have shopped Lin much earlier - NOT in July.
2) They should have AGGRESSIVELY PRICED Lin. In light of how Lin was marginalized and publicly dissed by them during regular season -- and 38th in usage among PGs (less usage then 7 of the league's *BACKUP* PGs), plus the balloon payment for 2014-15 -- they should have offered a discount for him. The Rockets should have looked it as a quasi buyout, the least expensive option.
Luckily - they can STILL DO THIS (#2 above), especially with Utah (or via 3-way trade). Right now, Utah is the best target, as it only has 2 PGs and needs depth.
If the Rockets still can't pull off a trade, it's cheaper for them to offer Lin a BUYOUT, rather than waive him (it's unusual for any team to claim a waived player and take over the contract). In that case, Lin is still owed this season's entire salary, but they can negotiate the next season's balloon salary. But Lin should negotiate as much money as possible from them OR SHOULDN'T AGREE to the buyout because - after what he went through - he has already earned every dollar he can extract from them.
Yeah, you should have read Sorry's facial expressions during the Lin intro press conference last summer: He looked really dubious to go along with the Rockets' "basketball minds" press back then.
Morey and McHale sure made their prediction "appear" to materialize; Lin still played very well for being so underutilized - not necessarily in minutes as much as play calls. And it seemed like they were determined to break Lin's spirits. Many things some of us have observed from early on (and were criticized for) turned out to true.
The Rockets are said to have "aggressively shopped" Lin. But it didn't work because either they weren't truly aggressive or they were stupid. ...
People were doubting him when he was putting up insane numbers during linsanity, you think now at his lowest point they have faith in the only Asian kid in the league? His annoying contract probably didn't help either.
Around the NBA, the leaguewide perception is that Lin doesn't belong in the NBA.
But in terms of game planning, Lin is defended like a superstar. After all, this is the same Lin that dropped 38 on Tony Parker's Spurs and 29 on Russell Westbrook and torched Chris Paul for 8 points and 5 assists in 8 minutes before coming back to singlehandedly destroy Paul and the Clippers when Harden was injured . . .
Leaguewide perception of Lin as a D League player is not the same as how teams constantly double Lin on and off the basketball in order to prevent Lin from effortlessly amassing 22 pts and nearly 10 assists in less than 30 minutes against the 57 win Denver Nuggets last season.
Maybe Lin should perform happy mediocre on purpose. I'm thinking this could compel Morey to buyout Lin's contract.
If he fits in with the Rockets well as a 3-point-specialist SG with a PG title (note his knee is healthy now) - there is a small chance that they might keep him. According to http://www.hoopsrumors.com/ , ".... the Rockets figure to give Lin.... a chance to establish roles with the club early on.... If Lin.... isn't fitting into the team's system, trade could be explored"........ It's highly doubtful the Rocket would want to keep Lin under any circumstances, but the small chance the Rockets could keep him - as a 3-point specialist - is probably pretty scary to Lin internally. Therefore, it might be best if he plays so so with the Rockets. Normally, I'd say it's the player's ethical duty to train and play his best, but not in this case, IMO.
I just hate the hypocrisy that appears to be perpetuated by lin due to Jackson's selfish need to promote himself. Lin continues to say he wants to move on from Linsanity ( which I completely believe), but this too premature movie is bringing him back and not allowing him to move on.
IMO, this movie is the worst thing that can happen to him as Lin gets ready for his penultimate year.
Some of u guys need to stop being selfish fan boys and need to think in terms of how Lin can further his basketball career. And Lin needs to realize that the power of his message will be commensurate with how well he does on the court.
If he ends up sucking (and don't tell me he has succeeded in every level - virtually all the players have succeeded at every level to get to the NBA - doesn't predict shit), his voice will ultimately disappear...plenty of stars with talent have failed due to unfavorable circumstances. Nothing is guaranteed in NBA especially when Lin is coming as an undrafted pick.
great pics and vids, via and JLinFan#1. I wish I could be there listening to Francis Chan and Jeremy's testimony.
I listened to his whole testimony in Taiwan and I don't think he said he wanted to move on from Linsanity, Solidz. He said he doesn't want to get his identity be based on Linsanity such that he'd be a nervous wreck if he does not live up to Linsanity performance in every game. He just wants his identity to be based on doing his best for God. The Linsanity thing might still or might not happen in Houston or the next team.
As Dave T said it well in the previous thread, it's important to understand his mindset because it makes sense why he put a high priority to share his faith every year in Taiwan, share his faith through the movie, and share his faith in this Identity Unleashed conference with Francis Chan.
So he's not going to put all his time and energy to prove himself on the basketball court before he shares his faith and his story to people. He said it on the record that it's very important for him to let people know about his faith to make Linsanity happen in the first place. So who are we to say he shouldn't do this or that? We are just outsiders looking in.
As a passionate Lin fan, I share Dave T's concern that you might set yourself up for a disappointment if you think Evan Leong was to blame to make Lin want to promote the movie. Lin is an adult who can make his own decision to prioritize his faith more than his basketball performance (God first, family second and basketball third).
To be a true Lin fan, one must not get his brain scrambled by the unending anti Asian racism spewed by American media.
I myself view Lin fans as generally UNBIASED. If Lin were black or white or any color but Asian, the entire NBA would be celebrating him and he's have been an early entry candidate out of a D1 school. Lin actually has been more impactful thus far than several Hall of Fame point guards including Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, John Stockton, and Steve Nash. Only Lin fans seem to be unbiased enough to see that.
I don't see how a Lin fan can profess to like him but also say ridiculously incorrect things like he "can't shoot" or "can't defend" or "has no heart". Just because one calls himself a Lin fan doesn't mean that he truly believes in or even likes Lin.
I'm not going to speak for or against Solidz75 on this. But I can speak for myself in that I see a lot of negative social pressure from the media to be anti Lin. It's not easy for most people to have the guts to not see Lin as a emasculated weakass Asian need stereotype instead of as the basketball dominating STUD he'd be celebrated as if he were any ethnicity other than Asian.
Linsanity isn't Lin's ceiling. It's his NORMAL STATE.
Lin essentially played the 2nd half of last season at a totally Linsanity level. Even despite low usage and tanking teammates, Lin was DOMINANT on both ends of the court.
When Lin isn't fighting injuries caused by racially biased NBA refs, he is an incredible player in the NBA.
If not choosing to be a lemming like fanboy like many of you here (not unlike a "Belieber") and instead, simply being a fan who can accept lin's weakness in his game and want him to improve as a player, a fan who is not scared to point out the injustice Lin faced last year and tell it like it is, and a fan who put money where my mouth is and spends hard earned cash to get nba league pass for the sole purpise of watching lin play (while a lot of u cancelled yours because u are not confident that Lin is going to do well next season), makes me a LOH, then that's exactly what I am.
But I simply refuse to let the group here do the thinking for me because that is the popular and peaceful( christian) thing to do. And I really couldn't careless if u lemmings don't agree with me ( here of any where for that matter)
I'll repeat again for little fangirls like u
1. The timing of this movie is way premature and hypocritical ... Lin himself says he wants to move on fro Linsanity while this movie bring him right back. And I know this is not Lin's decision but Jackson's... Lin is stuck in a bad situation.
2. There is no "guarantee" that Lin is going to succeed.. Especially with all the things stacked against him at this point. And it's not just Lin... Did u see what happened to Greg oden, Sam Bowie, and all the draft picks who failed to succeed despite the success at every level prior to NBA
3. And no, I don't consider just being in the NBA is a success. If Lin is just a bench scrub, I couldn't care less and wouldn't spend time and money following him and most of you wouldn't either.
And psalm that is exactly same thing. If he doesn't want his identity based on linsanity then don't freakinh have a movie about it where casual fans will see him for exactly that. Maybe later but not now. It looks extremely hypocritical.
For a Lin fan like me that enjoyed watching Lin play at a Linsanity level for the second half of the season last year, Linsanity isn't dead at all.
Only INJURY can force Lin to be a "bench scrub". It won't be the lack of game that LOHs have been delusionally insisting for the last 3 years!
There are many veteran NBA fans who closely follow the league and understand that it's a great privilege and honor just to play in the NBA, let alone star in it. Only those who mindlessly accept the media hype feel that it's a failure to be anything less than an All Star or the even more ridiculous "NBA champion" designation.
For hardcore basketball fans like myself that don't just follow the NBA, Lin is a HUGE SUCCESS especially at the high level at which he's played in the NBA. No LOH can convince hardcore basket all fans like me otherwise.
And as far as the Greg Oden and Sam Bowie comparisons go, people who compare those two players to Lin in an effort to degrade Lin's game are unaware of the situations of Oden and Bowie.
Let's start with Bowie. Sam Bowie was a heralded 4 year player at Kentucky. He was an agile and coordinated 7'1" center who wasn't super athletic but was a solid skill player and was considered a future franchise player. Nobody questioned Bowie being the 2nd overall pick behind Olajuwon and over Jordan and Barkley, especially since nobody other than Bobby Knight (who coached Jordan in the Olympic Trials) knew how good Jordan was. Plus Barkley was a 6'4" overweight center with a history of attitude problems and on court inconsistency that wasn't straightened out until Moses Malone took him under his wing in Barkley's rookie season.
In the mid 1980s, Bowie suffered that ACL knee injury. Back in those days, tearing an ACL was basically a death sentence to NBA players' careers. Bowie worked long and hard to rehab himself, and he did surface with the New Jersey Nets where I watched him be a solid NBA center before his legs failed him again. Today Bowie would miss a season and come back to play, just like Blake Griffin did by missing his rookie season. So it was INJURY that knocked out Bowie, not basketball incompetence.
Greg Oden had an even more impactful college career than Sam Bowie did. He nearly won the NCAA title, and it took that stacked Florida team with Joakim Noah and Al Horford and Corey Brewer to beat Oden's team that also had Mike Conley and Daequan Cook.
Oden played for Bowie's Portland Blazers, a franchise with a known history of bad injuries. Oden injured BOTH his legs and has endured surgery after surgery. Yet when he did play, he played extremely well. Oden is now a member of the Miami Heat.
In the cases of Bowie and Oden, both players have had INJURY problems and not incompetence problems. Plus, both players were top lottery picks unlike Lin who was undrafted. Since Bowie and Oden performed very well in their minutes and were high draft picks, they never faced the racism Lin did.
The thing is that Lin's SO GOOD that he's able to make a significant NBA impact despite having the cultural odds stacked against him. In many ways, Lin is the "anti Bowie" or "anti Oden" because Lin's situation is OPPOSITE of Bowie's and Oden's situations.
That's the main point, Solidz. Lin shouldn't do things based on what casual fans will think of him. He should do things based on what he thinks it's best for him.
If his stated goals (faith, perseverance, hope) in promoting the movie is misconstrued, misinterpreted and slandered by haters or casual fans, then so be it. He still sticks to his own conviction and I applaud him for it.
I don't think you're open or willing to consider his ways to prioritize his faith over casual NBA fans might work out well for him so it's okay not to want to understand him. We just have to disagree and tolerate others with different opinion.
My perspective is simple. If his faith was rewarded once by God with Linsanity, I don't see why he should turn his back on his faith just to appease the casual NBA fans. God might very well be pleased with his loyalty and bless him with something else better than Linsanity.
I'm really trying hard to avoid khuang's usual propaganda for the sake of this site, but he freaking pops up everywhere!! Don't u have a date or something? Go out dude. It's Saturday..
Didn't really read his typical comment above because he is trying again to show off, for absolutely no reason, how much he knows basketball .. But he clearly doesn't get my point that the reason those two player mentioned was not to compare the specifics of what they went thru but simply to point out that no matter how much talent one may have, the star has to line up well to succeed in the NBA - that means no injury, supportive coach , the right team, .. A lot of things that Lin currently doesn't have. This dude constantly says the refs are biased bla blah,, but he is guaranteeing that Lin will succeed and there is no chance Lin will fail? And if u don't believes what is at best a hope, you are a Lin hater? Are u effing kidding me??
And not just khuang.. i see a lot of posts like this herethese days. Some of u realky need a dose of reality. Don't equate hope with a fail proof guarantee. Grow the eff up .. we are not in some fantasylamd.
In my view, Lin has not made it. He just got his foot in the door He has yet another mt to climb as he found out last year.
If Lin is happy with where he is now, just living off his linsanity fame then he is not who I thought he was.
Let's see how much improvement he's made this off season. I'm not giving him any excuses because he knew exactly what he had to do to improve.
No injuries to blame. No new city to adjust. If Lin is going to celebrate his movie prematurely like he is doing, he better come out swinging this year. Or I will just laugh at him for counting his eggs before they hatch. That is exactly what this farce of linsanity premier will be viewed as if Lin comes out flat like he did last year...
That casual fan was just one of many points I made so let's not dwell on it..
My point is if you are going to embrace linsanity than embrace it. Don't come out and say that is not who I am and then freaking promote the film. You are justifying all of his actions because he is fellow Christian, but I do not follow him because of his belief in GOD. I care more about his basketball skills .
People see Lin as this flawless, perfect Christian kid but he is no saint. He clearly has his flaws -. So not all of his decisions are going to be flawless.
This kid said he couldn't handle the pressure last year to the point of crying .. But he continues to do things like this that can only serve to make life harder in the NBA for him.
Well like I said, if he is goning to do this self promotion thing and then comes out flat in the beginning of the season, saying typically frustrating "Christian" things like I don't care how I play because I play for god and that is the only thing that matters. - then that will it for me as a fan. Then Khuang can rejoice.
but I do not follow him because of his belief in GOD. I care more about his basketball skills . ____________
Then , you'll be in for a future of disappointments , buddy , because you'll never be able to separate Lin from his faith. (i.e. him supporting the Linsanity movie because it chronicles how he had overcome the prejudices and adversities he had encountered; accdg. to him , it was his faith that carried him through)
If attending Christian evangelizing activities give him more energy to do well on BB court, I am all for it. Addressing Solidz point, I would be against Lin's getting involved in a new movie, but this movie was already made in the past, and I think Lin's involvement is minimal. Also, he probably developed some sort of personal friendship with Jackson guy (after all, Jackson decided to make a documentary on Lin before he the Linsanity), so Lin feels some obligation. No big deal. What I am hoping for though is another Asian-American BB player who is not so inspired by his faith but just wants to be the best BB player because he wants to. :)
Chan C, u probably hit right on the spot. Maybe in the end, I will be disappointed.
Do u know how much I cringe when he says I play for God in every interview? If eel like this is keeping him from being the best basketball player he can be.
He almost makes it seem like giving his best in his strive to become the best basketball player he can be is a freaking sin...
And then he struggles with that conflict even after he proclaims it - like he did last year. Remember he said pre- Houston period the same thing about playing for god, and then he tells us that was not what he was doing.
He clearly has an inner conflict unable to acquiesce his desire to be the best player with being a faithful Christian. And maybe this conflict is weakening him psychologically.
Again, all this will be moot if he plays well. I do not follow him because he is a good Christian. I follow him because he showed that he has the potential to become a great player. If he fails at that then I will have no reason to support him.
And 30 years from now, when kids are watching this movie and get excited only to find out his career didn't pan out after those two weeks.. He will just remain a folklore. A feel good story and that will be his legacy.
Given that Lin had a very successful season last year, it's obvious to genuine Lin fans that the LOHs are completely OFF in claiming that Lin was only good for "two weeks".
Complaining about Lin on a Lin forum is a lost cause. Those who want to make up imaginary stories about how incompetent Lin is should go back to hater forums like Clutchfans where Lin is indeed seen as a total loser.
To all bball minded posters : Is Harden an elite player out of the pick and roll and creating off the dribble overall, and Lin is only a good player in that dept?
James Harden looks solely for his own shot and passes off only when he gets stopped.
Opponents are content to let Harden freeze out his own teammates while bricking and turnovering.
Earlier in the season, teams single covered Harden while sending waves of defenders at Lin on and off the ball. As Harden became more selfish as the season progressed, teams started to double team more frequently because he'd repeatedly make selfish mistakes instead of playing unselfish mistake free team basketball.
Jeremy Lin doesn't touch the ball that much for the Rockets, but the entire NBA plays Lin as if he can go off at any time. Opponents wanted the ball out pf Lin's hanfs because he picks teams apart with both passing and scoring. The way Lin singlehandedly demolished Chris Paul and the Clippers is what opponents are trying to prevent Lin from doing.
The Rockets seem to view Lin as a scorer and finisher, not so much as a passer. They seem to think it's better for the team when Lin is shooting his extremely high post All Star break percentages as opposed to creating great ahots for guys like Asik that statistically have trouble catching the ball and finishing.
Here's the problem with Houston's stat based approach: Shooting percentages for the Rockets would likely improve when Lin's getting the ball to guys in easy scoring position instead of fumbling those errant misplaced passes that Harden often chucks up. Just because a guy like Asik cannot score off Harden's passes doesn't mean Asik can't score off Lin's passes.
I and most Lin fans agree that Lin should be the primary shot creator for the Rockets. However, I feel that Lin has played his role on Houston very well when healthy. Opponents who dismiss Lin always get burned by him.
Also, James Harden goes into 1-on-5 hero mode in crunch time.
This makes Harden a major liability in pressure situations, especially since Harden gets ATTACKED on defense as he conserves his energy for his ill fated selfish play.
