Byron Scott: Jeremy Lin Is Definitely An NBA Player

[Cicero]

Lin needs to get out of LA to somewhere he's actually valued as a player.

So...another desperate lottery team, I guess.
Hey, the Knicks have a lot of playing time available! The market is wash with point guards, I struggle to find many contenders with backup pgs I'd want Lin over, and the ones who apply are either dealing with injuries or aren't reaaaaaally contenders (I know anything could happen but when I use the C word I'm not really referring to EVERY playoff team).
Dude was always just a cynical demographic grab flash in the pan for the NBA to tout for a little while. Plenty of people, even on the Knicks, have had similar flash in the pan runs against mostly mediocre teams and don't get talked about to this level.
I have to be frank in the fact that I've always found his Asian fanbase pretty pathetic. What kind of dude goes, "This man is of my race or looks like me, I must root for him!"? A shallow one? A racist? I don't give a flying **** about the achievements of my race in relation to myself, how utterly meaningless and pathetic, I'm me and my achievements plentiful or lacking are my own, and the achievements of people arbitrarily of my racial background don't add anything to ME (even national or familial it's kind of stupid but at least those make a lil more sense). Especially when they're patronizingly cynically overhyped as if to say "Well, this is the best we can expect from Asian players so let's condescendingly treat it as a greater achievement than if it were committed by someone of a different race."
Seriously who ever went, "I can't be like Mike, I'm not black". The fact that I'm not black (or white) never stopped me from idolizing, rooting for, imagining myself as a child on the courts, etc. in regards to players like Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, Scottie Pippen, etc. What kind of person goes "THIS MAN IS OF MY GENERAL RACIAL BACKGROUND, I MUST ROOT FOR HIM". I never had trouble deriving inspiration or putting myself in the imaginary shoes of NBA players because they weren't my race. I could give a flying **** about a player of my race in any special positive or negative way, wtf does that matter or influence fandom. Sad. To me that sort of mentality is lacking of self-confidence and individuality.
I'd take Patty Mills over this dude in a heartbeat lol.

Just stfu, please.

(lol. no.)

[Pickled Prunes]

Of course he's an NBA player. He will likely be a BU player for his next team but situation is everything. Mario Chalmers has 2 rings as a starting PG. Lin definitely would have been an upgrade for those Miami teams. So he could start as long as he is a complimentary piece instead of the focal point.

Not really. In fact, Linsanity started as Lin being the focal point, which is his problem as well. He needs the ball, space and the pick and roll for him to be effective. He has not been the same ever since his team got their presumed focal point back (Melo, Harden, Kobe). He has not done very well being a complimentary piece in 3 teams so far.

Lin needs to go to a team with nothing and a coach who knows how to use him as the focal point like MD, but those situations are rare and few. Or, he could go to a great team like GSW, where Steve Kerr knows enough about ball movement and spacing, to make him an effective backup.

I hear you... but would you say Rondo was the focal point of the '08 Celtics, or was he a complimentary player? I would say complimentary but he handled the ball more than anyone. The defense keyed in on Pierce, Allen and Garnett and that allowed Rondo to do his thing. Rondo still puts up big assist totals and can defend but his situation has changed and his numbers don't equal effectiveness.

Linsanity ended when teams finally took the time to watch film on Lin and key in on him. And it didn't help that Mellow stopped the flow of offense when he came back. Harden handled the ball more often than not and turned Lin into a spot-up shooter. And Kobe also slowed the ball movement but that experiment didn't have much time to develop.

Lin is showing right now that he can be effective as the focal point on a losing team. My point was that he could be effective as as the primary ball-handler on a winning team, provided that there were 3 or 4 better players around him for defenses to key in on.

[Cicero]

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