Jeremy Lin getting bullied on the Rockets

[MrBigShot]

Disgusting behavior. My respect for Harden has gone down a lot. As for Dwight? That dude is straight up impossible to please. Give him a supporting cast that tailors to his strengths and ends up making the Finals. What does he do? Asks for the coach to be fired and lies about it. Get traded to LA and what does he do? Plays like garbage by his standards, wines the entire season, and asks for the franchise player who has been apart of 5 championships to get amenstied. I'd hate to play with either of them...

For me personally, I never yell at someone who makes an accidental mistake on the court. All it does is hurt their confidence and cause a rift between the team...in this case, Lin didn't even mess up. What was he suppose to do with 5 seconds on the clock?

Lin may be overrated by some guys because of the run he had in NY, but he's a stand up guy.

[Capn'O]

All I can say is, after Dwight left Orlando, the Magic are a WHOLE lot more fun to watch. There's just so much more enjoyment and chemistry in this team. Yes, different players, but you can see it in Jameer escpecially. The young guys are all in good spirits and connecting well. There's no big clown dramab*tch dragging everybody down or publicly throwing them under the bus.

Dwight is a self-centered, overly-selfattached, d*ckhead who takes no responsibility or leads a team. JJ Redick once laughed or chuckled when a reporter asked him about Dwight's words on him being a leader of the Magic. He isn't. He blames and points fingers. Everybody else is to blame, yet he is so often the main reason his teams lose. He and Harden suit eachother well.

And that's the difference between him and Kobe. As big of an SOB as Kobe is... he knows when he messes up. There's accountability. I can't imagine anyone likes playing with him... but I do think everyone around the league respects him.

Nobody respects this clown.

[princeton_o]

Excellent analysis.

Where do you begin in assessing the magnitude of the dwightmare?

First of all, Dwight has attempted a coup d'état on every franchise he's been a part of, asking for the heads of: SVG, Kobe Bryant, and now Lin.

Second, he may wind up getting his coach fired on 3 straight teams in 3 straight seasons.

Third, even though he's now on a team that seems tailor made for him, Howard is STILL not happy. It was already pre-loaded with a roster full of young talent. Hakeem Olajuwon gushed that the Howard Lin picknroll would be "deadly." He could also be mentored by BOTH Mchale and Olajuwon, the two most talented post scorers in the game's history. It's a major market, yet outside of the glaring spot-light of Los Angeles. Even though he signed for a year less than he could have with Los Angeles, his taxes are far lower in TX, meaning he'd actually make MORE per season with Houston than with Los Angeles. Houston also has a very large African American population, with one quarter of the population being African American.

Every box is checked. He SHOULD be in an ideal situation for at least 4-5 seasons, if not longer. But this is dwight howard we're talking about, and there is absolutely nothing that will make him happy.

The only thing left to do at this point is to watch Howard pick off any and all threats to his ego, one by one. This includes Lin, first and foremost. Then Asik. And finally Mchale. Parsons, who shares an agent with Howard is safe. For now. So is Harden, his wing man for night life in Houston. I'm not even sure if Morey's job is safe.

The rockets seemed to be making all of the right moves. Howard seemed like a calculated risk, but a worthwhile one, given the upside. As the rockets will soon realize, if they haven't already, there is no upside worth the megalomaniacal demands of Dwight Howard.

Disgusting behavior. My respect for Harden has gone down a lot. As for Dwight? That dude is straight up impossible to please. Give him a supporting cast that tailors to his strengths and ends up making the Finals. What does he do? Asks for the coach to be fired and lies about it. Get traded to LA and what does he do? Plays like garbage by his standards, wines the entire season, and asks for the franchise player who has been apart of 5 championships to get amenstied. I'd hate to play with either of them...

For me personally, I never yell at someone who makes an accidental mistake on the court. All it does is hurt their confidence and cause a rift between the team...in this case, Lin didn't even mess up. What was he suppose to do with 5 seconds on the clock?

Lin may be overrated by some guys because of the run he had in NY, but he's a stand up guy.

[TommyB]

All I can say is, after Dwight left Orlando, the Magic are a WHOLE lot more fun to watch. There's just so much more enjoyment and chemistry in this team. Yes, different players, but you can see it in Jameer escpecially. The young guys are all in good spirits and connecting well. There's no big clown dramab*tch dragging everybody down or publicly throwing them under the bus.