Lin, on the other hand, has nerves of steel. He continues to look for teammates and will pass to anybody even when the pressure is on. Lin is also unafraid of taking and making big shots ad passes.
When a guy can consistently make right plays the way Lin can, I can't get worried about his NBA future.
@KHuang maybe teams find him as a threat because of his inconsistencies? one day he's playing like an all star and the next he looks like his rookie days. lol all jokes, i agree with your post fully! it's imo right on, teams see that and I saw that, they would rather double or triple team Lin because like some coach said, harden will get his points no matter what, but Lin is the motor of the team. I think George Karl said that? And god, i can't believe the Rox didn't even see that, god D'Antoni is laughing at McHale for misusing Lin, i think.....
Even Lin's coaches view Lin as inconsistent, MXMoua.
Lin started the 1st half of last season unevely due to his recovery from knee surgery. He'd play great on certain games (i.e. San Antonio, New York, Atlanta, Detroit) and then shoot poorly in others (Charlotte, Portland, LAC, Miami). The coaches didn't know if they were going to get Linsanity Lin or D League Lin because of that injury. They did know that Lin always played rugged defense and always tried to run the offense even if the shot wasn't falling.
But when Lin finally got his health back right before the All Star Break, he KILLED IT. Daryl Morey even praised Lin's health DURING that time period. A healthy Lin is a CONSISTENT Lin, though the Houston coaches still may not understand that.
Indeed, Mike D'Antoni did openly criticize McHale for not using Lin properly. Around the NBA, teams do seem to realize that Lin is really dangerous and plan for him accordingly.
I think that Lin is going to be a highly efficient albeit low usage player next season.
@KHuang agreed. And if I remember correctly when the Heats, defending champs and dudes who killed Linsanity, played against Rox, there seemed to be more emphasize on Lin then Harden. I feel bad for Rockets, only if they knew how to use him correctly, they would have a better record.....
I kind of disagree on teams plan their D on Lin because of his ability. I mean, teams did focus on him, but I think it is because they think they can exploit him. Definitely not out of respect. And certainly as we all know, the refs were not helping.
Well, Houston raced out to the 6th seed early in the season with Lin siphoning and shredding defenses away from Harden and the rest of the crew.
Then once McHale and Houston let opponents press the ball out of Lin's hands, they fell to 8th due to Harden bricking and turnovering. Not even Lin could save Harden from himself.
If Lin were truly an exploitable player, opponents would have LET HIM brick and turnover the Rockets to death the way opponents exploited James Harden.
Opponents may view Lin as incompetent, just like nobody wants to trade for Lin because nobody thinks he can play. But when Lin gets into games and shred opponents, they HAVE to plan against him properly if they're not going to get roasted by Lin the way he did against Utah in that 45 point defeat.
@livy, not that I agree Lin is subpar. I am saying other teams might think this way.
@KH, not saying u r wrong, I almost watched all game myself, the double teams on Lin sometimes made me feel that, they try to take advantage when Lin got the ball trying to force a early TO or something. It feels like those high school games where a good team doing a full court defense on a bad player on the other team. What I am saying is, this kind of Def focus definitely were not resulting from respecting Lin's game.
We can't control how teams view Lin last season. Moving forward, what can Lin do to prevent tems to try to take advantage when Lin got the ball trying to force a early TO or something?
I feel that in the NBA, it doesn't matter what opponents think of Lin. It matters how they play against him.
Say teams really did want to load up on Lin to "scrub him" out of the game last season. Well, that strategy totally backfired didn't it? Lin and his minimum wage and minimum age Rockets raced out to that impressive record before teams realized that their constant pressing of Lin was simply causing Lin to pick teams apart.
The double teams somewhat eased up on Lin as the season wore on and opponents realized that James Harden tends to make mistakes when teams actually guard him.
The bottom line is that Lin EXPLOITED the way opponents viewed him. And that's why I feel Lin is the best young guard in the NBA today.
@liv, like KH said, it is actually better that teams think Lin is subpar, the more they pressure Lin, the more they are out of their defensive coverage, the more Lin can exploit them. After Linsanity, I watched some of Lin's games in Harvard, he makes the right decision most of time IMO. However, he does not perform well when been pressured.
I can see this weakness disappearing during the 2012-13 season. We all remember when we play MEM, IND and other more defensive minded team, they basically just bullied Lin with the help form refs. As he gets healthier, this will be less of an issue.
Since he is not leaving ROX (at least for now), the things he can do are to knock down every shot he gets, to make DH12 a monster in the paint, and give the ball to harden for ISO and fail. Frankly, he did not took some opportunities well last season for many reasons, I think he will do better.
When Lin's minimum wage teammates, especially the big men, are intimidated by max contract opponents, they don't get to the open spots that are created when Lin is ganged up on.
Both Memphis and Indiana were games in which the bruising frontcourters completely terrorized the Rockets' inside players. Hibbert, Hansbrough, Gasol, and Randolph took turns bashing around the quivering Rockets big men. The result is that Memphis and Indiana could zone Lin and bash him around since the Rockets frontcourters were too afraid to get to their customary spots.
No single player in the NBA can crack a double or triple team by himself. It requires a team effort to overcome such traps, and Lin or any other Rockets player didn't receive such effort from McHale's coaching staff.
The team constantly presses and double team lin? You guys actually watched the games last year? Only time lin is consistently double teamed is when lin burns his defender when driving to the basket.
khuang, the "lin is double teamed" tag line is trade marked by me. I invented it so hold ownership of it. you need to produce a written permission, submit it to me, and wait for my answer before you have permission to use that tag line again.
oh, for that matter, "lin is always cheated by refs" and "lin never get hard foul calls" is TM by me too. if you want to use those, please submit written permission to me first, kindly.
further use of these tag lines ebattorney will sue you.for plagiarism and piracy.
i support fair use but you're abusing these tag lines and using them to distort reality. so have to draw the line.
Harden doesn't actually play the typical "pick and roll" style, even though he gets tons of picks and screens, when he gets to the rim, he is an elite scorer. with his huge forearms, he simply baits the defenders and gets and1's because he's so strong that not a lot of defenders can disrupt his momentum. he would often score it himself but in rare moments when defenders were able to take away his scoring options, he'd pass it outside to shooters or inside to the bigs.
Lin on the other hand does play the typical "pick and roll" style. he looks to pass more often than scoring it himself. he's better at creating off the dribble but unfortunately, he doesn't get a lot of screens and picks, and he's often paired up with incompetent rollers and screeners (like Patterson and Omer - when they actually do it). even so, he's able to get to the rim quite a few times, but would have been a lot more effective if he had some help.
depending on the personnel and the style of plays the coaches prefer, either is effective.
Lin would finish at the rim as effectively as Harden if the REFS STOPPED CHEATING.
Every game, Lin gets bashed in the lane at least twice. When opponents collide with Lin in midair as Lin is attempting a layup, it's supposed to be a foul with free throws.
Opponents can also hack and shove Lin with impunity when Lin is on the perimeter.
If James Harden were cheated the way Lin were, Harden would be even less productive than Lin.
i think that because of the incompetent picks/screens or lack of one makes it less effective for Lin to finish around the rim. which can also result in getting there a bit late which in turn, making it easier defenders to wrack him and harder for officials to make accurate calls most of the time (since officials primarily look at positioning). but yea, i do agree that sometimes, it's plain obvious that some officials do have bias towards Lin when making some calls.
Yep! Harden was put in the position to succeed - the same thing that the Rockets coaching staff accused D'Antoni of doing for Lin. BUT when the 3-week Linsanity phase began, they had no choice because of all the injuries; and once Lin started to play very well, the other players (like the then rookie Shumpert) kept passing the ball back to Lin.
I personally think Lin was a much improved player last season than when he was with NY, SIMPLY due to more experience and practice. However, Lin was really put in the position to FAIL.
Oh...... And the excessive propping up of Harden and the marginalizing of Lin LASTED THE ENTIRE SEASON !!! Even at the cost of games once they knew that the playoffs is in the bag - but remember they ALMOST DIDN'T MAKE the playoffs (after wondering whether they should go for the 6th or 7th in WC); It got Morey and McHale VERY NERVOUS. It took until the last game of the season for the Rockets to find out for sure whether they made the playoffs or not!
I bet Houston will be a much improved pick and roll team this year. Jones and Smith must be working their asses off practicing PnRs. I just wish they spent more time with Lin during off season practicing some set plays. And, I hope they don't get buried by lack of playing time since McHell has no clue about bench rotation.
God you know what i hate?! how there's so much "insanity" in houston. No, it's Linsanity only! there's no "Dwinsanity", "Bevsanity", "Clutchsanity", no "Hardensanity"! w.e there is, it's a no, insanity is Lin's thing, Houston needs to stop with that, there will only be one insanity in Houston and that is Linsanity not in Houston but for Jeremy. You can't put the sanity into other players name for a having a night or what not. It's like you can't have two CP or Big O. there's only room for one insanity and that is Linsanity. lol, sorry for the rant.....
How ironic is that those Rox fans who despise Jeremy and keep insisting that PatBev start over Jeremy have chosen to coin new whatever "sanity" that they perceive cool.
They are just like the two miserable M&M, don't differ on their foolish thoughts yet milking on Jeremy's popularity and talents. Despicable!
BTW, there is no other "sanity" except for LINSANITY that is well known in the entire world.
Any NBA player who has a lil more pride than being a copy cat wouldn't want to have his name coined with "sanity" as there isn't any originality and creativity. The Rox needs to stop making their players a joke!
Personally, I dont fine it wrong in incorporating ....whatever sanity with others in Rox. It only compliments Lin. Lin is the original and their wanting or associating with him, is all good
If it's meant to compliment Jeremy, obviously we have no qualms about it. But for those Rox fans and also the Rox FO who dissed Jeremy all season long, their intention seemed to be the opposite.
None of the Houston antics compare to these "sanitys" that were thrown around when Lin was a Knick:
1) Woodsanity - a fan held up a "Woodsanity" sign when Mike Woodson replaced Mike D'Antoni as Knicks head coach
2) ErSanity - Milwaukee's Ersan Ilyasova was having a contract year at the same time Linsanity was going on. There has been no ErSanity since Ilyasova inked his new contract last season. I saw ESPN say "Ersanity" during Sportscenter in 2012.
janelin7 and MXMoua, I think it started with Dwight who said DWINSANITY so this is actually good news. Check out the vid link below on how Dwight said he's excited to work PnR with Lin to create Dwinsanity :)
@psalm234 i guess it's a good thing but it just kind of bugs me like@janeline7 the way they treat him and try to sanity everything it just pisses me off, it's cute that they try to incorporate him but it doesn't seem that way.
@MXMoua, some flakey fans would definitely have fun with the sanity-thing and might ridicule Lin in the process. But when the real Linsanity reappears, possibly it has to be somewhere else, they'll know there's only one Linsanity (and one Vinsanity)!
still, the optimist in me says at least Howard knows Lin will make him even more popular in Asia ;-} He'll definitely try to make this Dwinsanity thing work out somewhat. haha
Dwight was there to market himself, so he had to be polite.
Initially, the Rockets reported to the media that Dwight Howard urged the management to keep Asik (because it was rumored that both Asik and Lin were on the trading block) but said nothing about Lin.
I give Dwight the benefit of the doubt he is neutral about Lin. They just couldn't trade Lin because their strategy was weirdly flawed in light of the circumstances (not rehashing here). As for Asik, they play the same position and it's understandable that Dwight wanted a "capable" backup to himself to strengthen the team, because if the Rockets fail (which I think they might.... 6 or 7th seed?), he will become a laughing stock. I think the staff will bow down so hard to please Dwight and Harden that they will fall flat on their faces.
I think Dwight Howard is going to be in for a nasty Kobe like surprise when he starts playing alongside James Harden.
Harden has a lot of Kobe traits, and not necessarily in a good way either.
Where I see Harden becoming a problem for Howard is in these ways:
1) Defense. This is the BIGGIE. Harden can't just do pirouettes on defense and funnel his man into Howard. Howard's not going to tolerate getting burned every time he steps onto Harden's man and Howard's man slips past Howard for a layup or wide open outside shot.
2) Passing. Harden is a shoot first player just like Kobe. Howard will set all these picks and Harden will keep firing no matter what. Howard will get bruised up setting those picks and Harden won't reward him.
3) Team chemistry. It's going to be Harden's selfishness vs the rest of the entire team. Howard is going to find himself uncomfortably stuck in Harden's camp even though Dwight Howard would rather be a team player.
Through this all, Jeremy Lin will simply play his game and try to be a good teammate. I think that's the right approach for Lin to be taking.
I'm not ruling out Lin becoming a featured player next season either. Lin will have the opportunity to do MAJOR DAMAGE in training camp this preseason, especially since I have no doubt that Dwight Howard will appreciate Lin's team first approach to the game.
I agree with ALL your observations, however, they are also ALL WRONG - if that makes any sense. Heck, no, it doesn't make any sense LOL.
You see, you're overlooking THREE major facts:
1) Harden doesn't have the same level of clout and history that Kobe has with the Lakers. And I'm sure Harden was just doing what he's been told by McHale (and by extension, Morey the GM... it's been said that Adelman was forced to resign because he didn't yes yes to the GM all the time), after all it accomplished what I said in #2.
2) The All-Out-Pamper-Harden phase is gone because the 3 main purposes (which I've outlined recently) for that are already accomplished. Harden is now "just" one of the two superstars they have - and Dwight is the king.
3) Lerch McHale is partial to the established bigs; and Dwight is much more established in the NBA than Harden.
But we'll see. Harden will not want to give up all his on-court "perks".
still, the optimist in me says at least Howard knows Lin will make him even more popular in Asia ;-} He'll definitely try to make this Dwinsanity thing work out somewhat. haha
Actually, I hope that YOU ARE RIGHT. I hope that the 2 stars' ego problems, as well as the problems that Sorry and McHell have for being weirdos, would derail the Rockets because it would serve them right.
Morey has this weird coach-meddling issue because in the NBA, due to the nature of the game, the players' stats (through the way they are played and for how many minutes) can be greatly manipulated for strategic reasons - of which I've learned more than ever before this past season because of Morey's McHale's OVERT tactics that they sustained the entire season. I can understand it but I think Morey over does it..... As for McHale, he's such anti-Lin that the team will fail - unless they treat Lin completely different for a short time in order to facilitate a trade.
As I said, I *can* understand them doing that to certain extent. However, it shouldn't be at such a HUGE EXPENSE of one targeted player just to accomplish two goals simultaneously for personal gain and reputation.
Harden might have been given the prerogative to be "Kobe" last year and probably won't be asked to be "Kobe" this year. But, can Harden's big head be put back into the genie's bottle after you've left it out?
Harden's natural inclination is to want the ball in his hands all the time whether he's asked to do so or not.
When Harden first joined the team last year, Lin went out of his way to make Harden feel welcomed by giving Harden many opportunities to score. Will Harden do the same for D12? ... drama....
I'm guessing Harden's head will be only partially stick out of the genie's bottle because he has to share the amount of touches with Dwight. Harden SHOULD THOUGH since he's a very good scorer. But if he really believes he's THAT GOOD as he "appeared" to be and thus became a Kobe, then who knows what the Rockets Stat-Manipulating Weirdos will do. I think they will kiss up to Dwight a little more; 60-40% is my wild guess.
My opinion is Harden believes NBA is only a stage for him to show off his talent for stat padding. He doesn't care whether the team wins.
So, Harden will half heartedly pass the ball to teammates when asked to ONCE in a while.
But, Harden's passes are devious. Lots of his passes to Lin last year were purposely not sharp. When Lin is wide open, Harden would make a very slow pass to Lin and he's no longer open by the time the ball gets to Lin.
Basically, at least Kobe wants to win. Harden only wants to score. And, he will purposely make his teammates look bad if that's what it takes to stay relevant.
Etane..... Regarding the last 2 paragraph of your latest post:
Of course YOU'RE RIGHT about them. We all saw and talked about them last season. HOWEVER, I really think Harden was told to do that - which he gladly obliged. Harden wasn't the coach or the meddling type of GM; and he wouldn't have been praised publicly all season long by the Rockets "basketball minds" had he constantly disregarded the coaches.
Last season, McHale and Morey had 3 main objectives:
1) Make Harden appear as if he's the elite of the elites. It got him to the the All-Star right off the bat after becoming a starter.... Everyone thought Morey was a genius..... and Morey has said many times that it (Harden becoming the superstar) enables the team to recruit a player like Dwight or other superstars because "a team needs 2 or 3 superstars to be a championship contender".
2) Make Jeremy Lin look bad (for reasons we've discussed many times). Usurping Lin's PG job, as well as doing his own SG duty simultaneously (BOTH at the same time - NOT in the normal "combo guard" sense) had allowed Harden to have the ball in his hands for an INORDINATE amount of time the whole season. Thus making Lin look bad served a double purpose nicely for them.
3) Make the playoffs. And - anything better than *barely* making it by placing 8th was GRAVY. But it WAS NOT a MUST (until late in the season when they saw that they could have seeded #6 in the WC) because the Rockets were picked #30th by many pundits. BEFORE the Rockets acquired Harden (meaning preseason), many folks here picked the Rockets to be 8th in WC (I picked 7th).
