Should Lin come off the bench?

[Kupchak9]

McHale's always been open to playing mind games with his point guards to send a message, whether it was Dragic, Lowry and now Lin. http://houston.culturemap.com/news/spor ... nce-maker/

With that said, having Lin come off the bench isn't such a bad idea. They already have Harden who does a huge portion of the playmaking so starting a better shooter/defender in Beverly would be effective.

They're projected depth chart would be:

Howard/Asik/Camby
D-mo/Jones/Smith
Parsons/Brewer/Cassipi
Harden/Garcia
Beverly/Lin/Brooks

Lin+Asik would simply dominate opposing benches. Lin would be like a poor man's Manu and Asik would be a rich man's Splitter.

[mopper8]

What a weird article. Dude obviously loves Lin, dislikes Beverley, and has an axe to grind with McHale. Despite his protestations to the contrary, though, starting Bev, who is more defensively stout and shot the 3 much better than Lin last year, makes plenty of sense. Whether or not it's the best choice, it's certainly defensible enough that the decision to experiment with it in preseason is hardly worthy of this sort of tirade. Bizarre.

[ndnow]

I don't think we are going to see Lin in the league after his contract expires.

[Woodsanity]

I don't think we are going to see Lin in the league after his contract expires.

So a starting caliber PG who doesn't have any maturity issues/isn't a headcase is out of the league in a few years?

[mopper8]

I don't think we are going to see Lin in the league after his contract expires.

So a starting caliber PG who doesn't have any maturity issues/isn't a headcase is out of the league in a few years?

Seriously, that's bonkers. Lin was pretty average last year, but average starters don't get bounced from the league after 4 years. And he certainly has the skillset to be above average.

[Kupchak9]

Last year Lin came in 2nd as the Western all-star starting point guard, with his marketability I don't think he's leaving the league anytime soon.

[He Filled it Up]

So a starting caliber PG who doesn't have any maturity issues/isn't a headcase is out of the league in a few years?

Seriously, that's bonkers. Lin was pretty average last year, but average starters don't get bounced from the league after 4 years. And he certainly has the skillset to be above average.

This plus Lin's marketability pretty much secures him a minimum contract at this point.

[jwise44]

I don't think we are going to see Lin in the league after his contract expires.

Hahaha green font?

Where is the minus 1 button?

Lin may not have lived up to lin sanity but he wasn't awful in the least and 2nd half of the season he was pretty decent. Hes 25 knows his role plays it pretty decently and is a great teammate by all accounts...ya ur right though hell be out of the league, he certainly isn't better than Charles Jenkins or Khaliff Wyatt or *other backup pg here*

Hate when people over exaggerate Lins struggles...I hated him when he came here but all his haters have made me like him (a certain Knicks poster comes to mind thinking about this)

[ibraheim718]

I don't think we are going to see Lin in the league after his contract expires.

Hahaha green font?

Where is the minus 1 button?

Lin may not have lived up to lin sanity but he wasn't awful in the least and 2nd half of the season he was pretty decent. Hes 25 knows his role plays it pretty decently and is a great teammate by all accounts...ya ur right though hell be out of the league, he certainly isn't better than Charles Jenkins or Khaliff Wyatt or *other backup pg here*

Hate when people over exaggerate Lins struggles...I hated him when he came here but all his haters have made me like him (a certain Knicks poster comes to mind thinking about this)

Can you PM me who this is please? I'm a knicks fan.. just curious.

[thug-lyfe]

I think Beverly has shown enough to earn the starting PG position

He's a better defender and has shown that opposing PGs are scared of him because of what he did to Westbrook

So I agree Lin should be coming off the bench

Lin is overrated anyway

[ibraheim718]

I don't think it matters Beverley and Lin are going to share the duties at the point.. I assume against certain teams one will play more than the other. They're also going to get really good production from that tandem.

[ibraheim718]

I think Beverly has shown enough to earn the starting PG position

He's a better defender and has shown that opposing PGs are scared of him because of what he did to Westbrook

So I agree Lin should be coming off the bench

Lin is overrated anyway

If Beverley starts it's only because his lack of playmaking will be offset by Harden... that's it. I still think Lin ends up starting though.. Beverley does one thing better than Lin and that's defend.

