Willk

Not to be a downer but it was the lakers and the jazz...

Yes, it was just the lakers and jazz, but last year the rockets lost a game to both. You have to beat teams like this. San Antonio had the #1 seed last year even though they started out 0-12 against teams with winning records. The next few weeks, the Rockets have a lot of games against bad teams. The Rockets need to win these games if they want to get home court advantage this year.

Not sure I'm buying the hype of some random euro dude being as good or better than a guy who just got max money...

a little more than a random euro dude:

• Greek Youth All-Star Game: MVP: (2009)
• 2x Greek League Best Young Player: (2009, 2012)
• 2x Greek Cup Champion: (2010, 2011)
• 2x Euroleague Champion: (2012, 2013)
• Greek League Champion: (2012)
• 2x Greek League Best Five Team: (2012, 2013)
• Greek League All-Star: (2013)
• Euroleague Rising Star: (2013)
• Spanish League Champion: (2014)

JG - I personally do not think you were too hard on Rahat. I agree that there should be some facts behind what you decide to write.

Rahat claims Harden was out of shape & huffing & puffing at the end of games. Well, Harden averaged the 5th highest minutes per game this past season. Maybe he played too many minutes and that is what caused his "huffing & puffing." Lebron was 6th in minutes and I saw him huffing and puffing at times too, maybe he was out of shape.

Rahat also claims Harden was disinterested in huddles. How much of a huddle is shown on TV? Anything tactical is not allowed to be shown on TV, only the rah-rah stuff is. So are we basing our opinions on the 5 seconds of the huddle that does not matter?

Apparently, OKC traded Harden because he was too selfish. Would he still be best of friends with Durant & Westbrook if he only cared about his touches? Would they not be happy Harden is gone if he was such a malcontent? Apparently they talk regularly and unless Durant is liar, Durant has said he wants to play with Harden again. Where are Rahat's sources on this?  

I have not always agreed with Rahat (and I have accused Rahat of trying to run Harden out of town when he was on a more Lin less Harden rant). I think this article could have been more factual and less emotional and there is nothing wrong with pointing this out.

I know many are stuck on the Beverley versus Lin debate but I'm past all that. I believe within the next year Morey will have a better starting point guard for this roster. Also, I necessarily don't "know" who it is but I'm willing to have that conversation. Chances are Morey will acquire a point guard in some unforeseen manner so I sometimes think debating these matters is pointless.

I'm good with McHale, Howard, Harden and I'm interested to see what Jones and Motiejunas turn into. Parsons needs to sign a contract that gives Morey flexibility but I definitely would like to see a new starting/closing point guard.

I agree. There needs to be a PG change. The easiest answer is Rondo, which I am good with, but I am not sure Morey would be since he cannot shoot the three. The two best free agents PGs are Eric Bledsoe and Kyle Lowery. I think each of them stays with their current teams. The next three best are not big names and I think either one of the next three could help:

Darren Collison - He has played in 20 playoff games. He is shooting 37% from 3 this year, 50% from 2, 86% FT. His corner 3% is .479 He is only committing 1.7 TOs per game. His def rating is 107. Age 26

Patty Mills - He has played in 26 playoff games. He is shooting 43% from 3 this year, 50% from 2, 89% FT. His corner 3% is .469. He commits 1.4 TOs per game. His def rating is 104. Age 25

One wild card choice -

Alec Burks - He has played in 4 playoff games. He is shooting 35% from 3 this year, 48% from 2, 75% FT. His corner 3% is .395. He commits 1.9 TOs per game. His def rating is 113. Age 22 Height 6-6. salary next year $3. He is more of a combo guard than a true PG.

If these guys do not work out, you can move Bev back into the starting lineup because they all have experience coming off of the bench. They all allow for Harden to handle the ball a lot.

I live in LA, so I see plenty of Lakers games--I have no rooting interest, they're just entertainment (not like the highs and lows of rooting for the Rockets!). It has been very interesting to see Mike D'Antoni coaching a team that is a mix of vets past their prime, NBA rejects, and upper level D-League players: whatever he's got, he sure gets the most out of them, and their morale (apart from one or two vets who don't play much) is sky high, despite all the losses, and they always play hard. 

