(YAHOO'S) Finance & Sports articles on Lin's $25M w/Harden & 6th man role

If anyone of you people want to feel bad for....feel for G. Smith and T. Jones...0 minutes tonight.

 

I understand fans came to see Lin because of Linsanity, but if you're close to stop watching and get upset because he's benched, you're basically a bandwagon fan and are letting the haters get to you. True fans of Lin knew about him when he fought his way from Harvard to the Summer League, and the rest is history. Change is a part of life and the sport.

Lin's career is not even close to being over so it's not like he won't be ever be a starter again. Derek Fisher was a starter, but no one would ever consider him better than players like Tony Kukoc or Manu Ginobili.

The end product is what matters.

 

"true fan". There's a popular quote "Friendship isn't about who you've known the longest. It's about who walked into your life, said I'm here for you and proved it." I don't understand why people become less of fan than you, just because you saw him earlier.

 

Spoiler

 

Context.

Friendship and relationships are also about the battles and struggles, those who aren't willing to just give up and only are your friends during the good times. That's what I'm specifically talking about.

Sure Lin brought a wave of fans and were inspired by him during Linsanity, but now are upset because he's put in a 6th man role?

What is worse to you? A starter who is relegated to a role that isn't allowed to play his style of game, or a 6th man that is able to do that and play his game.

Linsanity wasn't only about "starting". It was always about him overcoming the hurdles and proving all the doubters wrong. Be it the 6th man, the starter, or on another team.

 

JLin is good at shooting off the dribble, below average at spotting up. He has the ball a lot without Harden, and spots up a lot with Harden. Harden is good at shooting off the dribble as well, but he's GREAT playing off the ball spotting up. Without Lin, he shoots a lot of "Harden isos" which are lower percentage shots, but gets a lot of great looks from Lin when Lin is in the game. It's the Lin effect- his teammates all shoot higher percentages when Lin is in the game than when he's not.*

*Purely based on anecdotal evidence from watching the games. Too lazy to do a statistical analysis of this. Perhaps someone else with more time on their hands would like to study players who make their teammates shoot better when they're in the game.

 

Does PTI, USA Today, Business Insider, Examiner, Or how about a hometown story for you?



Global joke: Jeremy Lin benching proves Kevin McHale doesn't respect Rockets difference maker


Kevin McHale seemingly cannot help himself. The Houston Rockets coach will show how little he thinks of Jeremy Lin every opportunity he gets.

The latest is McHale's benching of Lin in Manila for the first leg of the Rockets Asia trip and his commitment to a new ridiculous routine of rotating Lin and the unexceptional Patrick Beverley as point guard starters throughout the rest of the preseason. It's like McHale is forever fixated on trying to put Jeremy Lin in his place rather than embracing a playmaker with the ability to help Dwight Howard and James Harden win a championship.

Sure, I'll start you in Taipei where you're a rock star, but only after making my point in Manila.

The New York Knicks would never treat Raymond Felton — a far inferior point guard to Lin — this way. Heck, the Charlotte Bobcats would hesitate to mess with a shaky Kemba Walker like this.

But anything goes with Jeremy Lin — no slight is out of the question. So he's suddenly pulled as a starter for the second preseason game of his second season with the Rockets and told to embrace coming off the bench as an interesting lineup change.


Here's a news flash for McHale: The Rockets didn't sign Chris Paul in the offseason. There's no reason to try and marginalize Lin like Omer Asik.

No matter what you think of Lin's game, it's hard to argue that he hasn't proven worthy of being an NBA starter. This isn't Tim Tebow. Lin's first full NBA season averages of 13.4 points, 6.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game — despite fluctuating minutes — are more than representative of a good NBA starter.

Here's a news flash for McHale: The Rockets didn't sign Chris Paul in the offseason. There's no reason to try and marginalize Lin like Omer Asik.

It's not just disrespectful to a young player the Rockets are supposedly committed to, it's also stupid for the team.

McHale may justifiably love the idea of a great, game-altering sixth man. After all, the Rockets coach was one of the best sixth men in NBA history early in his own playing career. But McHale might want to remind himself that he's not coaching the 1980 Celtics.

These 2013-14 Rockets need Lin on the floor for the start of games — and as much as possible. The offense simply runs better when the ball passes through his hands. The transcendent talents of Harden and Howard shine through more when the basketball is moving.

And please, let's not cite the Rockets jumping to a 12-0 lead over a sleeping Indiana Pacers team with Beverley as the starter in Manila as any sort of evidence that the offense is sure to be potent without Lin. The Pacers are already an elite NBA team — one with little to prove in an ultra early October preseason game. Roy Hibbert and the Pacers barely seemed aware a game was going on.

Lin plays well coming off the bench against Indiana, getting into the lane again and again. But he also played well as the starter in the preseason opener.

He's clearly worked on his game — and it shows. He'll be a better shooter this season, a better passer and an even more confident player.

Doubting Lin

Yo-yoing around his starting role only threatens to erode some of Lin's confidence. It's hard to see what the real-end game goal is here for McHale and the Rockets. Do they really think Patrick Beverley is a transformative player?

You know it's a messed up week in Houston sports when Texans coach Gary Kubiak refuses to bench a faltering, panicky Matt Schaub and McHale refuses to start an improving, renewed Jeremy Lin.


The Rockets need Lin on the floor for the start of games — and as much as possible. The offense simply runs better when the ball passes through his hands.

