Not In The Face - The Jeremy Lin Thread 3 + 1

[PG13]

Also, I stated at beginning the season if Goran Dragic deserves $90M, Lin does too. Lin is every bit and better player than Dragic and it is showing up on the court.

Its clear from this series that Lin is at least as valuable as Dragic to his respective team. On the other hand, its clear Miami drastically overpaid Dragic for his role and fit with their team.

Dragically overpaid

[thisissami]

I have to say i've become a big fan of this guy. He's a top class teammate and underrated player. He's just a really good player plain and simple, and a consummate professional that any team would be lucky to have. Honestly what is there not to like about Jeremy Lin?

I really hope he stays. I've seen that many on Lin forums want him gone which I understand. He's underpaid pretty severely and they want him to be the man.

I just think he's found a good situation. The Kemba-Lin backcourt is awesome to watch. Plus with another year of them learning to play off of each other they will be that much better in tandem. Remember, Lebron and Wade didn't mesh instantly either, it takes time to have two guys gel when they both need the ball.

We need to be prepared with a solid offer this summer to get him to stay. If he walks, then so be it but he definitely won me over as a fan either way.

@Flip Murray - I've been a long time Lin fan (since his college days) and have followed him on his journey from team to team. I've been a fan of the hornets since he's joined this team, and have grown to love basically everybody involved with the team (which is NOT true of all the other NBA teams he's been on).

The only way I'd be stoked on him staying here in Charlotte is if he became the starting PG. In my opinion, the best thing for Charlotte as a team (as in the best way to dominate the league and make it far into the playoffs) would be to have Lin be the main PG & Kemba be SG. Seriously these positions are what their skills are most suited for.

Lin's biggest talent is making the team around him better. He does this by being a heads-up player with extremely high court awareness & intuition for making the right plays. He gets EVERYBODY involved, and gets everybody to play harder. This is the "shot of energy coming off the bench" thing. If he started games, the games would start like this.

Kemba is amazing at scoring. Him being a point guard can, in my opinion (from observing a lot of games this year), hurt the team more than help it. The ball often stagnates as he seems to have a "shoot-first" mentality. Accordingly, it makes so much sense to me that he should get the ball from Lin if Lin can't make a dope play happen really quickly (which he often can). That way you can still take advantage of Kemba's scoring ability for a majority of the shot clock, but only after Lin has had a chance to set everybody on the team up with a high-efficiency play.

From my observations over this past season, Kemba seems to be a super reasonable and down to earth dude. I honestly think that if JLin, Kemba, and Clifford all sat together in the off-season and had a conversation about switching up roles, Kemba would be up for this. Kemba doesn't seem to be ego-driven, and seems to care about being a good person & about winning. I think if he was convinced that this was best for the team, he would try his best (and try real hard) to make this work.

I was honestly surprised at the beginning of the year that this wasn't the set-up from the get-go, especially once MKG was injured. Nic Batum has historically been an awesome SF. JLin is one of the best in the league at making his team better via astute PG play. Kemba is a really amazing scorer. It seemed obvious that they would be put in positions to take best advantage of their skills.

As a Lin fan, that is the best case possible scenario for me: Lin stays in Charlotte and becomes the starting PG, while Kemba shifts over to starting SG. As a Charlotte fan, that is the best case possible scenario for me too: Lin stays as PG, Kemba shifts to SG. Seriously - they will dominate and win SO many games like this.

If Lin stays and doesn't become the starting PG, I will know that his talent is being continually wasted. This would make me sad, but at the end of the day - if Lin's happy and he wants to stay here - then awesome. His happiness matters more to me than anything else.

I know that Lin has stated multiple times throughout his career that he plans on being a an NBA starting PG. I know that in interviews this season as well, Lin has said that he hasn't been used in a role that he thinks suits him best, but that unlike previous years - he's been happy this year (and being on a team that cares for each other is obviously a huge part of that). This means to me that Lin is NOT content with his role, though being the professional awesome dude that he is - he isn't going to bitch and complain about it, but will instead play his role to the best of his abilities. I personally see him seeking out a starting PG role next year, or alternatively a backup PG role in a place like the Spurs, where they only bring people on if they want to seriously invest in them & grow them as players (as they would want to in Lin, to build him up to replace Parker as starting PG).

tl;dr - I hope the Charlotte Hornets seriously consider shifting Kemba to SG so that Lin can start along-side him as PG, and that they offer him a contract of that sort. I can't see Lin turning that down if that happens, since he clearly loves his teammates.

[RealHusky]

Also, I stated at beginning the season if Goran Dragic deserves $90M, Lin does too. Lin is every bit and better player than Dragic and it is showing up on the court.

Its clear from this series that Lin is at least as valuable as Dragic to his respective team. On the other hand, its clear Miami drastically overpaid Dragic for his role and fit with their team.