There's no doubt in my mind that if Harden was never traded to the Rockets, they STILL would have made the playoffs behind the leadership of Jeremy Lin.
ztr - no disagreement from me at all from what you wrote in last post. totally believe rocket's organization designed a way for lin to play to his weaknesses.
however, at the same time, did coach really have to convince harden to play selfish and ice lin out? or was he merely saying "oh yah i can do that, that's my style of play anyways"?
so, this year, suppose coach asks harden to revert back to being a team player, will harden oblige?
get the joke? harden revert back to being a team player? he never was one in the first place.
abc, they would have made it to the play offs with a higher seed and got past the first round at least. harden without a doubt was a net negative in terms of win share if his stats were adjusted for selfish plays and matador defense.
This coming season, the Rockets management is under pressure to be a contender. Therefore, they MUST make every effort to place at least as the 5th seed in the WC (they were so close to reaching the 6th while the coach looked foolish half the time). That means the team must play like a harmonious unit. There is no doubt that Harden - as well as everyone else - will be asked to be a team player.
Now that Morey's and McHale's objectives are no doubt totally different, we'll see if all the players cooperate with the coach. We all know that diva athletes don't always.
ztrta: agree with you regarding rocket's aspirations this year but not sure houston organization is competent enough to allow their players to play to their strengths. Mchell, as you've pointed out regarding his foolishness, is not a big game coach. I suspect we're going to continue to see blunders down the road when the game starts to count just like last season.
Thanks HY for sharing it so quickly. Morey should listen to Jeremy's testimony to understand that if he listens too much to the voice of money, he may end up losing it all.
Tyler Ward, Francis Chan, and JLin ... Oh God, I just creamed myself dirty here daydreaming about those three heaped together in a sexy, steamy sweaty threesome! ~blushes~
I think what Lin was trying to convey that he still thinks that he is a prideful person based on his "faith", he still thinks he isn't humble enough yet(seriously religion? who in the hell is teaching him this?) and wants to be even more humble/strive for humility(how low can you go?)
... We need to perform another inception on this one and we have to go deeper than the assholes who plant this malicious ideas.
why do people, fans and haters alike, insist on taking his quotes out of context? we get it. you believe that his religion makes him weak on the court and look for little quotes to suppor that. but dude, way to take things out of context.
listen to what he said - he said he doesn't think having a killer instinct/competing and being humble are mutually exclusive. meaning you can compete, play hard, win, and not be a pompous ass about it, either outwardly or inwardly. being humble in the christian sense doesn't mean that you think you suck. it means that you don't define youself by what you do on the court and understand that this talent, this gift is given to you. again, why do people think they're mutually exclusive? he's not saying he needs to think he sucks and doesn't belong in the nba. that's not being humble - that's just self pity and loathing.
also, consider his audience. he's speaking on CCTV, the chinese government owned television station. this is his ONE chance to share his faith with the chinese people directly. he'll never be able to have a big evangelical conference in china like he did in taiwan. and he'll never be allowed to speak in a public forum about his faith so openly. this is his only chance. he knows that and was obviously trying to get his message across any way he can.
Waaaaaa, yet another good old Christian boy coming to Jeremy's aid..waaaa we are all going to hell...
Religion is clearly making him weak because he is clearly conflicted between being the best player he could be and the best Christian he could be. He thinks that making his life all about basketball will take him away from god..
Imagine Jeremy with Kobe mentality. Conversely, Kobe or MJ with jetemy's mentality. See the huge difference?
He lets people grab his hair and pull back, kick him when he's down, and elbow him in his mug, and just beat the shit out of him without any repercussions...he just stands there with a smile in his face. And he thinks he is not humble enough. Let's see how he does this year..
ok, now people start taking shots at Lin due to his faith? Didn't faith play a major role to help him achieve Linsanity in the first place? And these are from his fans? People are funny :)
It's a fair question to ask if his quest for humility hinder his competitive spirit on the court. But it's entirely unfair to diss Lin's faith when it has brought more good than bad. You take the good with the bad. You can't throw out the baby with the bath water.
Even if some Lin fans disagree with the strong faith that Lin has, you'd have to be fair to admit there is more good than bad to his basketball performance. If you take out the faith, then you have to be ready to have a Lamar Odom situation (substance addiction) or Allen Iversion (Practice? You talkin' about practice?). Otherwise, you're just being intolerant people refusing to see the good in Lin and end up being haters.
And check out Lin's actual quote [4:59]: "You can complete and have a killer instinct but to do it with a humble demeanor. You can still be the same tenacious, cold-blooded basketball player but at the same time, still understanding that you have to treat other people with respect, including teammates and fans with respect"
Is that difficult to understand? Lin wants to be cold-blooded BBall player but after he drilled a game-winning shot, he will try not to stomp on other players, teammates and ignore fans.
In other words, he wants to be as good as MJ basketball-wise but not let his selfishness and pride make him disrespect other people. It's really not that hard to understand.
What?! That is such an ignorant view that its ridiculous you are mentioning it. So Iversom and odom are like who they are because they don't have faith?! Yeah like their upbringing had nothing to do with it?
There are plenty of good stand up people who do good things without faith and plenty of prople who believe in god and still end up doing bad things..that is such a Christian centric to suggest thst only those with faith can be good.. To imply that jeremy without faith would be odom or iversom is comical.
I agreed with you on other points. But im sorry but those examples were really shockingly ignorant..
I agree with psalm. I am all for Lin relying on his faith in all aspects of his life, including playing BB. I just wish he does not think that his faith forces him to always defer to other players.
For Lin, I do believe that without his faith, there would have been no Linsanity, because he would not have been able to break through on his own. For him, he needed his faith, to do what he did. Maybe for others, that's not the case. Each to his own. But for Lin, I agree with psalm. psalm is not saying everyone should be like Lin. He's saying when it comes to Lin and BB, you cannot carve out his relying on his faith, as if there is no connection.
Let's not twist what psalm is saying for argument's sake. There may well be Asian-American NBA players in future who do not profess his faith as much as Lin does, but with Lin, fortunately or unfortunately, his faith does play an important part in his BB playing and his attitude. Personally, I am not that attracted to this side of Lin, but I can see many people would be. This is not saying Lin would be like Odom or Iverson without his faith. Lin strikes me as a person who would have been "similar" personality even without his faith. However, I am not him, so hard for me to say.
I tend to think that people seek out religion (God) when their own limit has been severely tested and shown not to work. Lin probably experienced this in his BB career, so his faith probably grew stronger due to his Linsanity experience. I am at a stage where I can believe in God, but for me, it's a big second step to go from the belief in God to believing in Christianity. Faith is a strange thing, to which I am willing to suspend my logic. Having said this, if Christ in physical being put my hands to where his wounds were, I would believe in Christ also like Timothy.
Don't jump to conclusion and miss my main point, Solidz :)
I said "be ready" for a possibility, I'm not saying 100% certainty without his faith, Lin will turn to drugs and being lazy. The main point is Lin's faith plays a major role in his success. If you take away his faith, you have to take away the success.
Have you read the Jeremy Lin: The Reason for the Linsanity? If there is one book all Lin fans should read about him to understand what makes him tick, I'd recommend this book.
There are so many things that we discussed here that is answered in the book. Do you know that after his Portsmouth tournament, he worked sometime with David Jones, a shot-mechanics guru, at suburban San Antonio so Lin won't hold the ball too far to the right, instead immediately in front of the forehead. Also Jones helped him to change the position of the ball in his hands so that it was not resting in the palm but controlled by the fingertips.
And he also spend time working with the renowned basketball trainer Joe Abunassar, who trained Garnett, PPierce, DHoward, BDavis, Tyson Chandler, John Wall, etc.) and he felt that he held his own against many draft hopefuls.
Then after working out with 8 NBA teams, he had to watch players whom he felt he had often outperformed in the pre-draft camp be drafted and signed("I'd call my agent and say I was easily the best one at this workout, and noone seemed to care").
p. 134 Yet Jeremy also saw the hardships he faced gaining acceptance in the NCAA and NBA as a part of the faith journey God had called him to walk. As Jeremy said in our second interview, "I tried to keep my head up and to stay faithful. In so many instances in my life, God turned 'bad' situations into great ones."
The book offers amazing insight of how he thinks and why his faith helped him through being overlooked so many times. He got disappointed and overlooked so many times that only his faith and family kept him going not to give up. This is a talented guy who didn't think he needs strength training until the end of his freshmen year (p.108) purely getting by his BB skills ("Now?" Diep asked. "I was here every day for three years and now you want me to work you out?" "Yes", said Jeremy, "because now I know I need it.")
The main point is Lin's faith is integral in his development and success so we can't separate Lin from his faith who made him who he is now. The book is crazy good that I read it for the 3rd time. I rarely read books or play games for the 2nd time after I finish them.
Well I'm coming to terms with who Jeremy is and what he is about.
After year and half of following him, we are certainly getting a better picture of him as a person.
People have different reasons for following him and no one is going to deny hat he is a nice kid with a good heart. But that is not the reason I follow him. I mean would I think less of him if he was a dick like Kobe or MJ? Hell no. Would I get mad if he partied occasionally around and had a girllfiend like the Derek jeters of the world?? Absolutely not.
What matters to me is can he ball or not, and can he take it to the next level?
I think he can but I don't know if he thinks he can and whether he thinks putting all the effort to that goal takes away from him being better Christian.
in short, what im wonderinh now is does he have the make up to be a great basketball player because my allegiance to him relies on whether he can be great.
Yeah that can be harsh but I am not gonna sugar coat it because I'm afraid of the Christian backlash
I know I'm a bad fan, and I know I often negotiate the line between being a LOH and LOF.. But I'm going to express how I feel about Jeremy - As a current fan of his.
There are a lot of things I disagree with about how he is going about it- ie not getting a professional shooting coach, better trainer, linsanity movie screening.. But in the end, none of this will matter if he plays well.
Thanks for seeing my point, eb. In Lin's case, his faith played a major role along with his personality trait and family support definitely contributed a lot to his success.
It doesn't mean all with Christian faith will be successful like he did. I know many who just doesn't have the personality traits and family support who struggled in life. I have to admit my faith is not as strong as Lin so that's why he's inspiring to others by sharing his struggle. I don't know if I can ever be as blunt as he is. Got to tip my hat off to him as a person who opens up to encourage others.
I am an uninspired church-goer who falls asleep during every Sunday sermon, so I am sympathetic to all religious people. :) However, that does not mean I don't see that some people are inspired by their religious beliefs. But having said this, I will stop following Lin the day I am convinced that he does not have what it takes to be an All-star, meaning I am still convinced that Lin has what it takes to be an All-Star, although I do see weaknesses in his game.
It's definitely your prerogative to root for Lin based on his BBall performance, solidz. And I know you're ready to get disappointed by some of his decisions since he prioritizes his faith over Bball :)
I root for MJ as a player and admire his basketball feats and work ethics but disagree with his choices in personal life. This is a life lesson which I often point to my sons. Take the good but learn from the bad. But most importantly, I learned to separate myself from being too emotionally invested when MJ or Lin lost the games. I realize they're not me so why should I let their wins/losses ruin my mood so I stopped doing that :) Hope someday you'd want to get to that point. Don't be too consumed by BBall, man
psalm, when everything is said and done, this Lin watching is a hobby. Even if he doesn't make an All-Star, Lin will still do very well in his life, no question about that. Having said this, Lin is a very good role model as a sports person. I am the only member of my family who follows Lin on this blog and watch his games. My kid rather go hang out with his friends than watch Lin BB games. :) One reason I participate in this blog is I got no one to talk about Lin. Ha, ha.
I still follow MJ to this day, eb :) I will still follow Lin if he falters in his bball and even his faith so I can root for him to get back up.
I'm loyal guy by nature (I still own my dilapidated high school T-shirt despite my wife's frequent attempt to give it some restful peace) and I just like to learn the good or bad from inspiring people so I can use it in my own life. There's always good life lessons to learn from good or bad.
Jeremy Lin is a legit NBA player. Most average talents would have already crumbled in Houston in his situation.
I think it's funny Lin's most ardent supporters dislike the Rockets organization so much. I liked the Rockets when Clutch City was born, but not anymore. But they are no different than NYK with their 2 faced talk during Lin's free agency.
What Morey did to Lin happens to a lot players, but usually on a more subtle level so the GM/team can get away with it. We Lin fans just noticed it whereas most people don't care enough and Morey and the Front Office got caught red handed.
For example, I think Roger Mason Jr was inexplicably benched behind god awful Austin Rivers and sort of complained at the 0 playing time he got. Nobody cared, and Mason should have been playing a ton more than he was. There was no agenda, they just wanted to make Rivers the new stud to be. I'm sure they told Mason he was gonna play when he signed there (unless he was traded there?). Just saying, this is what happened to Lin on a much larger scale.
And now that Lin is speaking up for himself more, I'm more interested to see what happens off the court, than on the court. I think the Houston media will just avoid interviewing Lin post game when Mchale benches him once they realize Lin will no longer be giving yes-man answers.
I don't think any NBA team wants Lin unless they badly need a guard and can dump junky expiring contracts to get him. Until Morey is ready to do that, Lin will be a Rocket.
I guess you are distinguishing between "legit NBA talent" from "average talent". I think it takes incredible amount of talent to be an average NBA talent. Specifically, I see Lin as more than an average NBA talent, capable of being an All-Star. Am I willing to bet my house on it? No. But I am willing to bet $1,000 USD if someone offered me 1-2 odd (1 being Lin making an All-Star) of Lin making an All-Star in next 4 years.
No one wants to be around me when I start talking about Lin, because I become like Khuang accusing everyone of being racists against a nice guy like Lin. :) I almost wished that Rockets would not make playoffs last year because I knew they would falter at the end and thought Lin would play well during playoffs. In fact, had it not been for Lin leading Rockets to victories in several games, Rockets would not have made playoffs.
I would not be surprised at all if Rockets have a similar record during regular season. Most Rockets fans think you can automatically become a Championship caliber team by adding a super-talent like Dwight, without realizing that it takes a lot of time to fine tune and mold a team into a Championship caliber team. And Machale is no Eric Spoelstra, not even close. That Eric Spoelstra dude doesn't get a lot of respect but should.
Since Lin answered exactly that he can be competitive to win on the basketball court but be humble in treating others respectfully, do you think he's evading the question, Etane?
I don't know how else you can take it out of context since he provided the answer verbatim. Perhaps the main issue is the misconception by many people that humble means deferring, being meek and afraid of others. I fully understand what he meant that he is not afraid or threatened by others to win on the basketball court but it doesn't mean that he will disrespect others by calling them names, talking trash or acting he's too good to be approached by regular fans.
I think he answered honestly to the question but it might still be misunderstood by many.
no, you and I know the interviewer simply asked if Lin can be humble on BBall courts and win.
To me, it means there is insinuation on the interviewer part that humble = deferring or afraid of others so it's conflicts with being competitive which is necessary to win. Lin answered that he's competitive and clarified that being humble means having a mindset not to think he's all that and treat others disrespectfully.
We can't possibly deduce from Lin's clarifiying answer on humility = treat others respecfully that the interviewer insinuates otherwise when he asked the question. He might or he might not. He didn't disagree with Lin's clarifying question so we just simply don't know if he agrees with Lin or not.
But again knowing what the interviewer thinks is not the main point. The main point is can Lin's faith help him to win if it requires him to be humble. I'd say yes from the answer.
The interviewer's question focuses solely on how lin's on the court behavior affects lin's on the court performance.
Interviewer knows that lin can go do 10 millions humbling things off court and that will have no iota's difference on lin's performance on the court.
Yes it's the clarification that lin used to distort the interviewer's question. interviewer was not asking what he thought "humble" means or how he hopes to achieve to be "more humble". That was never the issue.
By not actually addressing the issue, lin is seemingly avoiding the issue that him being passive on court is contributing to him being relatively less effective than if he were less passive on the court.
This question is NOT about his pride or his religion. But, Lin construed it to be that way to change the direction of the questioning.
eb5- I meant Lin is a legit NBA player, meaning he is the real deal as far as being an NBA standout. And I meant average talent as it relates to someone who becomes forgettable or ineffective when the odds are stacked against them. At times, Lin's performed below average last year.
But mainly he played well under harsh circumstances where his expectations were pulled out from under him through no fault or doing of his own once Harden came along. Even before then, they weren't playing through Lin in the preseason. From Scrub to Savior back to Scrub all in less than a yr...I commend Lin for playing as well as he did - I don't think I could have.
Lin's career still has a way to go. But I do not believe he will become irrelevant and have just 1 or 2 good years like Aaron Brooks did.
It will take some luck for Lin whether the Rockets dump him into a better situation, or if Lin can push through his current contract and land in a good spot 2 summers from now during Free Agency.
Lin has to make believers out of his teammates first and then go from there. He has to dominate practices to the point everyone knows the real story whether or not Mchale plays Lin 10 or 40 minutes a game. He has to be so good they start all thinking that it would be better if Lin had the ball more than Harden, which none of them think currently.
The Rockets have to be idiots to think Lin will resign with them. They know he won't. They can't bench a guy making 8 million a year on the cap either. I dont think Lin would even resign if they trade Harden and make Lin the main guard. But Morey won't cut his losses on Lin yet for too many reasons to list.