 

It seems to me that if you really don't believe in defense, you might consider learning from a coach who is a) a certified offensive genius; and b] someone who excels at building players' confidence.  As the guys on TNT say repeatedly, confidence is one key difference between winning and losing.  D'Antoni's system made Lin a star, just as it made Steve Nash a star; this year, it turned Donyell Marshall, who has average talent at best, into an assist leader.

 

Compare McHale, who was a post-play genius on the Celtics, and has done poorly everywhere else. Echoing Rockets911 and UOJoe, the moment last night when McHale threw Lin under the bus suggested an enormous amount about his deepest flaw as a coach: his Xs and Os are pathetic, but his understanding of the notion of *team* is even worse.  And the only way we're going to get a team that lives up to the promise of so much talent will be if we have a coach who understands and enforces the notion of "team before star," and who also has the patience and tough love to teach his players the right way to play.

You want D' Antoni??? You claim McHale has failed everywhere. Who has the higher winning percentage? McHale.

It is funny how many players have disliked playing for D' Antoni. The team's best player (Pau Gasol) hated playing for him so much that he made up an injury (vertigo) to stay away from D' Antoni. 

It would be quite something if MDA made Donyell Marshall into an assist leader since Donyell has not been in the league for years.

Steve Nash was a quality player before MDA.

Lin did have his best weeks under MDA so I am guessing Lin is the reason you want MDA as coach. You feel MDA will enhance Lin's stats even though wins will not follow. However, remember, who was the PG for the Lakers last year for most of the season.

If I were McHale I'd call out anybody star or not if they weren't doing what they were suppose to do. Ala Popovich. I've seen Parker, Manu, and Tim all screamed at. It's a sense of leadership. It's why all 3 of them love the guy. Accountable meaning owning up to your mistakes. If I'm Harden, and McHale yelled at me for doing something I shouldn't, I'd be fine with it because if it's going to make me better.

There have been many coaches who have coached as you wish McHale would coach. Ask Doug Collins how yelling at MJ ended up. I imagine he would have loved to be a coach of a championship team. Scott Skiles is as good of a Xs and Os coach there is, but the constant berating of players has been his downfall. Rick Carlisle lost two locker rooms (Pistons & Pacers) because he would yell at players. He has been a tamer version of himself in Dallas. Jerry Sloan got fired because Deron Williams got sick of his constant berating. Calling out players rarely works in the NBA.

It's not about whether McHale has Lin on a short leash, but rather whether he can make adjustments based on actual data.  When Lin has played 24 or more minutes this season, his numbers are very good.  He averages 15.3 pts and about 5.4 assists and 47%+ shooting.  Those are not just good numbers, those numbers align to those of the top PGs in the game. If he were starting and getting regular minutes, it is not a stretch to say that Lin would be averaging 17/7 and shoot above 45%.  It is a very short list of PGs that can do that.  I believe Tony Parker and Steph Curry might be the only PGs with a higher shooting % than Lin.  The Rockets are also 28-14 in those games, so giving him a lot of minutes doesn't hurt the team's performance.  When Lin gets less than 24 minutes, you're simply not going to get these numbers (nor should McHale expect to).

 

Lin has shown himself to be adaptable and can be productive no matter how the team chooses to use him.  The bigger issue for McHale in my view is how he gets Asik involved and whether his commitment to giving Beverley a prominent role is going to work out as we progress through the regular season and the playoffs.  When Beverley gets 30 minutes a game, that means other players (not just Lin) are not going to see as many minutes and will not have a chance to make an impact. That sort of cost-benefit analysis has to be taken into account when judging McHale's decisions.

Here are stats that shows McHale is appropriately handing out playing time to Lin and Bev:

http://www.basketbal...01/on-off/2014/:

http://www.basketbal...01/on-off/2014/

http://www.basketbal...U/2014/lineups/

The rockets outscore their opponent by 5.8 points per game with Beverley on the floor. The top 3 five man line-ups do not involve Lin. Five out of the top 7 lineups do not involve Lin. The rockets are outscored by 1.5 points with Lin on the floor. How do you win when you are outscored? It is obvious that McHale does analyze the data and uses it appropriately. The rockets are better w/ Bev on the floor, the data shows this. You have mentioned how much better Lin's stats are when he plays more, but we are looking for what is best for the rockets, not one guy. Having Bev on the floor is better for the rockets.

