Roy Tarpley wrote:MrDollarBills wrote:Roy Tarpley wrote:
I absolutely agree -- absurd comment. I don't think this is representative of the comments, however.
Oh, that falls right in line with the stuff that is being said about RHJ and Whitehead. LeVert has been spared so far but let him have a rough patch, you'll see the same tripe being posted about him. Bennett also gets bashed, objectively I see some positive things from Bennett and I think the Nets should keep working with him if they can afford to do so.
the fact of the matter is, the comments are being said because there's no interest from non Nets fans (not all) in developing these players, in fact, they are viewed as players who hold Lin back. Like dudes on here seemed really offended that the Nets have started Whitehead over Lin the last few games (and it's not that IW deserves to start over Lin, the Nets are doing that to get the most out of his restricted minutes). They talk about sending them down to the d league not so that they can "develop", its so that they are out of Lin's way. That's all this boils down to, is who on the team can be beneficial to Lin right now, and who isn't. Whitehead is viewed as a guy who takes Lin's minutes. RHJ is looked at as someone who can't shoot or makes rookie errors so he isn't beneficial to Lin on the floor. Lin, Lin, Lin that's all it's about, and not what's good for the Nets as a whole and that's what gets people pissed.
I've seen criticism of pretty much all the Nets players -- that's what happens when we've hit rock bottom, a lot of soul-searching and arm-chair quarterbacking. Now that all the players are healthy, I think we'll see a return to normalcy. Everybody's been criticized, not just young-ins (Foye and Scola might as well be lumps of meat for all the pounding they get). Lin will be criticized too, it's just that he hasn't played enough to be criticized! Even in his last two games, he clearly hasn't figured out the right balance of taking control and getting others involved, which should come with more time and a set rotation.
You and I have been on the same page of getting more playing time (even starting) for RHJ and Levert. Good offense starts, most of the time, from good defense.
This is why i really hoped that the DMo situation played to our favor. If he played well enough to start, we could have eventually worked our way to a Lopez/DMo/RHJ/LeVert/Lin line up, featuring 4 players that can hit outside shots, alleviating the problem of RHJ's erratic shooting.