But u know he won't do that because: 1. He thinks being less humble is an un-christian thing to do 2. Lin thinks he is not humble enough.
He obviously has a strong faith but he clearly has problems reconciling his faith with his desire to be the best .
Don't think for a moment that he is at peace with this conflict. The message he is preaching is nothing new.
He is going to continue to have these conflicts unless he comes to realize that being less humble on the court does not mean he is not following the path of god.
There is no question that Lin will continue to struggle with balancing being "cold-blooded" competitor and being humble in his definition to treat other players respectfully. Next year he might even share similar struggle. The book even mentioned about this part (but I forgot the pages)
That's something that he will get better as he gets more experience but will never be perfect. But we saw flashes during his NY and Houston time. Remember when Parsons mentioned he knew Lin came to play in one game because he had that "look" in his eyes?
I too wish he would have that "look" in his eyes every time he plays. Sometimes he plays down to the competition when playing bad teams. It's something that he personally has to find the balance. And in Houston, it's hard to have that "look" or be in the zone when he was not accustomed to the spot-up shooter role.
Not giving excuses but let's hope Lin has that "fierce-look" in his eyes everytime he steps on the court. He just has to remember FGarcia became his best friend and respect him after he dunked on him savagely in Sac :D
So he just needs to dunk on all NBA players to gain their respect LOL
Lin spent the first part of last season learning his teammates and overcoming his injury.
There were several instances where he appeared tentative as he tried to run McHale's game plan against sophisticated defensive traps.
But once Lin figured it out, he blossomed into a fine player that played like an All Star. Lin hardly broke a sweat as he put up ridiculous output in low minutes.
I didn't notice any softness on Lin's part.
Actually, it takes great personal fortitude to put up with what Lin put up with.
Rafael Nadal is a perfect example of being aggressive on tennis court while being super humble off the court. Lin has to let it out on the BB court and play with more gusto.
Lin should, as he says, truly play for God, and not care about what anyone says. He should also recognize that his aggressive demeanor on the court does not mean he is un-Christian, as long as he does not cuss or play dirty. It's just a game. What I am saying is he should play like Disciple Paul rather than Disciple Peter. As far as I can tell, Disciple Paul was a very aggressive kind of person and had a temper.
But there doesn't have to be a struggle. It's a conflict that is a product of Lin's misperceptiom about what being aggressive basketball player is all about and how it relates to himself as a Christian.
Nadal is a good example. Lin can be as humble as he wants to be off the court. There is no reason to be as humble during the game like helping the other player up when they are down or turning a blind eye when he is needlessly getting pummeled in the face.
Yup play hard, play aggressive, play to win. There's nothing not humble about that. Strange how a simple twist of logic turned this into such a long discussion.
I agree, Etane :) Just play hard, play smart, dunk on people when you can to earn respect, don't stomp one them or talk trash. He can definitely keep his faith and dunking on people without disrespecting them.
To not dunk on people when he can would actually conflict with doing his best for God.
Good point, KHuang. Non-Lin fans don't see how much Lin's game improved in the 2nd half while being put in an unfamiliar position, with new teammates under a head coach who doesn't have much trust in him. He's not soft indeed.
No one will ever be able to understand Lin in the way he lives out this concept of humility , esp. those who haven't walked the road he's taken. Humility in the context of his faith has much , much deeper meaning than the understanding of this world. He said ,he reads the word of God everyday (if I remember it right , at least 30 mins. a day) and tries to live by it. How about if I give you this quote , which I'm sure Lin knows by heart and is his ultimate model of humility. I'm sure you'll all lose it and will go even more ballistic. :>
Here it is -
Philippians 2:5-11
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature - God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
How's that for you? :) You can read between the lines... :)
Nice clip. It's funny. He had a left hand layup at 7 yrs old and smooth spin moves that he no longer has in his normal arsenal now.
Stars aren't born overnight. Lin was a child prodigy that nobody cared to notice. If this were back in the 70's or 80's, no way in hell Lin even gets to start on his high school team, much less get stuck playing Harvard ball instead of the Pac10.
Because of Lin, we'll start seeing some Asian Americans starting on DI teams within the next 5-10 years.
yeah, that was a weird clip in a good way. To be that young and that good is definitely a rare breed.
But basketball people just can't see him passing an eye test as a basketball prodigy in an Asian-American body. It's literally a miracle how far he has made it in the NBA without many people who believed in him. During his Golden State years, we were happy with him getting some playing time and some points/assists. Things have really changed. Now we're debating if he's All-Star material :)
How can you tell he's not riding in at least in Biz class? As long as it's Biz class, it should be ok. I rode both first class and Biz class, and there is not much difference.
I remember reading in the book that during his D-League time with Golden State, he gave away his first-class tickets so he can sit with his D-League teammates.
I would have at least bartered some goodies with my D-League teammates :)
Another X factor in Hou is his push-the-pace-no-Linsanity role assigned by McHale.
If you're talking about his play and fearlessness, it was kind of humbled and shackled to become passive by McHale.
It's hard to play confident when your coach bark at you or bench you for every single mistake. That's why he needs to get out of Houston when his time comes.
"If you're talking about his play and fearlessness, it was kind of humbled and shackled to become passive by McHale"
100% Great point in the midst of all this mess of a thread .
This more than makes up for your other ignorant post today. Congrats, Psalm. You r back on my good side, a place khuang will never be fortunate to see in his lifetime.
I'd like to think my other posts are not ignorant, ignored maybe. lol
I urge you to read the book, solidz. It's really well-written with lots of insider stuff. I wonder who else has read this book. I can't be the only one who read it. Anyone?
I'm with chan c. Psalm your posts are most certainly not ignorant. And your patience is unearthly. :)
What's happening on this forum right now is actually pretty interesting. I'm not much of a Bible guy but this does come to mind:
"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2:14
I also don't expect those without the Spirit's help to understand God's ways. I merely try to bridge the gap to make sense of it to the best of my ability for our fellow friends here.
In a dog eat dog's world, it certainly looks foolish to appear kind and patient like Lin and not ruthless like Kobe. But it kinda makes sense that God's way is better in the long term because how many players want to play with Kobe now or be his friends? Some might grind it out looking for a ring but noone really wanted to play with Kobe including Dwight. And beyond the basketball world, Lin is definitely reaching out to more and more people because of his love for people.
I remember Stephen Covey's 7 Habits message, "Begin with the End". Who on their deathbed would say, "I wish I would spend more hours in the office?" Noone, they would say I wish I spend more time with my loved ones. I'd say Lin is wiser than Kobe because he thought about the End first and focus on relationships more than championships. It can definitely looks foolish for the world if we think short term :)
That is well articulated opinion regarding Kobe, Psalm. I acknowledge that you're thinking long term, but I still have to say that it is still a narrow minded/sighted long term thinking IMO.
You construct your opinion with the notion "everyone" hates Kobe because he is ruthless and selfish and nobody wants to play with him while Lin is the opposite using your positivity goggles. AND I agree with that IF I'm using my positivity goggles too.
Then I take off my positivity goggles and see it in different perspective. I see a Kobe who don't want to let another guy be another Kobe or an event worst Kobe in his team. He believes he is the king and will not anyone dethrone him. HE BELIEVES HIS GAME & HE PROTECTS IT.
Then I see a Jeremy, the opposite of Kobe. Psalm think that Jeremy is well liked and many NBA players (Duh-wight, Harden, Parsons) wants to be Lin's friend and play with him because of Jeremy's humility and patience. Yes, I do agree that there are some/many players who wants to play with Jeremy, but unfortunately for the wrong/bad reasons. They way I see it is a different opposite. They want to be with Jeremy because they are allowed take advantage of Jeremy to further strengthen their own careers in expense of Jeremy's, unlike Kobe who will not let it be on his own expense.
Just as you said Psalm, it is a dog eat dog world out there and it ain't pretty, including the world of competitive sports. You cannot assume that ALL dogs are big and bad, but you still have to assume that MOST dogs are, even the weak and little ones can eat you if you allow them to.
Don't allow them. I hope my negative views help broaden your insights and see things beyond your personality and faith just as your positive views helps mine.
Rikki, that's also a very astute observation of the current world. And it wouldn't say it's negative view either because it is the current reflection of the world, even true in our workplace.
A perfect example of a dog eat dog world would be Tyson Chandler. He sang praises when Jeremy was there and received the benefit of Linsanity highlights but once a bigger and ruling dog (Melo) felt threatened by Jeremy, Chandler chose Melo's side and made disparaging comment that Jeremy was a young rookie and can't lead the veterans (He didn't mention Felton and Kidd's legs are too veteran to lead the team either). As a result, Jeremy didn't consider him to be a true friend and no longer follow him on Twitter even when Tyson still does.
Realizing the harsh reality of the real world where your so-called friends will backstab you in the real world, it's still a model of success to offer shared-success ala Lin. It's true that Harden and Howard might sing praises when they need Lin now and talk trash later. But we know Howard would receive more benefit from playing with Lin than Harden because Lin is known to have less ego, being a pass-first PG prioritizing team play above his own numbers. Howard probably thinks of Lin as a safety valve if Harden goes Kobe on him and hogs the ball. Lin needs to be shrewd to build a strong relationship with Howard without appearing too threatening to Harden.
Your insights definitely are 100% accurate and important to consider. We can't just go blindly being positive thinking others are not ready to backstab you. But I believe the win-win long-term approach that Lin offers will prove to be beneficial to pursue championships as a team rather than Kobe's or Melo's one star-centric approach surrounded by role players. People demonized LeBron for joining forces with DWade and Bosh but with two championships, the haters are muted now.
I believe win-win/shared success is the way to go even when there are dogs ready to claw your back, whether in the NBA or in the workplace. Yes, it's very important for Lin to be an innocent but shrewd Christian as his faith calls:
"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." Matt 10:16
If I'm not mistaken Jeremy has been following 100 people/organization on his twitter. When I check his twitter today it's only 99 people his been following. I can't remember the person/organization he unfollow a few days ago ?
The reason Jlin was kicked out NYC is because Bloomberg and Dolan didnot want Jlin whom many new yorkers fell in love with to endorse John Liu who was born inTAIWAN and is running for NYC mayor 2013.
There have been multiple factors that have been rehashed many times before, Dlin. But if you asked me for a short answer, the main factor would be a different role that McHale initially thought for Lin to do.
From the time before Harden trade happened, McHale had been saying that Lin didn't need to do Linsanity in Houston. Just learn to push the pace, take care of the ball safely and get them to his teammates with many shooters (mainly KMart, Parsons plus PPat, Morris).
It sounds good to make Lin be a responsible PG but he had a double standard for Harden by giving him 100% freedom with many TOs or stopping the ball movement with his ISOs that was criticized by PPat.
Throw in the factor that coaches were losing faith because Lin was not fully recovered until Dec, he had to learn to be a spot-up shooter because Harden took his playmaking job, it's the perfect storm for Lin to have a bad season. It's a good thing he overcame that with superb 2nd half but ended with an unfortunate injury in the playoff.
Les didn't complain because Houston was winning. And he trusted the operation to Morey and McHale so he didn't meddle much. That's about it for my short answer lol
Lovely couple,may their married life be blessed....
Question, and please don't take me as racist: Asian-American men select partners within their race only? She should be someone who has the same,uhm... I don't know how to put this,same shape of the eye as Josh' fiance has?I saw a pic of Jeremy's ex-gf and she has the same eye shape as Josh's fiance.What I know is he like Korean girls and dated also an Asian-American girl.
Are u having 2nd thoughts about Lin's criteria for future Mrs. Lin, isabelijane? haha I believe sharing the same faith and passion to minister to kids are his Top 2 priority.
Like many people, I'd imagine having the same background (language, race, belief, hobbies, matching personality) would be assets while differing background would be liabilities in a relationship. But don't lose heart, pray hard lol
awesome, I hope they release the video publicly! Wish I could be there- great speakers :)
ReplyDeleteenjoy JLinfan#1! hope there'll be a video too, like his faith testimony in Taiwan.
ReplyDeleteWill Lin get his freedom from the southern city? Hope so.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible that Jeremy Lin could be waived via either a buyout or waiver (the Suns' Beasley wasn't cheap). Either way Lin would be free to sign with a decent team and have his money too.
The Rockets are said to have "aggressively shopped" Lin. But it didn't work because either they weren't truly aggressive or they were stupid.
1) They should have shopped Lin much earlier - NOT in July.
2) They should have AGGRESSIVELY PRICED Lin. In light of how Lin was marginalized and publicly dissed by them during regular season -- and 38th in usage among PGs (less usage then 7 of the league's *BACKUP* PGs), plus the balloon payment for 2014-15 -- they should have offered a discount for him. The Rockets should have looked it as a quasi buyout, the least expensive option.
Luckily - they can STILL DO THIS (#2 above), especially with Utah (or via 3-way trade). Right now, Utah is the best target, as it only has 2 PGs and needs depth.
DeleteIf the Rockets still can't pull off a trade, it's cheaper for them to offer Lin a BUYOUT, rather than waive him (it's unusual for any team to claim a waived player and take over the contract). In that case, Lin is still owed this season's entire salary, but they can negotiate the next season's balloon salary. But Lin should negotiate as much money as possible from them OR SHOULDN'T AGREE to the buyout because - after what he went through - he has already earned every dollar he can extract from them.
Anyone hails Morey "Genius" should read your 1st post.
DeleteGosh, i hate that moron!
Yeah, you should have read Sorry's facial expressions during the Lin intro press conference last summer: He looked really dubious to go along with the Rockets' "basketball minds" press back then.
DeleteMorey and McHale sure made their prediction "appear" to materialize; Lin still played very well for being so underutilized - not necessarily in minutes as much as play calls. And it seemed like they were determined to break Lin's spirits. Many things some of us have observed from early on (and were criticized for) turned out to true.
The Rockets are said to have "aggressively shopped" Lin. But it didn't work because either they weren't truly aggressive or they were stupid.
Delete...
People were doubting him when he was putting up insane numbers during linsanity, you think now at his lowest point they have faith in the only Asian kid in the league? His annoying contract probably didn't help either.
For once, I agree with Hunchback.
DeleteAround the NBA, the leaguewide perception is that Lin doesn't belong in the NBA.
But in terms of game planning, Lin is defended like a superstar. After all, this is the same Lin that dropped 38 on Tony Parker's Spurs and 29 on Russell Westbrook and torched Chris Paul for 8 points and 5 assists in 8 minutes before coming back to singlehandedly destroy Paul and the Clippers when Harden was injured . . .
Leaguewide perception of Lin as a D League player is not the same as how teams constantly double Lin on and off the basketball in order to prevent Lin from effortlessly amassing 22 pts and nearly 10 assists in less than 30 minutes against the 57 win Denver Nuggets last season.
@ztrata, I marvel at your loyalty and relentless support for Lin. Hope to see you post more astute observations that most of us fail to heed.
DeleteMaybe Lin should perform happy mediocre on purpose. I'm thinking this could compel Morey to buyout Lin's contract.
DeleteIf he fits in with the Rockets well as a 3-point-specialist SG with a PG title (note his knee is healthy now) - there is a small chance that they might keep him. According to http://www.hoopsrumors.com/ , ".... the Rockets figure to give Lin.... a chance to establish roles with the club early on.... If Lin.... isn't fitting into the team's system, trade could be explored"........ It's highly doubtful the Rocket would want to keep Lin under any circumstances, but the small chance the Rockets could keep him - as a 3-point specialist - is probably pretty scary to Lin internally. Therefore, it might be best if he plays so so with the Rockets. Normally, I'd say it's the player's ethical duty to train and play his best, but not in this case, IMO.
BACKSTAGE PICS.
ReplyDeleteJLIN ON STAGE.
FROM JLINFAN#1
DeletePACKED CROWD.
DeleteI just hate the hypocrisy that appears to be perpetuated by lin due to Jackson's selfish need to promote himself.
DeleteLin continues to say he wants to move on from Linsanity ( which I completely believe), but this too premature movie is bringing him back and not allowing him to move on.
IMO, this movie is the worst thing that can happen to him as Lin gets ready for his penultimate year.
Some of u guys need to stop being selfish fan boys and need to think in terms of how Lin can further his basketball career. And Lin needs to realize that the power of his message will be commensurate with how well he does on the court.
If he ends up sucking (and don't tell me he has succeeded in every level - virtually all the players have succeeded at every level to get to the NBA - doesn't predict shit), his voice will ultimately disappear...plenty of stars with talent have failed due to unfavorable circumstances. Nothing is guaranteed in NBA especially when Lin is coming as an undrafted pick.
Wake the eff up people!!!
I wish they picked up one of my Twitter questions!
DeleteThe LOHs don't realize that Lin "sucking" is not a "given".
DeleteThis movie is premature? Lin might suck? Lin HAS to succeed at every level in the NBA to be considered good enough?
DeleteSolidz you're a LFWLOHM (Lin fan with LOH mentality). You will get more people agreeing with your points of view about Lin at CF than here.
great pics and vids, via and JLinFan#1.
DeleteI wish I could be there listening to Francis Chan and Jeremy's testimony.
I listened to his whole testimony in Taiwan and I don't think he said he wanted to move on from Linsanity, Solidz. He said he doesn't want to get his identity be based on Linsanity such that he'd be a nervous wreck if he does not live up to Linsanity performance in every game. He just wants his identity to be based on doing his best for God. The Linsanity thing might still or might not happen in Houston or the next team.
