It is NBA preseason time so Asian Americans are looking to see how Jeremy Lin is going to do this season. Already many of his fans are up at arms because his coach Kevin McHale is planning to rotate the starting point guard spot between Lin and Pat Beverley. They say that McHale never has confidence in Lin and eventually he will demote Lin and then trade him. They say this is another example of Lin always being slighted, from high school all the way to the NBA. I say let's wait and see how this plays out. The bottom line is I don't think McHale is prejudice against Lin and the judgment should be whether his decision will help Houston win or not.
The truth is the offense of the Rockets run through James Harden, no matter who the starting point guard is. Lin's stats were not as good as expected last year because he often times stand to the side and Harden runs the offense. Harden is the best one on one player on the team and is one of the best in the league. But last season when he is off, the Rockets offense stalled. With Dwight Howard this season, Lin can play pick and roll with Howard and be another weapon for which the other teams have to worry about. So being in the starting line up this season should increase Lin's assist average. But the scoring may decrease even though he has improved his shots this summer as evidenced by his shooting percentage in the first 3 preseason games.
There may be some benefits for Lin and the Rockets if he comes off the bench. Remember Harden made his fame as the 6th man for the Thunder. McHale himself was an all star even though he came off the bench for a good part of his career. So he knows the importance of a great 6th man. Beverley's strength is defense so he may complement Harden better than Lin to start the game. The key, I think, is to give Lin plenty of time to run the offense when Harden is resting. Witness the 38 points he scored against the Spurs last season when Harden was out. By going against the second units of other teams, Lin also would not have to guard people like Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook all night. I would bet his scoring and assists average per possession will increase dramatically in this role.
With Lin running the second unit, the Rockets will have possibly the strongest second unit in the NBA. In fact it will be an international unit similar to the type of team that helped the Spurs do so well. They will have Donnatas Mutujiunas of Lithuania (spellings are going to be bad here), Omer Asik of Turkey, Omri Casspi of Israel and Francisco Garcia of the Dominican Republic playing along side Lin who is Chinese American. Asik and Lin would a starter for most of the teams in the league and the other 3 are solid players who would be in the rotation of any NBA team. I think they would give the starting 5 of Houston a good game most nights. The key is that besides Asik who is there for rebounding, the other 3 are great shooters. They just can't get shots themselves. Lin would be a great facilitator for this group.
So I don't think it is all bad for Lin to come off the bench if he is used correctly and the team benefits. But I think he deserves to play during crunch time because that is when teams stiffen their defense and Harden will be bottled up by good teams. The key here is that Lin needs to be in the game then and create chances for Howard and Parsons. I think he can do that better than Beverley. If McHale uses him this way and the Rockets are successful then I don't think Lin's fans, including myself, would have any legitimate complaints.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
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Interesting point of view regarding playing Lin while Harden is out. I think Lin's game is more suited to the pick and roll. It seems to me that he was a little lost on offense last year, the times I saw him play.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that bothers me is that Lin's defense is not that great. So he has to improve his defense this year.
-LBOAYM
I am not too concern about Lin's defense. He certainly cannot stop the top point guards but then who can? Can Tony Parker stop Chris Paul and vice versa? Steve Nash is a worse defender than Lin but nobody cares. The key for Lin is that when he gets beat, he has to believe that Howard will stop the drive and that Lin must cover the pass to Howard's man. Larry Bird was not a good defender one on one but he got help from Robert Parish and then he steals the pass. Lin was among the leaders in steals last year and he figures to get more this year with Howard backing him. In fact I think erasing defensive mistakes by his teammates will be the biggest contribution Howard makes this season.
ReplyDeleteI think the key to Lin's success or failure will be his turnover numbers. He is going to turnover more than Beverley because he is more creative. He had majority of the Rockets' passes for dunks and layups last season. When you make those passes you are going to turnover a few. But he must not force things too much and cut down on turnovers to get McHale's trust.
I believe that Lin has improved his shots. So if he cuts down on turnovers he should be in the game during crunch time even if Beverley is a better defender. McHale should know this because McHale himself was always in the game during crunch time even though he was not a great defender. Same with Harden when he was the sixth man with the Thunder. But at crunch time Harden was always in even though the Thunder has two great scorers in Durant and Westbrook already. With the Rockets, Lin is needed at the end because Harden will be double teamed and Howard can't make free throws. So ironically, if Lin does not start, he may become the James Harden of the Rockets!