Fouls per Game

 

Lin 2.3

Beverey 3.2

 

Source: NBA.com

 

Not sure come Lin fouls more frequently given he averages on 2 minutes less a night.

 

Lin shoots 44.5%, Beverley shoots 39.7%. You can use all the advance stats you want but you cant overlook standard stats to evaluate a players. Lin shoots better and he scores more points. He also has more assists per game and draws more fouls per game. Lin also gets to the line twice as much as Beverley so its not like Bev is offsetting his poor shooting by getting to the line. So given that Lin scores more per game, shoots better, gets to the line more, and has more assists per game  how are they equal on offense once everything is taken into account? What is everything? Your favoritism for Beverley?

 

So let me get this right

 

Lin's offensive production = Beverley's offensive production+thejohnnygolds affection for Beverley.

 

As someone who uses statistics everyday as a Financial ANALYST I know the value of stats just as much as anyone. I also know that stats are tools, not answers. 

 

Lets not forget that Lin has the ability to carry a team when needed as shown in NY and with the Rockets when Harden is out. He also has the ability to score 20 plus points on any given night. I think Bev has scored 20 once. 

McHale is definitely the right coach for this team. You want Dunleavy to coach? One of the worst coaches in the history of the league? You want Phil Jackson? Jackson does not use PGs at all. Did Phil Jackson explore the possibilities of using Derek Fisher, BJ Armstrong, John Paxson, etc... No. He definitely will not use Lin. Stan Van Gundy would use a 1 in and 4 out system, not a Lin-centric offense like you. JVG is not going to coach any time soon.

Let's now look at the other coaches who you consider to be smarter than McHale.

Scott Brooks - the same coach who constantly plays Perkins even though all of the stats show his team is much better with Perkins on the Bench. Brooks uses as much ISO sets as the rockets.

Doc Rivers - the same coach would was considered a terrible coach before acquiring Allen and Garnett? Every Boston fan wanted him fired prior to this championship.

Erik Spoelstra - another coach everyone wanted fired prior to acquiring LBJ and Chris Bosh.

It is Amazing how much better a team gets when they acquire 2 of the top 15 players, especially when they already have 1 of the top 15 players. The Rockets have two of the top 15 players in the league now and after they shed Lin's contract, they can get another top 15 player.

As far as Lin vs Bev is concerned. Who is the better 3 point shooter? Who is the better Defender? I know you cannot be bothered to look at advanced stats. Bev is a better fit for this team than Lin. Quite frankly Canaan should be playing instead of Lin.

You always mention when Lin was on the Knicks. Obviously Lin's success was due in large part to multiple factors:

1) playing against poor opposition - most of the temas he played against were bad

2) playing against severely beat up opposition - Lin started playing in february. The season started on Christmas. Many players were playing with injuries when Lin started to play. Lin's biggest game came against the Lakers who were playing their 6th game in 7 nights and they certainly played like it too. After playing less than a month, Lin was injured too. I will give Lin credit for taking advantage of playing against injured players. 

3) no scouting report/ no practice - because teams were playing 5 to 6 games a week, they did not have time to prepare for the unknown's like Lin. The only team that did (the Heat) shut Lin down easily. They did not even use LBJ on Lin, they just had Chalmers or Coles pick Lin up full court and wait for Lin to make a mistake. OKC did that to Lin in the playoffs last year as well before Westbrook got hurt.

It time for you to stop blaming everybody else for Lin's failures. Lin has had plenty of chances to prove he is a great player but he has not done it. Bill Simmons has always said Lin's career path is to be JJ Barea 2.0. He looks more like Flip Murray 2.0. Since you do not know who Flip Murray is, he was 2nd round draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks. He barely played as rookie. Prior to his 2nd season, he was traded to Seattle. When Ray Allen was injured, Flip Murray got his chance to start. He became the first player in history to average 20 PPG for his 1st ten starts. He then got worse every year after that. Sound familiar?