Or that's just the market rate. Reggie Jackson got $18M. Brandon Knight got $14M per year. Lin is just valuable if not more so than any of those guys.

If Hornets is willing to pay Batum close to max and trying to get Lin to take a discount, that would be pretty insulting. If anything, Hornets lost game 1 and 2 with Batum and won 3 and 4 without him. Guess who stepped way up with Batum out when given the opportunity?

[bws94]

Lin hasn't had the type of seasons before his FA contract that Dragic, IT and RJ have had. But I think Lin is proving he's a big-game player. Or maybe a solid playoff player. At the end of the playoffs, if he continues at this level, he'll be considered a solid playoff player.

[RealHusky]

I have to say i've become a big fan of this guy. He's a top class teammate and underrated player. He's just a really good player plain and simple, and a consummate professional that any team would be lucky to have. Honestly what is there not to like about Jeremy Lin?

I really hope he stays. I've seen that many on Lin forums want him gone which I understand. He's underpaid pretty severely and they want him to be the man.

I just think he's found a good situation. The Kemba-Lin backcourt is awesome to watch. Plus with another year of them learning to play off of each other they will be that much better in tandem. Remember, Lebron and Wade didn't mesh instantly either, it takes time to have two guys gel when they both need the ball.

We need to be prepared with a solid offer this summer to get him to stay. If he walks, then so be it but he definitely won me over as a fan either way.

@Flip Murray - I've been a long time Lin fan (since his college days) and have followed him on his journey from team to team. I've been a fan of the hornets since he's joined this team, and have grown to love basically everybody involved with the team (which is NOT true of all the other NBA teams he's been on).

The only way I'd be stoked on him staying here in Charlotte is if he became the starting PG. In my opinion, the best thing for Charlotte as a team (as in the best way to dominate the league and make it far into the playoffs) would be to have Lin be the main PG & Kemba be SG. Seriously these positions are what their skills are most suited for.

Lin's biggest talent is making the team around him better. He does this by being a heads-up player with extremely high court awareness & intuition for making the right plays. He gets EVERYBODY involved, and gets everybody to play harder. This is the "shot of energy coming off the bench" thing. If he started games, the games would start like this.

Kemba is amazing at scoring. Him being a point guard can, in my opinion (from observing a lot of games this year), hurt the team more than help it. The ball often stagnates as he seems to have a "shoot-first" mentality. Accordingly, it makes so much sense to me that he should get the ball from Lin if Lin can't make a dope play happen really quickly (which he often can). That way you can still take advantage of Kemba's scoring ability for a majority of the shot clock, but only after Lin has had a chance to set everybody on the team up with a high-efficiency play.

From my observations over this past season, Kemba seems to be a super reasonable and down to earth dude. I honestly think that if JLin, Kemba, and Clifford all sat together in the off-season and had a conversation about switching up roles, Kemba would be up for this. Kemba doesn't seem to be ego-driven, and seems to care about being a good person & about winning. I think if he was convinced that this was best for the team, he would try his best (and try real hard) to make this work.

I was honestly surprised at the beginning of the year that this wasn't the set-up from the get-go, especially once MKG was injured. Nic Batum has historically been an awesome SF. JLin is one of the best in the league at making his team better via astute PG play. Kemba is a really amazing scorer. It seemed obvious that they would be put in positions to take best advantage of their skills.

As a Lin fan, that is the best case possible scenario for me: Lin stays in Charlotte and becomes the starting PG, while Kemba shifts over to starting SG. As a Charlotte fan, that is the best case possible scenario for me too: Lin stays as PG, Kemba shifts to SG. Seriously - they will dominate and win SO many games like this.

If Lin stays and doesn't become the starting PG, I will know that his talent is being continually wasted. This would make me sad, but at the end of the day - if Lin's happy and he wants to stay here - then awesome. His happiness matters more to me than anything else.

I know that Lin has stated multiple times throughout his career that he plans on being a an NBA starting PG. I know that in interviews this season as well, Lin has said that he hasn't been used in a role that he thinks suits him best, but that unlike previous years - he's been happy this year (and being on a team that cares for each other is obviously a huge part of that). This means to me that Lin is NOT content with his role, though being the professional awesome dude that he is - he isn't going to bitch and complain about it, but will instead play his role to the best of his abilities. I personally see him seeking out a starting PG role next year, or alternatively a backup PG role in a place like the Spurs, where they only bring people on if they want to seriously invest in them & grow them as players (as they would want to in Lin, to build him up to replace Parker as starting PG).

tl;dr - I hope the Charlotte Hornets seriously consider shifting Kemba to SG so that Lin can start along-side him as PG, and that they offer him a contract of that sort. I can't see Lin turning that down if that happens, since he clearly loves his teammates.

