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Did something a bit like this last season, but since I'm off to a late start I'm going to do players by groups. Basic idea here: What are your expectations from each player listed for the upcoming season to be successful for them?

Today is Part One featuring Jeremy Lin, Patrick Patterson and Royce White. The other parts will be:

Part Two: Asik / Jones / Parsons
Part Three: Harden / Motiejunas / Delfino
Part Four: Everyone Else


Part One: What do the following players need to do in order for you to consider them to have a successful season?

Jeremy Lin - 6'3" Point Guard. 2 years NBA experience. The breakout star of the strike-shortened 2012 season. Lin brings excitement, fan interest...but lots of question marks. Turnovers are a big concern with Lin. He will be looked upon to bring this new team together.


Patrick Patterson - 6'9" Power Forward. 2 years NBA experience. Coming off of a disappointing sophomore campaign, the likely Rockets starter at Power Forward has expressed a strong desire to improve and become a leader on this team.


Royce White - 6'8" Power Forward. Rookie. The Enigmatic Royce White is the definition of a player with incredible potential, but his well-publicized social anxiety disorder is too much for many to overlook. Incredible skill, but very raw. Needs time to learn.



Just focusing on those three players - what do you need to see?

Lin - not sure how he will do without D'Antoni, teams have scout report on him now, they all know his weakness
Patterson - a PF that shoot mid-range and no post move, he should be a good rebounder, for some reason his offensive rebound look better than his defensive
White - still not sure why we took him, he was never on my watch list, i was hoping we take Jones, no i was talking about Perry Jones III

White was a gamble and I like going for the safest pick available. Using him as a main piece reflects starting Delonte West, he has issues, not 'character' issues, but actual mental issues. Lin will be fine, he will have to adapt to harder defense but he will adjust. Patterson is so just...gah. Not bad, not good, hopefully not a long term starter.

Lin - Im not concerned about his preseason. Its the same question everyone's asking - can he live up to his expectations? Nothing new here. Im a realistic optimist so ima say he does ok in his first year, then in his last 1-1.5 years he'll become an elite pg. All this depends on health. If he cant stay healthy then its a bust

Patterson - Not fair to evalute him from last season. He came off surgery right before the season. WHen he finally got his body back into game shape, he gets hurt (that scary fall, wore a scary looking brace after). That slowed him down. Then for some crazy reason Mchale decided to finish the season with Patterson at center in the 4th quarter. Patterson couldnt get into any rhythm, the compressed shortened season made things worse.

This is a perfect season for him. He's the starting pf, gets a prime oppurtunity to redeem himself. No offseason surgery. With Smith and Aldrich as our backup centers, i dont expect his minutes at center to decrease, so im sure he's done something in the offseason to handle that workload. Im anxious to see how this season works out for him.

White - He's gonna have to do better with his condition. Needs at least a year in the dleague, i expect more. Good project player to have. So much raw potential, could be a poor mans lebron james (boris diaw type player).

rocketsballin wrote:Lin - Im not concerned about his preseason. Its the same question everyone's asking - can he live up to his expectations? Nothing new here. Im a realistic optimist so ima say he does ok in his first year, then in his last 1-1.5 years he'll become an elite pg. All this depends on health. If he cant stay healthy then its a bust

Patterson - Not fair to evalute him from last season. He came off surgery right before the season. WHen he finally got his body back into game shape, he gets hurt (that scary fall, wore a scary looking brace after). That slowed him down. Then for some crazy reason Mchale decided to finish the season with Patterson at center in the 4th quarter. Patterson couldnt get into any rhythm, the compressed shortened season made things worse.

This is a perfect season for him. He's the starting pf, gets a prime oppurtunity to redeem himself. No offseason surgery. With Smith and Aldrich as our backup centers, i dont expect his minutes at center to decrease, so im sure he's done something in the offseason to handle that workload. Im anxious to see how this season works out for him.

White - He's gonna have to do better with his condition. Needs at least a year in the dleague, i expect more. Good project player to have. So much raw potential, could be a poor mans lebron james (boris diaw type player).

If your definition of a poor man's LeBron is Boris Diaw, then that man has to be Antonie Walker.

i was basing it on stats

bron - 28/7/7
diaw - 15/4/4

not the best comparison and those stats are off the top of my head. when diaw was in phx his avg was around that

also kinda dont understand you. if my definition of a poor mans bron is diaw...then that man is antoine walker? maybe im being lazy as hell, but antoine walker was an elite player in his heydays. he is the only player to shoot 4-pointers .

rocketsballin wrote:i was basing it on stats

bron - 28/7/7
diaw - 15/4/4

not the best comparison and those stats are off the top of my head. when diaw was in phx his avg was around that

also kinda dont understand you. if my definition of a poor mans bron is diaw...then that man is antoine walker? maybe im being lazy as hell, but antoine walker was an elite player in his heydays. he is the only player to shoot 4-pointers .

Poor man joke, as in...that man is poor, and...Walker...

lmao

Jeremy Lin: He'll be good. Drove well since the hot streak, passed much better in the preseason games, needs to work on shot. I'll be interesting to see how Mchale sets up little two man games with Lin, since the post is Mchale's stated preference for the offense to flow through.

Patrick Patterson: I wonder if he'll take a page out from the Chuck Hayes 5 year plan. He has a lot more physical tools to work with. His mid range jumper is good but he never had a chance to show case many low post moves. But whenever he gets on the court, he plays very hard and is extremely high motor. Does not need the ball to have presence felt. Despite injuries last season, he got more minutes and his stats increased, despite efficiency fell. I can't get mad at a guy who puts the team first and goes hard.

White: By now it ought to be no secret that I have some unexplained fetish with players who can't shoot, especially if they are a bit nuts and wear Houston Red & White. Royce White is that guy for me. But beyond that, surely he must understand that his chicanery with the bus thing has cost him some cookie points with both his team mates and management. He needs to figure out how to play off the ball. If there is a veteran that Royce White needs to apprentice under, it would be Patty Pat.

The pessimist in me has low hopes for all 3

Lin- last year was fun and I am rooting for him, but he has a lot of holes in his game...he seems to be a hard worker and very smart and mature so hopefully he works out his kinks

Pat pat- he has worked on his post moves max and you can see he has improved in them (he has been trying to use scolas patented pivot around 3 times then shoot a baby hook since midway through last year) but damn pat pat please make your F***ING mid range shot PLEASE!!!! It is good that he is emerging as a leader, though. With a team full of young guys we need some young players to be leaders and make sure everyone is working hard and working out the right way

White- I am not going to judge him until next year...I expect a lot of d league pt for him...if he comes back next year and still hasn't improved his shot or fts then I will be mad