As Dave T said it well in the previous thread, it's important to understand his mindset because it makes sense why he put a high priority to share his faith every year in Taiwan, share his faith through the movie, and share his faith in this Identity Unleashed conference with Francis Chan.
So he's not going to put all his time and energy to prove himself on the basketball court before he shares his faith and his story to people. He said it on the record that it's very important for him to let people know about his faith to make Linsanity happen in the first place. So who are we to say he shouldn't do this or that? We are just outsiders looking in.
As a passionate Lin fan, I share Dave T's concern that you might set yourself up for a disappointment if you think Evan Leong was to blame to make Lin want to promote the movie. Lin is an adult who can make his own decision to prioritize his faith more than his basketball performance (God first, family second and basketball third).
I consider "LFWLOH"s to be 100% LOH.
DeleteTo be a true Lin fan, one must not get his brain scrambled by the unending anti Asian racism spewed by American media.
I myself view Lin fans as generally UNBIASED. If Lin were black or white or any color but Asian, the entire NBA would be celebrating him and he's have been an early entry candidate out of a D1 school. Lin actually has been more impactful thus far than several Hall of Fame point guards including Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, John Stockton, and Steve Nash. Only Lin fans seem to be unbiased enough to see that.
I don't see how a Lin fan can profess to like him but also say ridiculously incorrect things like he "can't shoot" or "can't defend" or "has no heart". Just because one calls himself a Lin fan doesn't mean that he truly believes in or even likes Lin.
I'm not going to speak for or against Solidz75 on this. But I can speak for myself in that I see a lot of negative social pressure from the media to be anti Lin. It's not easy for most people to have the guts to not see Lin as a emasculated weakass Asian need stereotype instead of as the basketball dominating STUD he'd be celebrated as if he were any ethnicity other than Asian.
And what's with Linsanity being in the past?
DeleteLinsanity isn't Lin's ceiling. It's his NORMAL STATE.
Lin essentially played the 2nd half of last season at a totally Linsanity level. Even despite low usage and tanking teammates, Lin was DOMINANT on both ends of the court.
When Lin isn't fighting injuries caused by racially biased NBA refs, he is an incredible player in the NBA.
Yeah, Dave T. I'm a LOH.
DeleteIf not choosing to be a lemming like fanboy like many of you here (not unlike a "Belieber") and instead, simply being a fan who can accept lin's weakness in his game and want him to improve as a player, a fan who is not scared to point out the injustice Lin faced last year and tell it like it is, and a fan who put money where my mouth is and spends hard earned cash to get nba league pass for the sole purpise of watching lin play (while a lot of u cancelled yours because u are not confident that Lin is going to do well next season), makes me a LOH, then that's exactly what I am.
But I simply refuse to let the group here do the thinking for me because that is the popular and peaceful( christian) thing to do. And I really couldn't careless if u lemmings don't agree with me ( here of any where for that matter)
I'll repeat again for little fangirls like u
1. The timing of this movie is way premature and hypocritical ... Lin himself says he wants to move on fro Linsanity while this movie bring him right back. And I know this is not Lin's decision but Jackson's... Lin is stuck in a bad situation.
2. There is no "guarantee" that Lin is going to succeed.. Especially with all the things stacked against him at this point. And it's not just Lin... Did u see what happened to Greg oden, Sam Bowie, and all the draft picks who failed to succeed despite the success at every level prior to NBA
3. And no, I don't consider just being in the NBA is a success. If Lin is just a bench scrub, I couldn't care less and wouldn't spend time and money following him and most of you wouldn't either.
And psalm that is exactly same thing. If he doesn't want his identity based on linsanity then don't freakinh have a movie about it where casual fans will see him for exactly that. Maybe later but not now. It looks extremely hypocritical.
DeleteFor a Lin fan like me that enjoyed watching Lin play at a Linsanity level for the second half of the season last year, Linsanity isn't dead at all.
DeleteOnly INJURY can force Lin to be a "bench scrub". It won't be the lack of game that LOHs have been delusionally insisting for the last 3 years!
There are many veteran NBA fans who closely follow the league and understand that it's a great privilege and honor just to play in the NBA, let alone star in it. Only those who mindlessly accept the media hype feel that it's a failure to be anything less than an All Star or the even more ridiculous "NBA champion" designation.
For hardcore basketball fans like myself that don't just follow the NBA, Lin is a HUGE SUCCESS especially at the high level at which he's played in the NBA. No LOH can convince hardcore basket all fans like me otherwise.
More Lin movies for me.
And as far as the Greg Oden and Sam Bowie comparisons go, people who compare those two players to Lin in an effort to degrade Lin's game are unaware of the situations of Oden and Bowie.
DeleteLet's start with Bowie. Sam Bowie was a heralded 4 year player at Kentucky. He was an agile and coordinated 7'1" center who wasn't super athletic but was a solid skill player and was considered a future franchise player. Nobody questioned Bowie being the 2nd overall pick behind Olajuwon and over Jordan and Barkley, especially since nobody other than Bobby Knight (who coached Jordan in the Olympic Trials) knew how good Jordan was. Plus Barkley was a 6'4" overweight center with a history of attitude problems and on court inconsistency that wasn't straightened out until Moses Malone took him under his wing in Barkley's rookie season.
In the mid 1980s, Bowie suffered that ACL knee injury. Back in those days, tearing an ACL was basically a death sentence to NBA players' careers. Bowie worked long and hard to rehab himself, and he did surface with the New Jersey Nets where I watched him be a solid NBA center before his legs failed him again. Today Bowie would miss a season and come back to play, just like Blake Griffin did by missing his rookie season. So it was INJURY that knocked out Bowie, not basketball incompetence.
Greg Oden had an even more impactful college career than Sam Bowie did. He nearly won the NCAA title, and it took that stacked Florida team with Joakim Noah and Al Horford and Corey Brewer to beat Oden's team that also had Mike Conley and Daequan Cook.
Oden played for Bowie's Portland Blazers, a franchise with a known history of bad injuries. Oden injured BOTH his legs and has endured surgery after surgery. Yet when he did play, he played extremely well. Oden is now a member of the Miami Heat.
In the cases of Bowie and Oden, both players have had INJURY problems and not incompetence problems. Plus, both players were top lottery picks unlike Lin who was undrafted. Since Bowie and Oden performed very well in their minutes and were high draft picks, they never faced the racism Lin did.
The thing is that Lin's SO GOOD that he's able to make a significant NBA impact despite having the cultural odds stacked against him. In many ways, Lin is the "anti Bowie" or "anti Oden" because Lin's situation is OPPOSITE of Bowie's and Oden's situations.
That's the main point, Solidz. Lin shouldn't do things based on what casual fans will think of him. He should do things based on what he thinks it's best for him.
DeleteIf his stated goals (faith, perseverance, hope) in promoting the movie is misconstrued, misinterpreted and slandered by haters or casual fans, then so be it. He still sticks to his own conviction and I applaud him for it.
I don't think you're open or willing to consider his ways to prioritize his faith over casual NBA fans might work out well for him so it's okay not to want to understand him. We just have to disagree and tolerate others with different opinion.
My perspective is simple. If his faith was rewarded once by God with Linsanity, I don't see why he should turn his back on his faith just to appease the casual NBA fans. God might very well be pleased with his loyalty and bless him with something else better than Linsanity.
My god.. Can we get to 200 posts already?
DeleteI'm really trying hard to avoid khuang's usual propaganda for the sake of this site, but he freaking pops up everywhere!! Don't u have a date or something? Go out dude. It's Saturday..
Didn't really read his typical comment above because he is trying again to show off, for absolutely no reason, how much he knows basketball .. But he clearly doesn't get my point that the reason those two player mentioned was not to compare the specifics of what they went thru but simply to point out that no matter how much talent one may have, the star has to line up well to succeed in the NBA - that means no injury, supportive coach , the right team, .. A lot of things that Lin currently doesn't have. This dude constantly says the refs are biased bla blah,, but he is guaranteeing that Lin will succeed and there is no chance Lin will fail? And if u don't believes what is at best a hope, you are a Lin hater? Are u effing kidding me??
And not just khuang.. i see a lot of posts like this herethese days. Some of u realky need a dose of reality. Don't equate hope with a fail proof guarantee. Grow the eff up .. we are not in some fantasylamd.
In my view, Lin has not made it. He just got his foot in the door He has yet another mt to climb as he found out last year.
If Lin is happy with where he is now, just living off his linsanity fame then he is not who I thought he was.
Let's see how much improvement he's made this off season. I'm not giving him any excuses because he knew exactly what he had to do to improve.
No injuries to blame. No new city to adjust. If Lin is going to celebrate his movie prematurely like he is doing, he better come out swinging this year. Or I will just laugh at him for counting his eggs before they hatch. That is exactly what this farce of linsanity premier will be viewed as if Lin comes out flat like he did last year...
That casual fan was just one of many points I made so let's not dwell on it..
DeleteMy point is if you are going to embrace linsanity than embrace it. Don't come out and say that is not who I am and then freaking promote the film. You are justifying all of his actions because he is fellow Christian, but I do not follow him because of his belief in GOD. I care more about his basketball skills .
People see Lin as this flawless, perfect Christian kid but he is no saint. He clearly has his flaws -. So not all of his decisions are going to be flawless.
This kid said he couldn't handle the pressure last year to the point of crying .. But he continues to do things like this that can only serve to make life harder in the NBA for him.
Well like I said, if he is goning to do this self promotion thing and then comes out flat in the beginning of the season, saying typically frustrating "Christian" things like I don't care how I play because I play for god and that is the only thing that matters. - then that will it for me as a fan. Then Khuang can rejoice.
The reason LOHs freak out when they see all this admiration for Lin on this site is because this is a LIN FAN site that celebrates his achievements.
DeleteLin fans like myself see Lin as he is, weaknesses and strengths and all.
That's in direct contrast to LOHs who only see doom for Lin and are personally offended that he's promoting himself and his causes.
"How dare Lin succeed??" That's the constant message of the LOHs.
But what the LOHs don't realize is that it's Lin's CONFIDENCE that he can SUCCEED that allows him to make and promote movies about his success!
More Lin movies for genuine Lin fans.
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Deletebut I do not follow him because of his belief in GOD. I care more about his basketball skills .
Delete____________
Then , you'll be in for a future of disappointments , buddy , because you'll never be able to separate Lin from his faith. (i.e. him supporting the Linsanity movie because it chronicles how he had overcome the prejudices and adversities he had encountered; accdg. to him , it was his faith that carried him through)
If attending Christian evangelizing activities give him more energy to do well on BB court, I am all for it. Addressing Solidz point, I would be against Lin's getting involved in a new movie, but this movie was already made in the past, and I think Lin's involvement is minimal. Also, he probably developed some sort of personal friendship with Jackson guy (after all, Jackson decided to make a documentary on Lin before he the Linsanity), so Lin feels some obligation. No big deal.
DeleteWhat I am hoping for though is another Asian-American BB player who is not so inspired by his faith but just wants to be the best BB player because he wants to. :)
Chan C, u probably hit right on the spot. Maybe in the end, I will be disappointed.
DeleteDo u know how much I cringe when he says I play for God in every interview? If eel like this is keeping him from being the best basketball player he can be.
He almost makes it seem like giving his best in his strive to become the best basketball player he can be is a freaking sin...
And then he struggles with that conflict even after he proclaims it - like he did last year. Remember he said pre- Houston period the same thing about playing for god, and then he tells us that was not what he was doing.
He clearly has an inner conflict unable to acquiesce his desire to be the best player with being a faithful Christian. And maybe this conflict is weakening him psychologically.
Again, all this will be moot if he plays well. I do not follow him because he is a good Christian. I follow him because he showed that he has the potential to become a great player. If he fails at that then I will have no reason to support him.
And 30 years from now, when kids are watching this movie and get excited only to find out his career didn't pan out after those two weeks.. He will just remain a folklore. A feel good story and that will be his legacy.
Pfft.
DeleteGiven that Lin had a very successful season last year, it's obvious to genuine Lin fans that the LOHs are completely OFF in claiming that Lin was only good for "two weeks".
Complaining about Lin on a Lin forum is a lost cause. Those who want to make up imaginary stories about how incompetent Lin is should go back to hater forums like Clutchfans where Lin is indeed seen as a total loser.
Rockets Monitoring Llull, Papanikolaou..
ReplyDeleteTo all bball minded posters : Is Harden an elite player out of the pick and roll and creating off the dribble overall, and Lin is only a good player in that dept?
ReplyDeleteJames Harden looks solely for his own shot and passes off only when he gets stopped.
DeleteOpponents are content to let Harden freeze out his own teammates while bricking and turnovering.
Earlier in the season, teams single covered Harden while sending waves of defenders at Lin on and off the ball. As Harden became more selfish as the season progressed, teams started to double team more frequently because he'd repeatedly make selfish mistakes instead of playing unselfish mistake free team basketball.
Jeremy Lin doesn't touch the ball that much for the Rockets, but the entire NBA plays Lin as if he can go off at any time. Opponents wanted the ball out pf Lin's hanfs because he picks teams apart with both passing and scoring. The way Lin singlehandedly demolished Chris Paul and the Clippers is what opponents are trying to prevent Lin from doing.
The Rockets seem to view Lin as a scorer and finisher, not so much as a passer. They seem to think it's better for the team when Lin is shooting his extremely high post All Star break percentages as opposed to creating great ahots for guys like Asik that statistically have trouble catching the ball and finishing.
Here's the problem with Houston's stat based approach: Shooting percentages for the Rockets would likely improve when Lin's getting the ball to guys in easy scoring position instead of fumbling those errant misplaced passes that Harden often chucks up. Just because a guy like Asik cannot score off Harden's passes doesn't mean Asik can't score off Lin's passes.
I and most Lin fans agree that Lin should be the primary shot creator for the Rockets. However, I feel that Lin has played his role on Houston very well when healthy. Opponents who dismiss Lin always get burned by him.
Also, James Harden goes into 1-on-5 hero mode in crunch time.
DeleteThis makes Harden a major liability in pressure situations, especially since Harden gets ATTACKED on defense as he conserves his energy for his ill fated selfish play.
Lin, on the other hand, has nerves of steel. He continues to look for teammates and will pass to anybody even when the pressure is on. Lin is also unafraid of taking and making big shots ad passes.
When a guy can consistently make right plays the way Lin can, I can't get worried about his NBA future.
@KHuang maybe teams find him as a threat because of his inconsistencies? one day he's playing like an all star and the next he looks like his rookie days. lol all jokes, i agree with your post fully! it's imo right on, teams see that and I saw that, they would rather double or triple team Lin because like some coach said, harden will get his points no matter what, but Lin is the motor of the team. I think George Karl said that?
DeleteAnd god, i can't believe the Rox didn't even see that, god D'Antoni is laughing at McHale for misusing Lin, i think.....
Even Lin's coaches view Lin as inconsistent, MXMoua.
DeleteLin started the 1st half of last season unevely due to his recovery from knee surgery. He'd play great on certain games (i.e. San Antonio, New York, Atlanta, Detroit) and then shoot poorly in others (Charlotte, Portland, LAC, Miami). The coaches didn't know if they were going to get Linsanity Lin or D League Lin because of that injury. They did know that Lin always played rugged defense and always tried to run the offense even if the shot wasn't falling.
But when Lin finally got his health back right before the All Star Break, he KILLED IT. Daryl Morey even praised Lin's health DURING that time period. A healthy Lin is a CONSISTENT Lin, though the Houston coaches still may not understand that.
Indeed, Mike D'Antoni did openly criticize McHale for not using Lin properly. Around the NBA, teams do seem to realize that Lin is really dangerous and plan for him accordingly.
I think that Lin is going to be a highly efficient albeit low usage player next season.
@KHuang agreed.
DeleteAnd if I remember correctly when the Heats, defending champs and dudes who killed
Linsanity, played against Rox, there seemed to be more emphasize on Lin then Harden. I feel bad for Rockets, only if they knew how to use him correctly, they would have a better record.....
I kind of disagree on teams plan their D on Lin because of his ability. I mean, teams did focus on him, but I think it is because they think they can exploit him. Definitely not out of respect. And certainly as we all know, the refs were not helping.
Delete@Brent, you mean they think they can exploit him bcoz he's subpar or he gets no help from his teammates and coaches?
DeleteWell, Houston raced out to the 6th seed early in the season with Lin siphoning and shredding defenses away from Harden and the rest of the crew.
DeleteThen once McHale and Houston let opponents press the ball out of Lin's hands, they fell to 8th due to Harden bricking and turnovering. Not even Lin could save Harden from himself.
If Lin were truly an exploitable player, opponents would have LET HIM brick and turnover the Rockets to death the way opponents exploited James Harden.
Opponents may view Lin as incompetent, just like nobody wants to trade for Lin because nobody thinks he can play. But when Lin gets into games and shred opponents, they HAVE to plan against him properly if they're not going to get roasted by Lin the way he did against Utah in that 45 point defeat.
@livy, not that I agree Lin is subpar. I am saying other teams might think this way.