For all their public protestations and supportive interviews, it's becoming harder and harder to buy the notion that McHale and Rockets general manager Daryl Morey really want Jeremy Lin in Houston. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander is the one who hung up on Morey after watching Lin hit that game winner in Toronto during the heights of Linsanity. The owner's anger is what drove this redo and free agent signing.

McHale and Morey? They're still acting like the duo that cut Lin on Christmas Eve in the first place.

Actions speak louder than words. Jeremy Lin suddenly has to fight for his starting spot. Yeah . . . that's real belief.

It's hard to imagine Lin still in Houston after his NBA reasonable, three-year, $25 million contract expires after next season. The Rockets might be surprised when they later realize that their best chance at a championship during this Harden-Howard era walked right out the door with Lin. Unless Morey pulls off another miracle and lures Kyrie Irving to town, that's exactly what figures to happen.

These Rockets need a good, playmaking point guard to win really big. They happen to have one on their roster. If only they didn't refuse to see it.


http://houston.culturemap.com/news/...hale-doesnt-respect-rockets-difference-maker/

 

Yes, contributor network is like bleacher report, like a bad poster here.

The first article is decent, nothing we don't know, like what a good poster here would post.

 

oh gee, arent you special. You can find stories about Lin, written by more people who dont know jack about basketball....culturemap....please, that is weak.

For most sports fans, Sportscenter is where they will go for their coverage of the game. Not that I agree, cant stand the bozos at ESPN, but it is available on even the most basic tier of tv packages and that is where most will look.

 

Because Harden leaves very little time left on the shot clock for anyone to shoot the ball. Try hitting a 3 with 1 second on the clock and the defender closing out on you. That's the situation that Harden puts his teammates in.

 

Anyone else notice that these stats are only for 62 games?

 

My guess: Lin's presence creates better spacing for more comfortable 3pt shot by Harden. Without Lin, defense focus on Harden more, thus less space for 3pt shots.
OTOH, Lin's 3pt shots with Harden on the court are often a result of failed Harden isos with a lot of time pressure.

 

And IMO one of the biggest screw up by McHale and Rocket Front office.

If McHale just came out and said in preseason, We are experimenting with Lin as sixth men because we think he will be perfect as one, not because Bev is better, and Lin sacrificing his starting position is greatly appreciated. Most of this drama could have been avoided.

Now, this whole thing has turned into a gigantic PR cluster ****.

Lin fans are pissed. There will always be team based fans and player based fans. The goal of any organization is to grow its fan base. So get Player x, get Player x fans, convert Player x fans to team fans. Worked with Yao. Something tells me this is not going to happen to Lin.

And then there is also the chance that Bev as starter will simply not pan out, like what happened in the first quarter of Bobcat game. What is McHale going to? move Lin back as a starter? keep Lin on the bench? either way the whole experiment will be interpreted as McHale not sold on Lin and now have to eat crow.

 

Couple of other notes. Most of Harden's playing time without Lin had Toney Douglas at PG. Also Lin's 45% in on about 31 shots. Kind of a small sample.

 

The goal of the team is to grow it's fan base. But in the real world, winning is the thing that grows fan bases. Trying to appease fans inevitably leads to losing, both games and fans.

 

Lin as 6th man is non-sense. He is a bench player.

When Harden as 6th man in OKC, he got control of the ball. But as we saw in the yesterday's game, Harden was the one who controlled the ball when he was on the court, regardless who was the PG. He went ISO almost every shot.

Rockets don't need a PG as Harden play both PG and SG.

Lin will be traded soon.

 

It is just of a matter of opinion. Man. Why can't the team keep winning with Lin as starter? It was proved last season. With the addition of Howard and the improvement of Lin off ball and 3-pointer (as we've seen during preseason), the team will be for sure better without changing the starting line-up at all. I can make an argument for PB as a better 6th man. He is more of a changing-pace in-your-face player (energizer bunny) than Lin. That way, he can do his thing in defense without worrying about foul trouble. If you really worry about his ability of running the 2nd unit, you can always stagger Lin and Harden's minutes without changing the starting line-up. I actually see Lin fit better with TT. With TT, you don't have worry about defense and rebounding (the two areas PB may have a slight edge over Lin). But you got to be concerned with spacing in offense. You have to move the ball to create space with TT. Lin is a much better ball mover and facilitator than PB at this point of their career. I just think the team has a much higher ceiling with the way Lin plays. Coach McHale simply over-thinks it too much. Just my two cents...

 

Lin should be a the starter on this team. Start the game with Lin to get the offense flowing since he's a willing passer. Guards who sees the floor and can make solid decisions on the floor is rare in this league. Lin's one of those rare ones.

Rocket should have Beverly come in come in as a Defensive Spark or Offense if he really gets it going.

Beverly is not a play-maker or someone who help the team run the offense smoothly.

I think your Coach(Mchale) is confused or has lack of offensive system place for the team.

Also, there seem to be lack of identity for this team. Is this a team that relies heavy on fast-breaks? Defense? Half-court set? What's the bread and butter of this team, besides Harden ISO.

 

Dude, you're going against human nature here.

Just look at u.s. history. Every single new immigrant group in the u.s. becomes everyone's b****. When the Irish came, it was them, when the Japanese came, it was them, when the Italians came, it was them...

Ppl are animals and animals are territorial, and cf has the scent of piss all over it. Not saying cf sucks, I'm just using a metaphor to describe ppl and places.

 

I like lin as the 6th man. He played aggressively and didn't just eat marshmallows at the corner 3