A Holiday Wish List for the Houston Rockets

As a Lin and Eockets fan, I enjoy your site, even when some of your writers do not believe in Lin, they are generally making a basketball assessment. However, I take issue with the way Min Wang and Rahat Huk approach the issue of Lin getting in the All Stars game, namely, saying that they would not like to see it because it would invite "a ton of ridicule and racism." I think it's fair to say Lin has not performed as well as many other PGs this season and may not deserve it from a Basketball point of view. However, the All Stars are not set up to simply to showcase the best talent: if that was the sole criteria, then there would not no fan voting, it would be based solely on performance stats. The All Star game is by definition a popularity contest, at least for the starters who are chosen by fan votes; even the bench is chosen by coaches vote, not by individual stats.

At this point, Lin is third in voting for Guards. If Lin wins a slot, then the fans want to see him play. Its not clear Lin will get a starter slot at this point, but I hope Lin's play continues to improve so maybe he will get the votes to win a starter slot and he can put on a show for the fans. Regardless of his relative talent compared to other NBA guards---Lin may not be the top guard in the league or even on his own team based purely on production--- fans love to watch him play. Let the fans speak and have their say.

So what if a vocal minority of racists and haters want to complain about it? We should not be held hostage by a small group of vocal racists. Same goes for haters. We should not be holding back our votes or hoping Lin fails to make the cut just to avoid racist comments--- if we do, we let the racists win. As Lin has shown, he can stay true to himself amid criticism, racist or otherwise.

That said, I would agree that Lin's performance early in the season was not great, but he is improving and seems to be getting back to Linsanity or near-Linsanity form. I hope he continues that trend so he can show he deserves to be a showcase talent. The All star game is a player showcase for the fans. Let the fans speak and enjoy the fruits of our votes for one weekend of fun basketball, racists be damned. If Harden becomes a coaches pick, as some believe, it would be great for the hosting city to be able to show off their backcourt duo (Lin/Harden), who were just ranked 2nd in the league for wins produced!

We don't normally get to say this (except in Chicago many years ago), but Vote now, vote often! I try to vote daily for all 4 of the Rockets on the ballot. Go Röckets!