Delete@KH, not saying u r wrong, I almost watched all game myself, the double teams on Lin sometimes made me feel that, they try to take advantage when Lin got the ball trying to force a early TO or something. It feels like those high school games where a good team doing a full court defense on a bad player on the other team. What I am saying is, this kind of Def focus definitely were not resulting from respecting Lin's game.
We can't control how teams view Lin last season. Moving forward, what can Lin do to prevent tems to try to take advantage when Lin got the ball trying to force a early TO or something?
DeleteBrent Yen, I'm not actually disagreeing with you.
DeleteI feel that in the NBA, it doesn't matter what opponents think of Lin. It matters how they play against him.
Say teams really did want to load up on Lin to "scrub him" out of the game last season. Well, that strategy totally backfired didn't it? Lin and his minimum wage and minimum age Rockets raced out to that impressive record before teams realized that their constant pressing of Lin was simply causing Lin to pick teams apart.
The double teams somewhat eased up on Lin as the season wore on and opponents realized that James Harden tends to make mistakes when teams actually guard him.
The bottom line is that Lin EXPLOITED the way opponents viewed him. And that's why I feel Lin is the best young guard in the NBA today.
@liv, like KH said, it is actually better that teams think Lin is subpar, the more they pressure Lin, the more they are out of their defensive coverage, the more Lin can exploit them. After Linsanity, I watched some of Lin's games in Harvard, he makes the right decision most of time IMO. However, he does not perform well when been pressured.
DeleteI can see this weakness disappearing during the 2012-13 season. We all remember when we play MEM, IND and other more defensive minded team, they basically just bullied Lin with the help form refs. As he gets healthier, this will be less of an issue.
Since he is not leaving ROX (at least for now), the things he can do are to knock down every shot he gets, to make DH12 a monster in the paint, and give the ball to harden for ISO and fail. Frankly, he did not took some opportunities well last season for many reasons, I think he will do better.
When Lin's minimum wage teammates, especially the big men, are intimidated by max contract opponents, they don't get to the open spots that are created when Lin is ganged up on.
DeleteBoth Memphis and Indiana were games in which the bruising frontcourters completely terrorized the Rockets' inside players. Hibbert, Hansbrough, Gasol, and Randolph took turns bashing around the quivering Rockets big men. The result is that Memphis and Indiana could zone Lin and bash him around since the Rockets frontcourters were too afraid to get to their customary spots.
No single player in the NBA can crack a double or triple team by himself. It requires a team effort to overcome such traps, and Lin or any other Rockets player didn't receive such effort from McHale's coaching staff.
The team constantly presses and double team lin? You guys actually watched the games last year? Only time lin is consistently double teamed is when lin burns his defender when driving to the basket.
DeleteYou're just in LOH distortion mode, Etane.
DeleteYou wanna be like McHale ignoring the defensive traps on Lin, GO AHEAD.
khuang, the "lin is double teamed" tag line is trade marked by me. I invented it so hold ownership of it. you need to produce a written permission, submit it to me, and wait for my answer before you have permission to use that tag line again.
Deleteoh, for that matter, "lin is always cheated by refs" and "lin never get hard foul calls" is TM by me too. if you want to use those, please submit written permission to me first, kindly.
further use of these tag lines ebattorney will sue you.for plagiarism and piracy.
i support fair use but you're abusing these tag lines and using them to distort reality. so have to draw the line.
from my observation,
ReplyDeleteHarden doesn't actually play the typical "pick and roll" style, even though he gets tons of picks and screens, when he gets to the rim, he is an elite scorer. with his huge forearms, he simply baits the defenders and gets and1's because he's so strong that not a lot of defenders can disrupt his momentum. he would often score it himself but in rare moments when defenders were able to take away his scoring options, he'd pass it outside to shooters or inside to the bigs.
Lin on the other hand does play the typical "pick and roll" style. he looks to pass more often than scoring it himself. he's better at creating off the dribble but unfortunately, he doesn't get a lot of screens and picks, and he's often paired up with incompetent rollers and screeners (like Patterson and Omer - when they actually do it). even so, he's able to get to the rim quite a few times, but would have been a lot more effective if he had some help.
depending on the personnel and the style of plays the coaches prefer, either is effective.
Lin would finish at the rim as effectively as Harden if the REFS STOPPED CHEATING.
DeleteEvery game, Lin gets bashed in the lane at least twice. When opponents collide with Lin in midair as Lin is attempting a layup, it's supposed to be a foul with free throws.
Opponents can also hack and shove Lin with impunity when Lin is on the perimeter.
If James Harden were cheated the way Lin were, Harden would be even less productive than Lin.
i think that because of the incompetent picks/screens or lack of one makes it less effective for Lin to finish around the rim. which can also result in getting there a bit late which in turn, making it easier defenders to wrack him and harder for officials to make accurate calls most of the time (since officials primarily look at positioning). but yea, i do agree that sometimes, it's plain obvious that some officials do have bias towards Lin when making some calls.
DeleteHarden gets way better calls and way more shots than Lin, but I don't consider Harden a better scorer than Lin.
DeleteIf Harden had refs constantly cheating him and had a low usage role like Lin did, he wouldn't perform as well as Lin does.
I firmly believe that Lin could have EASILY scored 20+ ppg last season had the Rockets chosen to use him that way.
Harden was put in the position to success. No doubt about it.
DeleteYep! Harden was put in the position to succeed - the same thing that the Rockets coaching staff accused D'Antoni of doing for Lin. BUT when the 3-week Linsanity phase began, they had no choice because of all the injuries; and once Lin started to play very well, the other players (like the then rookie Shumpert) kept passing the ball back to Lin.
DeleteI personally think Lin was a much improved player last season than when he was with NY, SIMPLY due to more experience and practice. However, Lin was really put in the position to FAIL.
Oh...... And the excessive propping up of Harden and the marginalizing of Lin LASTED THE ENTIRE SEASON !!! Even at the cost of games once they knew that the playoffs is in the bag - but remember they ALMOST DIDN'T MAKE the playoffs (after wondering whether they should go for the 6th or 7th in WC); It got Morey and McHale VERY NERVOUS. It took until the last game of the season for the Rockets to find out for sure whether they made the playoffs or not!
DeleteI bet Houston will be a much improved pick and roll team this year. Jones and Smith must be working their asses off practicing PnRs. I just wish they spent more time with Lin during off season practicing some set plays. And, I hope they don't get buried by lack of playing time since McHell has no clue about bench rotation.
DeleteGod you know what i hate?! how there's so much "insanity" in houston.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's Linsanity only!
there's no "Dwinsanity", "Bevsanity", "Clutchsanity", no "Hardensanity"!
w.e there is, it's a no, insanity is Lin's thing, Houston needs to stop
with that, there will only be one insanity in Houston and that is Linsanity not in Houston
but for Jeremy. You can't put the sanity into other players name for a having
a night or what not. It's like you can't have two CP or Big O. there's only room for one
insanity and that is Linsanity.
lol, sorry for the rant.....
How ironic is that those Rox fans who despise Jeremy and keep insisting that PatBev start over Jeremy have chosen to coin new whatever "sanity" that they perceive cool.
DeleteThey are just like the two miserable M&M, don't differ on their foolish thoughts yet milking on Jeremy's popularity and talents. Despicable!
exactly
DeleteBTW, there is no other "sanity" except for LINSANITY that is well known in the entire world.
DeleteAny NBA player who has a lil more pride than being a copy cat wouldn't want to have his name coined with "sanity" as there isn't any originality and creativity. The Rox needs to stop making their players a joke!
Personally, I dont fine it wrong in incorporating ....whatever sanity with others in Rox. It only compliments Lin. Lin is the original and their wanting or associating with him, is all good
Deletetypo fine=find
Delete@Maknusia,
DeleteIf it's meant to compliment Jeremy, obviously we have no qualms about it. But for those Rox fans and also the Rox FO who dissed Jeremy all season long, their intention seemed to be the opposite.
None of the Houston antics compare to these "sanitys" that were thrown around when Lin was a Knick:
Delete1) Woodsanity - a fan held up a "Woodsanity" sign when Mike Woodson replaced Mike D'Antoni as Knicks head coach
2) ErSanity - Milwaukee's Ersan Ilyasova was having a contract year at the same time Linsanity was going on. There has been no ErSanity since Ilyasova inked his new contract last season. I saw ESPN say "Ersanity" during Sportscenter in 2012.
janelin7 and MXMoua, I think it started with Dwight who said DWINSANITY so this is actually good news. Check out the vid link below on how Dwight said he's excited to work PnR with Lin to create Dwinsanity :)
Deletepsalm, I am all for DWINSANITY created by Dwight Howard together with Jeremy Lin!
Delete@psalm234 i guess it's a good thing but it just kind of bugs me like@janeline7 the way they treat him and try to sanity everything it just pisses me off, it's cute that they try to incorporate him but it doesn't seem that way.
DeleteTo be fair, it actually started from Vinsanity which was referred to Vince Cater.
DeletePeople could "sanity" anything, anybody, but they does not match this name, it would dye down eventually, nothing could really last as Linsanity.
beardsanity...
Delete@MXMoua, some flakey fans would definitely have fun with the sanity-thing and might ridicule Lin in the process. But when the real Linsanity reappears, possibly it has to be somewhere else, they'll know there's only one Linsanity (and one Vinsanity)!
DeleteDwight Howard coined the "DWINSANITY" term
ReplyDeleteI think it's marvelous for all Lin fans to hear how Dwight actually thinks about working PnR with Lin will be very dangerous.
Interestingly, he didn't say much about working PnR with Harden (just one of the best 2-guards) prior to talking about Lin :)
What Dwight says and thinks will determine how far Lin can excel this year! Go DWINSANITY!
We have to discount what he said about Lin because this is done in Asia. Lol
Deletestill, the optimist in me says at least Howard knows Lin will make him even more popular in Asia ;-} He'll definitely try to make this Dwinsanity thing work out somewhat. haha
DeleteDwight was there to market himself, so he had to be polite.
DeleteInitially, the Rockets reported to the media that Dwight Howard urged the management to keep Asik (because it was rumored that both Asik and Lin were on the trading block) but said nothing about Lin.
I give Dwight the benefit of the doubt he is neutral about Lin. They just couldn't trade Lin because their strategy was weirdly flawed in light of the circumstances (not rehashing here). As for Asik, they play the same position and it's understandable that Dwight wanted a "capable" backup to himself to strengthen the team, because if the Rockets fail (which I think they might.... 6 or 7th seed?), he will become a laughing stock. I think the staff will bow down so hard to please Dwight and Harden that they will fall flat on their faces.
I think Dwight Howard is going to be in for a nasty Kobe like surprise when he starts playing alongside James Harden.
DeleteHarden has a lot of Kobe traits, and not necessarily in a good way either.
Where I see Harden becoming a problem for Howard is in these ways:
1) Defense. This is the BIGGIE. Harden can't just do pirouettes on defense and funnel his man into Howard. Howard's not going to tolerate getting burned every time he steps onto Harden's man and Howard's man slips past Howard for a layup or wide open outside shot.
2) Passing. Harden is a shoot first player just like Kobe. Howard will set all these picks and Harden will keep firing no matter what. Howard will get bruised up setting those picks and Harden won't reward him.
3) Team chemistry. It's going to be Harden's selfishness vs the rest of the entire team. Howard is going to find himself uncomfortably stuck in Harden's camp even though Dwight Howard would rather be a team player.
Through this all, Jeremy Lin will simply play his game and try to be a good teammate. I think that's the right approach for Lin to be taking.
I'm not ruling out Lin becoming a featured player next season either. Lin will have the opportunity to do MAJOR DAMAGE in training camp this preseason, especially since I have no doubt that Dwight Howard will appreciate Lin's team first approach to the game.
KHuang,
DeleteI agree with ALL your observations, however, they are also ALL WRONG - if that makes any sense. Heck, no, it doesn't make any sense LOL.
You see, you're overlooking THREE major facts:
1) Harden doesn't have the same level of clout and history that Kobe has with the Lakers. And I'm sure Harden was just doing what he's been told by McHale (and by extension, Morey the GM... it's been said that Adelman was forced to resign because he didn't yes yes to the GM all the time), after all it accomplished what I said in #2.
2) The All-Out-Pamper-Harden phase is gone because the 3 main purposes (which I've outlined recently) for that are already accomplished. Harden is now "just" one of the two superstars they have - and Dwight is the king.
3) Lerch McHale is partial to the established bigs; and Dwight is much more established in the NBA than Harden.
But we'll see. Harden will not want to give up all his on-court "perks".
still, the optimist in me says at least Howard knows Lin will make him even more popular in Asia ;-} He'll definitely try to make this Dwinsanity thing work out somewhat. haha
DeleteI hope you're right and I'm wrong about my speculation, ztrta!
DeleteI also like that DWINSANITY ! Let's all hope it works ! I can't wait watch the ROCKETS for the presscon here in the Philippines !
DeleteI also dont like BEVSANITY ! It doesn't sound good !
KHuang,
DeleteActually, I hope that YOU ARE RIGHT. I hope that the 2 stars' ego problems, as well as the problems that Sorry and McHell have for being weirdos, would derail the Rockets because it would serve them right.
Morey has this weird coach-meddling issue because in the NBA, due to the nature of the game, the players' stats (through the way they are played and for how many minutes) can be greatly manipulated for strategic reasons - of which I've learned more than ever before this past season because of Morey's McHale's OVERT tactics that they sustained the entire season. I can understand it but I think Morey over does it..... As for McHale, he's such anti-Lin that the team will fail - unless they treat Lin completely different for a short time in order to facilitate a trade.
p.s.
DeleteAs I said, I *can* understand them doing that to certain extent. However, it shouldn't be at such a HUGE EXPENSE of one targeted player just to accomplish two goals simultaneously for personal gain and reputation.
Harden might have been given the prerogative to be "Kobe" last year and probably won't be asked to be "Kobe" this year. But, can Harden's big head be put back into the genie's bottle after you've left it out?
DeleteHarden's natural inclination is to want the ball in his hands all the time whether he's asked to do so or not.
When Harden first joined the team last year, Lin went out of his way to make Harden feel welcomed by giving Harden many opportunities to score. Will Harden do the same for D12? ... drama....
Etane,
DeleteI'm guessing Harden's head will be only partially stick out of the genie's bottle because he has to share the amount of touches with Dwight. Harden SHOULD THOUGH since he's a very good scorer. But if he really believes he's THAT GOOD as he "appeared" to be and thus became a Kobe, then who knows what the Rockets Stat-Manipulating Weirdos will do. I think they will kiss up to Dwight a little more; 60-40% is my wild guess.
My opinion is Harden believes NBA is only a stage for him to show off his talent for stat padding. He doesn't care whether the team wins.
DeleteSo, Harden will half heartedly pass the ball to teammates when asked to ONCE in a while.
But, Harden's passes are devious. Lots of his passes to Lin last year were purposely not sharp. When Lin is wide open, Harden would make a very slow pass to Lin and he's no longer open by the time the ball gets to Lin.
Basically, at least Kobe wants to win. Harden only wants to score. And, he will purposely make his teammates look bad if that's what it takes to stay relevant.
I agree with Etane here. Harden doesn't strike me as being committed to Rockets winning a Championship over sacrificing his stats.
DeleteEtane..... Regarding the last 2 paragraph of your latest post:
DeleteOf course YOU'RE RIGHT about them. We all saw and talked about them last season. HOWEVER, I really think Harden was told to do that - which he gladly obliged. Harden wasn't the coach or the meddling type of GM; and he wouldn't have been praised publicly all season long by the Rockets "basketball minds" had he constantly disregarded the coaches.
Last season, McHale and Morey had 3 main objectives:
1) Make Harden appear as if he's the elite of the elites. It got him to the the All-Star right off the bat after becoming a starter.... Everyone thought Morey was a genius..... and Morey has said many times that it (Harden becoming the superstar) enables the team to recruit a player like Dwight or other superstars because "a team needs 2 or 3 superstars to be a championship contender".
2) Make Jeremy Lin look bad (for reasons we've discussed many times). Usurping Lin's PG job, as well as doing his own SG duty simultaneously (BOTH at the same time - NOT in the normal "combo guard" sense) had allowed Harden to have the ball in his hands for an INORDINATE amount of time the whole season. Thus making Lin look bad served a double purpose nicely for them.
3) Make the playoffs. And - anything better than *barely* making it by placing 8th was GRAVY. But it WAS NOT a MUST (until late in the season when they saw that they could have seeded #6 in the WC) because the Rockets were picked #30th by many pundits. BEFORE the Rockets acquired Harden (meaning preseason), many folks here picked the Rockets to be 8th in WC (I picked 7th).
There's no doubt in my mind that if Harden was never traded to the Rockets, they STILL would have made the playoffs behind the leadership of Jeremy Lin.
Deleteztr - no disagreement from me at all from what you wrote in last post. totally believe rocket's organization designed a way for lin to play to his weaknesses.
Deletehowever, at the same time, did coach really have to convince harden to play selfish and ice lin out? or was he merely saying "oh yah i can do that, that's my style of play anyways"?
so, this year, suppose coach asks harden to revert back to being a team player, will harden oblige?
get the joke? harden revert back to being a team player? he never was one in the first place.
abc, they would have made it to the play offs with a higher seed and got past the first round at least. harden without a doubt was a net negative in terms of win share if his stats were adjusted for selfish plays and matador defense.