[Kupchak9]

I think Beverly has shown enough to earn the starting PG position

He's a better defender and has shown that opposing PGs are scared of him because of what he did to Westbrook

So I agree Lin should be coming off the bench

Lin is overrated anyway

If Beverley starts it's only because his lack of playmaking will be offset by Harden... that's it. I still think Lin ends up starting though.. Beverley does one thing better than Lin and that's defend.

Its kind of like Lowry and Dragic when you think about it. They can also definitely coexist on the floor, in some stretches they could play Lin at the 2 and have Beverly be a spot up shooting PG.

[ibraheim718]

I think Beverly has shown enough to earn the starting PG position

He's a better defender and has shown that opposing PGs are scared of him because of what he did to Westbrook

So I agree Lin should be coming off the bench

Lin is overrated anyway

If Beverley starts it's only because his lack of playmaking will be offset by Harden... that's it. I still think Lin ends up starting though.. Beverley does one thing better than Lin and that's defend.

Its kind of like Lowry and Dragic when you think about it. They can also definitely coexist on the floor, in some stretches they could play Lin at the 2 and have Beverly be a spot up shooting PG.

I think Mchale has tried that so far this preseason.. just don't know how it went. In theory it should.

[junot111]

Too many outsiders make comments on what a team should do without actually watching their games... the ball movement is 10x better when Lin is in the game, he is a real playmaker whereas Beverley can only shoot open 3's and play stifling D (although his team defense is actually not as good as Lin's). And because Harden is a decent playmaker for his position, people assume that the Rockets can just get by with anyone at the PG spot... this isn't the triangle offense, they still need a good PG to be effective, because Harden has a tendency to go into ISO mode and that leaves the rest of the team standing still and watching. Make no mistake, the first unit is better with Lin in it, and having Beverley gives them a huge punch off the bench (where he belongs).

[LarsV8]

In my opinion yes, he should.

Lin's strength is ball handling, while Beverley is an elite defender.

The Rockets best utilize their strengths by having Harden handle the offense in the starting group, while Bev pesters the opposing wings. Lin can come in and dominate the ball while Harden is resting. Doesn't make much sense to have to Lin playing spot up shooter and Bev trying to run the offense of the 2nd team where his defense is not matched against the opposing teams best ball handler.

[_Game7_]

I don't think we are going to see Lin in the league after his contract expires.

Na he is a cash cow. All he has to do is not suck and give the ball to Howard and Harden. I will admit other then highlights I only seen one full game of Lin, the one against Miami where Mario and Cole made him their son, ever since then I kind of gave up on him a little bit. However I wish him the best, I seen a few interviews of him and he has a nice genuine personality, also he made it from the bottom to the top, gotta love those guys. He has also pretty nice handles, I will defiantly be watching him and the Rockets this year.

[Young_Star11]

Lin is a respectable player who just had his first full NBA season last year. Posters must be trolling if they think Lin does not have an NBA future beyond next year.

[kingkirk]

In my opinion yes, he should.

Lin's strength is ball handling, while Beverley is an elite defender.

The Rockets best utilize their strengths by having Harden handle the offense in the starting group, while Bev pesters the opposing wings. Lin can come in and dominate the ball while Harden is resting. Doesn't make much sense to have to Lin playing spot up shooter and Bev trying to run the offense of the 2nd team where his defense is not matched against the opposing teams best ball handler.

Yep, couldn't agree more.

Lin is a ball dominant guard and was amazing in New York because he got the opportunity to run the show. He won't do that in Houston with Harden who also dominates the ball. It won't work with them playing next to each other for extended minutes.

Lin as the 6th man makes the most sense and it gives the second unit a scoring punch whilst allowing Beverly to concentrate on what he does best with the starters.

[Kupchak9]

In my opinion yes, he should.

Lin's strength is ball handling, while Beverley is an elite defender.

The Rockets best utilize their strengths by having Harden handle the offense in the starting group, while Bev pesters the opposing wings. Lin can come in and dominate the ball while Harden is resting. Doesn't make much sense to have to Lin playing spot up shooter and Bev trying to run the offense of the 2nd team where his defense is not matched against the opposing teams best ball handler.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZNuAbQ6PJ4[/youtube]

He dominated Holiday last week, Holiday had 8 freaking turnovers, that's awful even for preseason standards. The guy is going to be a nightmare matchup against opposing point guards. He's like Avery Bradley with a chip on his shoulder. He plays above the hype. Quoting the commentator "Patrick don't care about that"