Good post and I been saying the same thing forever. I love Kemba being a super UCONN fan and an alum, but Kemba's skill set is more suited as a scoring SG vs. as a PG. Jeremy's pass in the 1st half in GM 5 in my opinion is what kept Hornets in the game. When Kemba is in as PG and not scoring, Hornets look lost. That's not the case when Lin is the PG. He plays under control and goes into attack mode when the situation presents itself. All the players also play with more energy with Lin as the PG since they know they will get the ball if they move into proper position.

Whether Hornets do this or not it remains to be seen. Numbers don't lie. With LIn on the floor, Hornets just play better.

[RealHusky]

Lin hasn't had the type of seasons before his FA contract that Dragic, IT and RJ have had. But I think Lin is proving he's a big-game player. Or maybe a solid playoff player. At the end of the playoffs, if he continues at this level, he'll be considered a solid playoff player.

Opportunity and role on different teams made a huge difference. I seen Lin played against those guys and he outplayed all of them multiple times. Those guys were in better situations and got their opportunities before FA, but it does not mean they are better players. They are not.

[bws94]

Lin hasn't had the type of seasons before his FA contract that Dragic, IT and RJ have had. But I think Lin is proving he's a big-game player. Or maybe a solid playoff player. At the end of the playoffs, if he continues at this level, he'll be considered a solid playoff player.

Opportunity and role on different teams made a huge difference. I seen Lin played against those guys and he outplayed all of them multiple times. Those guys were in better situations and got their opportunities before FA, but it does not mean they are better players. They are not.

Nowhere in my post did I say they are better players or not. They simply put up bigger stats than Lin has for an entire season.

[yosemiteben]

Yeah we aren't changing Kemba's role to accommodate Lin. If Lin doesn't want a Ginobli-esque role like he's gotten in the playoffs then he needs to move on and risk another LA or HOU experience.

[thisissami]

Yeah we aren't changing Kemba's role to accommodate Lin. If Lin doesn't want a Ginobli-esque role like he's gotten in the playoffs then he needs to move on and risk another LA or HOU experience.

So do you think that Charlotte is at it's best with Kemba at PG then? I honestly think they would do better if he was SG. I think they could have had like 6-8 more wins this year at least if they'd started with that from the beginning of the season.

[RealHusky]

Yeah we aren't changing Kemba's role to accommodate Lin. If Lin doesn't want a Ginobli-esque role like he's gotten in the playoffs then he needs to move on and risk another LA or HOU experience.

History is full of people who tried to put a square into a round hole. Hornets can do whatever they want. There is a reason why they won their first playoff game in like 14 years. They have a good thing going now. If Lin bails, I doubt Hornets will be better off.

If he does get the Ginobli type of role and it is consistent, then I think he should consider it. However, with MKG back and Batum as SG (would be a huge mistake in my opinion), I don't know where the minutes for Lin will come from if Hornets think those guys are more important. Personally, I would take Lin over Batum any day at the SG position.

I watched enough basketball to know Kemba is not a true PG. He is a great scorer, just not a true PG. Teams simply don't go far in basketball with ISO type of players unless they can score every time. There is a reason why teams with guys like Harden and Melo never go anywhere.

[2k15]

Yeah we aren't changing Kemba's role to accommodate Lin. If Lin doesn't want a Ginobli-esque role like he's gotten in the playoffs then he needs to move on and risk another LA or HOU experience.

I feel like every other Hornets fan has been warm and receptive to Lin except you. I get that you try hard to be fair and balanced but drawing harsh lines in the sand like this is more antagonistic than it is helpful.

For what it is worth, I never thought that Lin would be starting in Charlotte and I am pretty sure he didn't either. And if he wants a starter role, he'll have to leave Charlotte for a potentially less cohesive team, that's the call he is going to have to make and the risk that he is going to have to take. I don't disagree with that notion. But for some reason, when it comes from you and addressed the way you address it, it just pisses me off.

[RealHusky]

Yeah we aren't changing Kemba's role to accommodate Lin. If Lin doesn't want a Ginobli-esque role like he's gotten in the playoffs then he needs to move on and risk another LA or HOU experience.

I feel like every other Hornets fan has been warm and receptive to Lin except you. I get that you try hard to be fair and balanced but drawing harsh lines in the sand like this is more antagonistic than it is helpful.

For what it is worth, I never thought that Lin would be starting in Charlotte and I am pretty sure he didn't either. And if he wants a starter role, he'll have to leave Charlotte for a potentially less cohesive team, that's the call he is going to have to make and the risk that he is going to have to take. I don't disagree with that notion. But for some reason, when it comes from you and addressed the way you address it, it just pisses me off.