Deleteas well as taking away lin's opportunity to control the offense.
DeleteEtane,
DeleteThis coming season, the Rockets management is under pressure to be a contender. Therefore, they MUST make every effort to place at least as the 5th seed in the WC (they were so close to reaching the 6th while the coach looked foolish half the time). That means the team must play like a harmonious unit. There is no doubt that Harden - as well as everyone else - will be asked to be a team player.
Now that Morey's and McHale's objectives are no doubt totally different, we'll see if all the players cooperate with the coach. We all know that diva athletes don't always.
ztrta: agree with you regarding rocket's aspirations this year but not sure houston organization is competent enough to allow their players to play to their strengths. Mchell, as you've pointed out regarding his foolishness, is not a big game coach. I suspect we're going to continue to see blunders down the road when the game starts to count just like last season.
DeleteNice, JLinfan#1! So how was the event?
ReplyDeleteJeremy Lin at Identity Unleashed 2013
ReplyDelete[from basketballer516]
Thanks HY for sharing it so quickly.
DeleteMorey should listen to Jeremy's testimony to understand that if he listens too much to the voice of money, he may end up losing it all.
He basically repeated what he said in TW. No backtracking, Solidz75....
DeleteBrent I am waiting for when the media start asking him the questions... But it is a good start..
DeleteLinsanity is the ORIGINAL, nothing else
ReplyDeleteThere were Vinsanity. Which has more of the insanity part of it.
DeleteVince Carter-The Legend of Vinsanity
There was Jimmer-Mania in 2011. White people were goin' crazy over him.
DeleteHere is the video from the Identity Unleashed. Thanks to the person who uploaded the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzaLndvEDdw
ReplyDeleteTyler Ward, Francis Chan, and JLin ... Oh God, I just creamed myself dirty here daydreaming about those three heaped together in a sexy, steamy sweaty threesome! ~blushes~
ReplyDeleteJeremy Lin reviews last season
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice one with CCTV 1:1 interview with Jeremy.
Wow lin just did a khuang-like reality distortion field with one of his answers:
DeleteGlasses dude: Do you think being humble is good on court? You want to show your killer instinct instead of being humble, right?
Lin: I don’t think I am a humble person. Through my faith I learned in many ways I am a very proud person and I want to strive for humility.
I think what Lin was trying to convey that he still thinks that he is a prideful person based on his "faith", he still thinks he isn't humble enough yet(seriously religion? who in the hell is teaching him this?) and wants to be even more humble/strive for humility(how low can you go?)
Delete...
We need to perform another inception on this one and we have to go deeper than the assholes who plant this malicious ideas.
-We need to perform another inception on this one and we have to go deeper than the assholes who plant this malicious ideas.
DeleteLOL what will we find deepest in his latent memories, a basketball or a bible?
On the court, Lin is a great team guy, but he can't hide behind that when people question his killer instinct like the glasses dude did.
I am beginning to feel that maybe religion IS taking that edge away from his game.
why do people, fans and haters alike, insist on taking his quotes out of context? we get it. you believe that his religion makes him weak on the court and look for little quotes to suppor that. but dude, way to take things out of context.
Deletelisten to what he said - he said he doesn't think having a killer instinct/competing and being humble are mutually exclusive. meaning you can compete, play hard, win, and not be a pompous ass about it, either outwardly or inwardly. being humble in the christian sense doesn't mean that you think you suck. it means that you don't define youself by what you do on the court and understand that this talent, this gift is given to you. again, why do people think they're mutually exclusive? he's not saying he needs to think he sucks and doesn't belong in the nba. that's not being humble - that's just self pity and loathing.
also, consider his audience. he's speaking on CCTV, the chinese government owned television station. this is his ONE chance to share his faith with the chinese people directly. he'll never be able to have a big evangelical conference in china like he did in taiwan. and he'll never be allowed to speak in a public forum about his faith so openly. this is his only chance. he knows that and was obviously trying to get his message across any way he can.
Waaaaaa, yet another good old Christian boy coming to Jeremy's aid..waaaa we are all going to hell...
DeleteReligion is clearly making him weak because he is clearly conflicted between being the best player he could be and the best Christian he could be. He thinks that making his life all about basketball will take him away from god..
Imagine Jeremy with Kobe mentality. Conversely, Kobe or MJ with jetemy's mentality. See the huge difference?
He lets people grab his hair and pull back, kick him when he's down, and elbow him in his mug, and just beat the shit out of him without any repercussions...he just stands there with a smile in his face. And he thinks he is not humble enough. Let's see how he does this year..
Because summer is boring. When season starts, only the talks of his performance will be discussed
DeleteHere's to wishing that God sends his angel to tell Lin that he should have a "kick-ass" attitude when he plays BB and not pass the ball to Harden. :)
Deleteok, now people start taking shots at Lin due to his faith? Didn't faith play a major role to help him achieve Linsanity in the first place? And these are from his fans? People are funny :)
DeleteIt's a fair question to ask if his quest for humility hinder his competitive spirit on the court. But it's entirely unfair to diss Lin's faith when it has brought more good than bad. You take the good with the bad. You can't throw out the baby with the bath water.
Even if some Lin fans disagree with the strong faith that Lin has, you'd have to be fair to admit there is more good than bad to his basketball performance. If you take out the faith, then you have to be ready to have a Lamar Odom situation (substance addiction) or Allen Iversion (Practice? You talkin' about practice?). Otherwise, you're just being intolerant people refusing to see the good in Lin and end up being haters.
Come on people. You gotta be fair.
I agree, however, we all know life is not fair. lol
DeleteLife is definitely not fair, Brent :)
DeleteAnd check out Lin's actual quote [4:59]:
"You can complete and have a killer instinct but to do it with a humble demeanor. You can still be the same tenacious, cold-blooded basketball player but at the same time, still understanding that you have to treat other people with respect, including teammates and fans with respect"
Is that difficult to understand? Lin wants to be cold-blooded BBall player but after he drilled a game-winning shot, he will try not to stomp on other players, teammates and ignore fans.
In other words, he wants to be as good as MJ basketball-wise but not let his selfishness and pride make him disrespect other people. It's really not that hard to understand.
What?! That is such an ignorant view that its ridiculous you are mentioning it. So Iversom and odom are like who they are because they don't have faith?! Yeah like their upbringing had nothing to do with it?
DeleteThere are plenty of good stand up people who do good things without faith and plenty of prople who believe in god and still end up doing bad things..that is such a Christian centric to suggest thst only those with faith can be good.. To imply that jeremy without faith would be odom or iversom is comical.
I agreed with you on other points. But im sorry but those examples were really shockingly ignorant..
I agree with psalm. I am all for Lin relying on his faith in all aspects of his life, including playing BB. I just wish he does not think that his faith forces him to always defer to other players.
DeleteFor Lin, I do believe that without his faith, there would have been no Linsanity, because he would not have been able to break through on his own. For him, he needed his faith, to do what he did. Maybe for others, that's not the case. Each to his own. But for Lin, I agree with psalm. psalm is not saying everyone should be like Lin. He's saying when it comes to Lin and BB, you cannot carve out his relying on his faith, as if there is no connection.
DeleteLet's not twist what psalm is saying for argument's sake. There may well be Asian-American NBA players in future who do not profess his faith as much as Lin does, but with Lin, fortunately or unfortunately, his faith does play an important part in his BB playing and his attitude. Personally, I am not that attracted to this side of Lin, but I can see many people would be. This is not saying Lin would be like Odom or Iverson without his faith. Lin strikes me as a person who would have been "similar" personality even without his faith. However, I am not him, so hard for me to say.
DeleteI tend to think that people seek out religion (God) when their own limit has been severely tested and shown not to work. Lin probably experienced this in his BB career, so his faith probably grew stronger due to his Linsanity experience. I am at a stage where I can believe in God, but for me, it's a big second step to go from the belief in God to believing in Christianity. Faith is a strange thing, to which I am willing to suspend my logic. Having said this, if Christ in physical being put my hands to where his wounds were, I would believe in Christ also like Timothy.
DeleteDon't jump to conclusion and miss my main point, Solidz :)
DeleteI said "be ready" for a possibility, I'm not saying 100% certainty without his faith, Lin will turn to drugs and being lazy. The main point is Lin's faith plays a major role in his success. If you take away his faith, you have to take away the success.
Have you read the Jeremy Lin: The Reason for the Linsanity? If there is one book all Lin fans should read about him to understand what makes him tick, I'd recommend this book.
There are so many things that we discussed here that is answered in the book.
Do you know that after his Portsmouth tournament, he worked sometime with David Jones, a shot-mechanics guru, at suburban San Antonio so Lin won't hold the ball too far to the right, instead immediately in front of the forehead. Also Jones helped him to change the position of the ball in his hands so that it was not resting in the palm but controlled by the fingertips.
And he also spend time working with the renowned basketball trainer Joe Abunassar, who trained Garnett, PPierce, DHoward, BDavis, Tyson Chandler, John Wall, etc.) and he felt that he held his own against many draft hopefuls.
Then after working out with 8 NBA teams, he had to watch players whom he felt he had often outperformed in the pre-draft camp be drafted and signed("I'd call my agent and say I was easily the best one at this workout, and noone seemed to care").
p. 134 Yet Jeremy also saw the hardships he faced gaining acceptance in the NCAA and NBA as a part of the faith journey God had called him to walk. As Jeremy said in our second interview, "I tried to keep my head up and to stay faithful. In so many instances in my life, God turned 'bad' situations into great ones."
The book offers amazing insight of how he thinks and why his faith helped him through being overlooked so many times. He got disappointed and overlooked so many times that only his faith and family kept him going not to give up. This is a talented guy who didn't think he needs strength training until the end of his freshmen year (p.108) purely getting by his BB skills ("Now?" Diep asked. "I was here every day for three years and now you want me to work you out?" "Yes", said Jeremy, "because now I know I need it.")
The main point is Lin's faith is integral in his development and success so we can't separate Lin from his faith who made him who he is now. The book is crazy good that I read it for the 3rd time. I rarely read books or play games for the 2nd time after I finish them.
Well I'm coming to terms with who Jeremy is and what he is about.
DeleteAfter year and half of following him, we are certainly getting a better picture of him as a person.
People have different reasons for following him and no one is going to deny hat he is a nice kid with a good heart. But that is not the reason I follow him. I mean would I think less of him if he was a dick like Kobe or MJ? Hell no. Would I get mad if he partied occasionally around and had a girllfiend like the Derek jeters of the world?? Absolutely not.
What matters to me is can he ball or not, and can he take it to the next level?
I think he can but I don't know if he thinks he can and whether he thinks putting all the effort to that goal takes away from him being better Christian.
in short, what im wonderinh now is does he have the make up to be a great basketball player because my allegiance to him relies on whether he can be great.
Yeah that can be harsh but I am not gonna sugar coat it because I'm afraid of the Christian backlash
I know I'm a bad fan, and I know I often negotiate the line between being a LOH and LOF.. But I'm going to express how I feel about Jeremy - As a current fan of his.
There are a lot of things I disagree with about how he is going about it- ie not getting a professional shooting coach, better trainer, linsanity movie screening.. But in the end, none of this will matter if he plays well.
Thanks for seeing my point, eb. In Lin's case, his faith played a major role along with his personality trait and family support definitely contributed a lot to his success.
DeleteIt doesn't mean all with Christian faith will be successful like he did. I know many who just doesn't have the personality traits and family support who struggled in life. I have to admit my faith is not as strong as Lin so that's why he's inspiring to others by sharing his struggle. I don't know if I can ever be as blunt as he is. Got to tip my hat off to him as a person who opens up to encourage others.
I am an uninspired church-goer who falls asleep during every Sunday sermon, so I am sympathetic to all religious people. :) However, that does not mean I don't see that some people are inspired by their religious beliefs. But having said this, I will stop following Lin the day I am convinced that he does not have what it takes to be an All-star, meaning I am still convinced that Lin has what it takes to be an All-Star, although I do see weaknesses in his game.
DeleteIt's definitely your prerogative to root for Lin based on his BBall performance, solidz. And I know you're ready to get disappointed by some of his decisions since he prioritizes his faith over Bball :)
DeleteI root for MJ as a player and admire his basketball feats and work ethics but disagree with his choices in personal life. This is a life lesson which I often point to my sons. Take the good but learn from the bad. But most importantly, I learned to separate myself from being too emotionally invested when MJ or Lin lost the games. I realize they're not me so why should I let their wins/losses ruin my mood so I stopped doing that :) Hope someday you'd want to get to that point. Don't be too consumed by BBall, man
psalm, when everything is said and done, this Lin watching is a hobby. Even if he doesn't make an All-Star, Lin will still do very well in his life, no question about that. Having said this, Lin is a very good role model as a sports person. I am the only member of my family who follows Lin on this blog and watch his games. My kid rather go hang out with his friends than watch Lin BB games. :) One reason I participate in this blog is I got no one to talk about Lin. Ha, ha.
DeleteI still follow MJ to this day, eb :) I will still follow Lin if he falters in his bball and even his faith so I can root for him to get back up.
DeleteI'm loyal guy by nature (I still own my dilapidated high school T-shirt despite my wife's frequent attempt to give it some restful peace) and I just like to learn the good or bad from inspiring people so I can use it in my own life. There's always good life lessons to learn from good or bad.
haha, that's true eb. People who frequent this blog might suffer from "Noone else in the family wants to talk about Lin" Syndrome :D
DeleteJeremy Lin is a legit NBA player. Most average talents would have already crumbled in Houston in his situation.
DeleteI think it's funny Lin's most ardent supporters dislike the Rockets organization so much. I liked the Rockets when Clutch City was born, but not anymore. But they are no different than NYK with their 2 faced talk during Lin's free agency.
What Morey did to Lin happens to a lot players, but usually on a more subtle level so the GM/team can get away with it. We Lin fans just noticed it whereas most people don't care enough and Morey and the Front Office got caught red handed.
For example, I think Roger Mason Jr was inexplicably benched behind god awful Austin Rivers and sort of complained at the 0 playing time he got. Nobody cared, and Mason should have been playing a ton more than he was. There was no agenda, they just wanted to make Rivers the new stud to be. I'm sure they told Mason he was gonna play when he signed there (unless he was traded there?). Just saying, this is what happened to Lin on a much larger scale.
And now that Lin is speaking up for himself more, I'm more interested to see what happens off the court, than on the court. I think the Houston media will just avoid interviewing Lin post game when Mchale benches him once they realize Lin will no longer be giving yes-man answers.
I don't think any NBA team wants Lin unless they badly need a guard and can dump junky expiring contracts to get him. Until Morey is ready to do that, Lin will be a Rocket.
I guess you are distinguishing between "legit NBA talent" from "average talent". I think it takes incredible amount of talent to be an average NBA talent. Specifically, I see Lin as more than an average NBA talent, capable of being an All-Star. Am I willing to bet my house on it? No. But I am willing to bet $1,000 USD if someone offered me 1-2 odd (1 being Lin making an All-Star) of Lin making an All-Star in next 4 years.
DeleteNo one wants to be around me when I start talking about Lin, because I become like Khuang accusing everyone of being racists against a nice guy like Lin. :) I almost wished that Rockets would not make playoffs last year because I knew they would falter at the end and thought Lin would play well during playoffs. In fact, had it not been for Lin leading Rockets to victories in several games, Rockets would not have made playoffs.
DeleteI would not be surprised at all if Rockets have a similar record during regular season. Most Rockets fans think you can automatically become a Championship caliber team by adding a super-talent like Dwight, without realizing that it takes a lot of time to fine tune and mold a team into a Championship caliber team. And Machale is no Eric Spoelstra, not even close. That Eric Spoelstra dude doesn't get a lot of respect but should.
DeleteKinda got too long so didn't read everything.
DeleteBut, it seems it's the christians here who took Lin's words out of context.
The glasses dude merely asked whether lin should be less humble on the court in order to have more of that killer instinct.
Saying things like being competitive and being humble is not mutually exclusive is not answering the question but is evading the issue.
The issue is whether being humble ON the court is hindering his abilities ON the court.
The question was never about what Lin does OFF the court.
Sure, religion, as jeremy claims, has helped lin in one way or another. But, that has nothing to do with the question he's being asked to answer.
Since Lin answered exactly that he can be competitive to win on the basketball court but be humble in treating others respectfully, do you think he's evading the question, Etane?
DeleteI don't know how else you can take it out of context since he provided the answer verbatim. Perhaps the main issue is the misconception by many people that humble means deferring, being meek and afraid of others. I fully understand what he meant that he is not afraid or threatened by others to win on the basketball court but it doesn't mean that he will disrespect others by calling them names, talking trash or acting he's too good to be approached by regular fans.
I think he answered honestly to the question but it might still be misunderstood by many.
Are you insinuating that the glasses dude is saying Lin should not treat people respectfully in order to play with more killer instinct?
Deleteno, you and I know the interviewer simply asked if Lin can be humble on BBall courts and win.
DeleteTo me, it means there is insinuation on the interviewer part that humble = deferring or afraid of others so it's conflicts with being competitive which is necessary to win. Lin answered that he's competitive and clarified that being humble means having a mindset not to think he's all that and treat others disrespectfully.
We can't possibly deduce from Lin's clarifiying answer on humility = treat others respecfully that the interviewer insinuates otherwise when he asked the question. He might or he might not. He didn't disagree with Lin's clarifying question so we just simply don't know if he agrees with Lin or not.
But again knowing what the interviewer thinks is not the main point. The main point is can Lin's faith help him to win if it requires him to be humble. I'd say yes from the answer.
sorry, typo..
Deletethe interviewer didn't disagree with Lin's clarifying *answer* , not 'question'
The interviewer's question focuses solely on how lin's on the court behavior affects lin's on the court performance.
DeleteInterviewer knows that lin can go do 10 millions humbling things off court and that will have no iota's difference on lin's performance on the court.
Yes it's the clarification that lin used to distort the interviewer's question. interviewer was not asking what he thought "humble" means or how he hopes to achieve to be "more humble". That was never the issue.
By not actually addressing the issue, lin is seemingly avoiding the issue that him being passive on court is contributing to him being relatively less effective than if he were less passive on the court.
This question is NOT about his pride or his religion. But, Lin construed it to be that way to change the direction of the questioning.
FWIW, I want Lin to be "less humble" on court.
Deleteeb5- I meant Lin is a legit NBA player, meaning he is the real deal as far as being an NBA standout. And I meant average talent as it relates to someone who becomes forgettable or ineffective when the odds are stacked against them. At times, Lin's performed below average last year.
DeleteBut mainly he played well under harsh circumstances where his expectations were pulled out from under him through no fault or doing of his own once Harden came along. Even before then, they weren't playing through Lin in the preseason. From Scrub to Savior back to Scrub all in less than a yr...I commend Lin for playing as well as he did - I don't think I could have.
Lin's career still has a way to go. But I do not believe he will become irrelevant and have just 1 or 2 good years like Aaron Brooks did.
It will take some luck for Lin whether the Rockets dump him into a better situation, or if Lin can push through his current contract and land in a good spot 2 summers from now during Free Agency.
Lin has to make believers out of his teammates first and then go from there. He has to dominate practices to the point everyone knows the real story whether or not Mchale plays Lin 10 or 40 minutes a game. He has to be so good they start all thinking that it would be better if Lin had the ball more than Harden, which none of them think currently.
The Rockets have to be idiots to think Lin will resign with them. They know he won't. They can't bench a guy making 8 million a year on the cap either. I dont think Lin would even resign if they trade Harden and make Lin the main guard. But Morey won't cut his losses on Lin yet for too many reasons to list.
psalm234 - your patience and demeanor is amazing! God bless ya.
DeleteFWIW, I want Lin to be "less humble" on court.
DeleteBut u know he won't do that because:
1. He thinks being less humble is an un-christian thing to do
2. Lin thinks he is not humble enough.
He obviously has a strong faith but he clearly has problems reconciling his faith with his desire to be the best .
Don't think for a moment that he is at peace with this conflict. The message he is preaching is nothing new.
He is going to continue to have these conflicts unless he comes to realize that being less humble on the court does not mean he is not following the path of god.
There is no question that Lin will continue to struggle with balancing being "cold-blooded" competitor and being humble in his definition to treat other players respectfully. Next year he might even share similar struggle. The book even mentioned about this part (but I forgot the pages)
DeleteThat's something that he will get better as he gets more experience but will never be perfect. But we saw flashes during his NY and Houston time. Remember when Parsons mentioned he knew Lin came to play in one game because he had that "look" in his eyes?
I too wish he would have that "look" in his eyes every time he plays. Sometimes he plays down to the competition when playing bad teams. It's something that he personally has to find the balance. And in Houston, it's hard to have that "look" or be in the zone when he was not accustomed to the spot-up shooter role.
Not giving excuses but let's hope Lin has that "fierce-look" in his eyes everytime he steps on the court. He just has to remember FGarcia became his best friend and respect him after he dunked on him savagely in Sac :D
So he just needs to dunk on all NBA players to gain their respect LOL
Thanks for the words of encouragement, Dave T!
Lin spent the first part of last season learning his teammates and overcoming his injury.
DeleteThere were several instances where he appeared tentative as he tried to run McHale's game plan against sophisticated defensive traps.
But once Lin figured it out, he blossomed into a fine player that played like an All Star. Lin hardly broke a sweat as he put up ridiculous output in low minutes.
I didn't notice any softness on Lin's part.
Actually, it takes great personal fortitude to put up with what Lin put up with.
Rafael Nadal is a perfect example of being aggressive on tennis court while being super humble off the court. Lin has to let it out on the BB court and play with more gusto.
DeleteLin should, as he says, truly play for God, and not care about what anyone says. He should also recognize that his aggressive demeanor on the court does not mean he is un-Christian, as long as he does not cuss or play dirty. It's just a game. What I am saying is he should play like Disciple Paul rather than Disciple Peter. As far as I can tell, Disciple Paul was a very aggressive kind of person and had a temper.
DeleteBut there doesn't have to be a struggle. It's a conflict that is a product of Lin's misperceptiom about what being aggressive basketball player is all about and how it relates to himself as a Christian.
DeleteNadal is a good example. Lin can be as humble as he wants to be off the court. There is no reason to be as humble during the game like helping the other player up when they are down or turning a blind eye when he is needlessly getting pummeled in the face.
Yup play hard, play aggressive, play to win. There's nothing not humble about that. Strange how a simple twist of logic turned this into such a long discussion.
DeleteI agree, Etane :) Just play hard, play smart, dunk on people when you can to earn respect, don't stomp one them or talk trash. He can definitely keep his faith and dunking on people without disrespecting them.
DeleteTo not dunk on people when he can would actually conflict with doing his best for God.
Good point, KHuang. Non-Lin fans don't see how much Lin's game improved in the 2nd half while being put in an unfamiliar position, with new teammates under a head coach who doesn't have much trust in him. He's not soft indeed.
but of course khuang didn't any softness on lin's part. khuang only watches the highlights and was always "working" during game time.
DeleteNo one will ever be able to understand Lin in the way he lives out this concept of humility , esp. those who haven't walked the road he's taken. Humility in the context of his faith has much , much deeper meaning than the understanding of this world. He said ,he reads the word of God everyday (if I remember it right , at least 30 mins. a day) and tries to live by it. How about if I give you this quote , which I'm sure Lin knows by heart and is his ultimate model of humility. I'm sure you'll all lose it and will go even more ballistic. :>
DeleteHere it is -
Philippians 2:5-11
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature - God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
How's that for you? :) You can read between the lines... :)
*to completely understand Lin
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@angryasianman
ReplyDeleteCheck out this clip from LINSANITY, featuring vintage footage of lil' Jeremy Lin's early skillz: http://bit.ly/1fSb47q
Nice clip. It's funny. He had a left hand layup at 7 yrs old and smooth spin moves that he no longer has in his normal arsenal now.
DeleteStars aren't born overnight. Lin was a child prodigy that nobody cared to notice. If this were back in the 70's or 80's, no way in hell Lin even gets to start on his high school team, much less get stuck playing Harvard ball instead of the Pac10.
Because of Lin, we'll start seeing some Asian Americans starting on DI teams within the next 5-10 years.
yeah, that was a weird clip in a good way. To be that young and that good is definitely a rare breed.
DeleteBut basketball people just can't see him passing an eye test as a basketball prodigy in an Asian-American body. It's literally a miracle how far he has made it in the NBA without many people who believed in him. During his Golden State years, we were happy with him getting some playing time and some points/assists. Things have really changed. Now we're debating if he's All-Star material :)
I think we just solved the problem. He need to dye his skin!! jk...
DeleteLike this, Brent? :)
DeleteLEAVING CALI
ReplyDeleteWhy da hell is Lin so cheap?!
DeleteGet a 1st class ticket and protect your freaking knee dude... It's called protecting an investment and not being showy.
How can you tell he's not riding in at least in Biz class? As long as it's Biz class, it should be ok. I rode both first class and Biz class, and there is not much difference.
DeleteMiddle seat of a three hour flight?
DeleteJust reeks of economy class doesn't it,
SKYHAWKS RAN INTO JLIN AT DENVER AIRPORT
DeleteHe hasn't changed, bro.
DeleteI remember reading in the book that during his D-League time with Golden State, he gave away his first-class tickets so he can sit with his D-League teammates.
I would have at least bartered some goodies with my D-League teammates :)
No, not economy if he flew Southwest. SJ, DEN, HOU. "Kids, remember to plan ahead!" = cattle call at SW gate.
DeleteGreat ! His going back to Houston I guess. 6 days before the training camp.....
DeletePlaying humble doesn't means playing soft，playing cold-blooded doesn't equal disrepect others. We saw these during Linsanity last year.
ReplyDeleteexactly. playing humble and acting humble on court are two different things.
Deletehe was playing humble in ny. he was acting humble in houston.
Another X factor in Hou is his push-the-pace-no-Linsanity role assigned by McHale.
DeleteIf you're talking about his play and fearlessness, it was kind of humbled and shackled to become passive by McHale.
It's hard to play confident when your coach bark at you or bench you for every single mistake. That's why he needs to get out of Houston when his time comes.
"If you're talking about his play and fearlessness, it was kind of humbled and shackled to become passive by McHale"
Delete100% Great point in the midst of all this mess of a thread .
This more than makes up for your other ignorant post today. Congrats, Psalm. You r back on my good side, a place khuang will never be fortunate to see in his lifetime.
I'd like to think my other posts are not ignorant, ignored maybe. lol
DeleteI urge you to read the book, solidz. It's really well-written with lots of insider stuff.
I wonder who else has read this book. I can't be the only one who read it. Anyone?
i've read that book thrice... i bought it in june last year.
DeleteYou certainly didn't post ignorant posts , psalm.
DeleteIsaiah 5:21
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
@karen sy, glad I have a friend who also thoroughly enjoy the book :) The author certainly did a great job after following Lin from his Harvard days.
Deletethanks for the kind words, chan c. It's okay, we're just getting anxious since there are less than 4 weeks before the first preseason game! :D
I'm with chan c. Psalm your posts are most certainly not ignorant. And your patience is unearthly. :)
DeleteWhat's happening on this forum right now is actually pretty interesting. I'm not much of a Bible guy but this does come to mind:
"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit."
1 Corinthians 2:14
spot on , Dave T!
DeleteYou got the right verse, Dave T :)
DeleteI also don't expect those without the Spirit's help to understand God's ways. I merely try to bridge the gap to make sense of it to the best of my ability for our fellow friends here.
In a dog eat dog's world, it certainly looks foolish to appear kind and patient like Lin and not ruthless like Kobe. But it kinda makes sense that God's way is better in the long term because how many players want to play with Kobe now or be his friends? Some might grind it out looking for a ring but noone really wanted to play with Kobe including Dwight. And beyond the basketball world, Lin is definitely reaching out to more and more people because of his love for people.
I remember Stephen Covey's 7 Habits message, "Begin with the End". Who on their deathbed would say, "I wish I would spend more hours in the office?" Noone, they would say I wish I spend more time with my loved ones. I'd say Lin is wiser than Kobe because he thought about the End first and focus on relationships more than championships. It can definitely looks foolish for the world if we think short term :)
That is well articulated opinion regarding Kobe, Psalm. I acknowledge that you're thinking long term, but I still have to say that it is still a narrow minded/sighted long term thinking IMO.
DeleteYou construct your opinion with the notion "everyone" hates Kobe because he is ruthless and selfish and nobody wants to play with him while Lin is the opposite using your positivity goggles. AND I agree with that IF I'm using my positivity goggles too.
Then I take off my positivity goggles and see it in different perspective. I see a Kobe who don't want to let another guy be another Kobe or an event worst Kobe in his team. He believes he is the king and will not anyone dethrone him. HE BELIEVES HIS GAME & HE PROTECTS IT.
Then I see a Jeremy, the opposite of Kobe. Psalm think that Jeremy is well liked and many NBA players (Duh-wight, Harden, Parsons) wants to be Lin's friend and play with him because of Jeremy's humility and patience. Yes, I do agree that there are some/many players who wants to play with Jeremy, but unfortunately for the wrong/bad reasons. They way I see it is a different opposite. They want to be with Jeremy because they are allowed take advantage of Jeremy to further strengthen their own careers in expense of Jeremy's, unlike Kobe who will not let it be on his own expense.
Just as you said Psalm, it is a dog eat dog world out there and it ain't pretty, including the world of competitive sports. You cannot assume that ALL dogs are big and bad, but you still have to assume that MOST dogs are, even the weak and little ones can eat you if you allow them to.
Don't allow them. I hope my negative views help broaden your insights and see things beyond your personality and faith just as your positive views helps mine.
Only those with spirit can see spirits... and those without spirit cannot see spirit... reminds me of emperor's new cloths. = P
DeleteRikki, that's also a very astute observation of the current world. And it wouldn't say it's negative view either because it is the current reflection of the world, even true in our workplace.
DeleteA perfect example of a dog eat dog world would be Tyson Chandler. He sang praises when Jeremy was there and received the benefit of Linsanity highlights but once a bigger and ruling dog (Melo) felt threatened by Jeremy, Chandler chose Melo's side and made disparaging comment that Jeremy was a young rookie and can't lead the veterans (He didn't mention Felton and Kidd's legs are too veteran to lead the team either). As a result, Jeremy didn't consider him to be a true friend and no longer follow him on Twitter even when Tyson still does.
Realizing the harsh reality of the real world where your so-called friends will backstab you in the real world, it's still a model of success to offer shared-success ala Lin. It's true that Harden and Howard might sing praises when they need Lin now and talk trash later. But we know Howard would receive more benefit from playing with Lin than Harden because Lin is known to have less ego, being a pass-first PG prioritizing team play above his own numbers. Howard probably thinks of Lin as a safety valve if Harden goes Kobe on him and hogs the ball. Lin needs to be shrewd to build a strong relationship with Howard without appearing too threatening to Harden.
Your insights definitely are 100% accurate and important to consider. We can't just go blindly being positive thinking others are not ready to backstab you. But I believe the win-win long-term approach that Lin offers will prove to be beneficial to pursue championships as a team rather than Kobe's or Melo's one star-centric approach surrounded by role players. People demonized LeBron for joining forces with DWade and Bosh but with two championships, the haters are muted now.
I believe win-win/shared success is the way to go even when there are dogs ready to claw your back, whether in the NBA or in the workplace. Yes, it's very important for Lin to be an innocent but shrewd Christian as his faith calls:
"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." Matt 10:16
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DeleteIf I'm not mistaken Jeremy has been following 100 people/organization on his twitter. When I check his twitter today it's only 99 people his been following. I can't remember the person/organization he unfollow a few days ago ?
ReplyDeleteHey that's funny. i lost a follower too. I think he unfollowed me.? ;(
DeleteInvalid account.
DeleteThe reason Jlin was kicked out NYC is because Bloomberg and Dolan didnot want Jlin whom many new yorkers fell in love with to endorse John Liu who was born inTAIWAN and is running for NYC mayor 2013.
ReplyDeleteWe all know about Lin' predicament inHouston. but what is the reason Mchale Morey treat Jlin that way？
ReplyDeletewhy owner lesile Alexander is quite about it？
There have been multiple factors that have been rehashed many times before, Dlin. But if you asked me for a short answer, the main factor would be a different role that McHale initially thought for Lin to do.
DeleteFrom the time before Harden trade happened, McHale had been saying that Lin didn't need to do Linsanity in Houston. Just learn to push the pace, take care of the ball safely and get them to his teammates with many shooters (mainly KMart, Parsons plus PPat, Morris).
It sounds good to make Lin be a responsible PG but he had a double standard for Harden by giving him 100% freedom with many TOs or stopping the ball movement with his ISOs that was criticized by PPat.
Throw in the factor that coaches were losing faith because Lin was not fully recovered until Dec, he had to learn to be a spot-up shooter because Harden took his playmaking job, it's the perfect storm for Lin to have a bad season. It's a good thing he overcame that with superb 2nd half but ended with an unfortunate injury in the playoff.
Les didn't complain because Houston was winning. And he trusted the operation to Morey and McHale so he didn't meddle much. That's about it for my short answer lol
McHale and Morey just as annoyed with Lin as we are annoyed with both of them
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Deletewhy is jlin in denver?
ReplyDelete@liv~ YOU WERE ASKING ABOUT JOSH FAN.
ReplyDeleteYou remember? via, you rock!!!
DeleteHow can I not love you?
Josh and his fiance, a match made in heaven...so sweet...
Delete<3 liv ^^
DeleteLovely couple,may their married life be blessed....
DeleteQuestion, and please don't take me as racist: Asian-American men select partners within their race only? She should be someone who has the same,uhm... I don't know how to put this,same shape of the eye as Josh' fiance has?I saw a pic of Jeremy's ex-gf and she has the same eye shape as Josh's fiance.What I know is he like Korean girls and dated also an Asian-American girl.
Ummmm, honestly who cares about josh?? IMO he is just a worthless hangeron?!
DeleteBasketball players seems to have a lot of then including Lin..
yes, @via always rocks :)
DeleteAre u having 2nd thoughts about Lin's criteria for future Mrs. Lin, isabelijane? haha I believe sharing the same faith and passion to minister to kids are his Top 2 priority.
Like many people, I'd imagine having the same background (language, race, belief, hobbies, matching personality) would be assets while differing background would be liabilities in a relationship. But don't lose heart, pray hard lol