Trust me, he isn't the only one. There is another guy named Silk Infant or something that swear to the moon than Lin deserves no more than 15 mins per game as a backup. That, he also stated Melo and Harden are "superstars" lol because they can shoot 25 shots a game and score 20+ with playing defense as optional.

[cn0gd]

Yeah we aren't changing Kemba's role to accommodate Lin. If Lin doesn't want a Ginobli-esque role like he's gotten in the playoffs then he needs to move on and risk another LA or HOU experience.

we=?
are you from team management or related to people who have a say to this？

[bws94]

Yeah we aren't changing Kemba's role to accommodate Lin. If Lin doesn't want a Ginobli-esque role like he's gotten in the playoffs then he needs to move on and risk another LA or HOU experience.

So do you think that Charlotte is at it's best with Kemba at PG then? I honestly think they would do better if he was SG. I think they could have had like 6-8 more wins this year at least if they'd started with that from the beginning of the season.

He's not an SG. He doesn't have the height or play like one. He's a great ball-handler and a scoring PG, something like Kyrie Irving. Lin is a combo guard and said so in his last interview at today's practice. He said he likes playing with other PGs or switching over and playing the 2 and that he played 2 in college.

[phillycheese]

Lin and Kemba both had on nights last game so they gave each other off nights tonight. #Teamwork

12 assists from the two. That's what you do if your shots aren't falling.

No. Maimi trapped both guards so it was easier for them to find open man. If Maimi didn't trap, Kemba would put up 25 to 30 shots and total team assists will be around 10 like game 1, 2 and 4.

Two men comes to trap Lin it takes lots of patience and vision to find the open man. Not many pgs can find the open guy because of the stress and pressure the ballhandler is under. Lin did, and all credit to him. The Jet noticedthis.

[bws94]

Yeah we aren't changing Kemba's role to accommodate Lin. If Lin doesn't want a Ginobli-esque role like he's gotten in the playoffs then he needs to move on and risk another LA or HOU experience.

I feel like every other Hornets fan has been warm and receptive to Lin except you. I get that you try hard to be fair and balanced but drawing harsh lines in the sand like this is more antagonistic than it is helpful.

For what it is worth, I never thought that Lin would be starting in Charlotte and I am pretty sure he didn't either. And if he wants a starter role, he'll have to leave Charlotte for a potentially less cohesive team, that's the call he is going to have to make and the risk that he is going to have to take. I don't disagree with that notion. But for some reason, when it comes from you and addressed the way you address it, it just pisses me off.

Trust me, he isn't the only one. There is another guy named Silk Infant or something that swear to the moon than Lin deserves no more than 15 mins per game as a backup. That, he also stated Melo and Harden are "superstars" lol because they can shoot 25 shots a game and score 20+ with playing defense as optional.

And? There are fans with all sorts of opinions on players. That happens on fan boards.

[bws94]

Yeah we aren't changing Kemba's role to accommodate Lin. If Lin doesn't want a Ginobli-esque role like he's gotten in the playoffs then he needs to move on and risk another LA or HOU experience.

Right now, Lin is about the team and giving all he has on the court to help the team win playoff games. What he, Nic, Marv will do next season they will determine when the time comes.

[bws94]

12 assists from the two. That's what you do if your shots aren't falling.

No. Maimi trapped both guards so it was easier for them to find open man. If Maimi didn't trap, Kemba would put up 25 to 30 shots and total team assists will be around 10 like game 1, 2 and 4.

Two men comes to trap Lin it takes lots of patience and vision to find the open man. Not many pgs can find the open guy because of the stress and pressure the ballhandler is under. Lin did, and all credit to him. The Jet noticedthis.

Absolutely. Lin handled the game yesterday great. He figured they'd try to trap him higher up and that would lend opportunities for him to find open guys like he did Big Al on one hard trap the Jet showed. He also used his dribble drive to get into the paint and then find the cutter or big man under the rim a few times. Credit the cutters, Marv in one instance, and big men for being in the right place and also those that knock down shots off kickouts that led to Lin's 7 and Kemba's 5 assists.

In a game where Kemba couldn't get it going and struggled, Batum was hobbled, Lin organized the offense enough to go on some runs while getting guys involved. He got Bats going as well at times.

[Roy Tarpley]

I'm a Lin fan, and I think that Lin is probably closer to a natural PG than Kemba is. This being said, I think it takes some gall to suggest that Lin take the established position of the main star, regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

I think we should focus on the positive energy of what will hopefully be a festive Game 6 win at home, and wait until the offseason before getting into the morass of where Lin will end up.

[RealHusky]

And? There are fans with all sorts of opinions on players. That happens on fan boards.

There are opinions and there are idiots. I hope you know the difference. Like they said, every idiot out there got an opinion just like everyone else. If you are on the message board and you want to debate, bring facts and logic and not this crap this is it cause I said so crap.