Dwight is a self-centered, overly-selfattached, d*ckhead who takes no responsibility or leads a team. JJ Redick once laughed or chuckled when a reporter asked him about Dwight's words on him being a leader of the Magic. He isn't. He blames and points fingers. Everybody else is to blame, yet he is so often the main reason his teams lose. He and Harden suit eachother well.

And that's the difference between him and Kobe. As big of an SOB as Kobe is... he knows when he messes up. There's accountability. I can't imagine anyone likes playing with him... but I do think everyone around the league respects him.

Nobody respects this clown.

This. If he couldn't get along with the great Steve Nash, what chance does Jeremy have?

Most importantly, Dwight, like Richie Incognito, has a track history of being a team cancer throughout their whole career.

[GlennQuagmire]

Haha I just posted that tommyb in the harden thread.
Great minds think alike

[JellosJigglin]

All I can say is, after Dwight left Orlando, the Magic are a WHOLE lot more fun to watch. There's just so much more enjoyment and chemistry in this team. Yes, different players, but you can see it in Jameer escpecially. The young guys are all in good spirits and connecting well. There's no big clown dramab*tch dragging everybody down or publicly throwing them under the bus.

Dwight is a self-centered, overly-selfattached, d*ckhead who takes no responsibility or leads a team. JJ Redick once laughed or chuckled when a reporter asked him about Dwight's words on him being a leader of the Magic. He isn't. He blames and points fingers. Everybody else is to blame, yet he is so often the main reason his teams lose. He and Harden suit eachother well.

And that's the difference between him and Kobe. As big of an SOB as Kobe is... he knows when he messes up. There's accountability. I can't imagine anyone likes playing with him... but I do think everyone around the league respects him.

Nobody respects this clown.

Kobe's style weeds out the mentally soft. He has no tolerance for laziness. Love him or hate him. He's going to make you choose. He's had plenty more teammates who loved playing with him than those that hated it. Of course the few who hated playing with him will get more media attention. One thing about Kobe since he's had his own team, he always let's his teammates know where they stand with him. If he doesn't like something they're doing he'll be straight up with them and tell them.

Dwight Howard otoh is so phony and passive aggressive. If hes unhappy about something he'll pout about it behind their backs and then deny it when they approach him. Remember last season when he was waving the stat sheet in the air to reporters after a game last season. Of course he denied when he was asked about it. And then when his goons began leaking how he didn't like playing with Kobe, Kobe called him out on it in a team meeting and asked him if he had a problem with him. Of course once again he had nothing to say. This guy is the definition of a locker room cancer.

[tcorbin]

Weird because Lin has been their most consistent player this year so far.

Interesting note, when Lin came in for Beverley in the 3rd quarter they were down by 14, when he left they were down by 3. He didn't come back into the game until around 6 and a half minutes in the game, which at that time he was shooting 5 for 7.

He was totally iced out of the game by Harden and company, not allowed to touch the ball while Harden played ISO ball and chucking up 24 total shots. The one time that he handled the ball in the 4th, he tried to call a play which Harden totally ignored. The ball was passed around and Lin got it back with 2 seconds where he had to force an errand shot, which afterward was chewed up publicly by Harden to the point that McHale and Beverley had to calm him down.

The play where Blake hit the 3, everyone was supposed to switch even if Lin wasn't being held by Nash they were still supposed to switch on the screen. Again, Lin was blamed by Dwight and co.

Lin finished the game with the highest shooting percentage, 16 pts, 2 steals, 2 blocks, took a charge but somehow he was the one that lost the game for them.

i have been saying this for months now.... Harden is ball dominate, Lin is ball dominate, and Howard is ball dominate. i just don't see it working, Parson is the only guy who works well with Dwight... Dwight needs guys who can play off the ball or catch and shoot like Horford, Boozer, Step Curry, Korver, KG, Peirce.

[Kupchak9]

Dwight has ultimately regressed from his time in Orlando.

Back in 2011-2012 the guy was leading head and shoulders away as the best center in the league, and while the depth pool of centers has gotten much deeper in recent years, it's actually Dwight that is closing in the gap with how much he has declined in recent years. None of the centers today could match the Dwight of 2 years ago. Before leaving Orlando the guy actually had a pretty lethal offensive repertoire and gave a damn about organized defense.

Now he's more focused on making the best highlights. On offense he refuses to play traditional pick & rolls, demanding more isolation plays for himself and alley-oops instead of simple passes. Then on defense he is slow to rotate on screens and really only cares about playing secondary defense to get some exciting blocks. His attitude is just all wrong in so many ways. He always tries to pull off this happy/good guy demeanor but he's undoubtedly fictitious just a negative influence on everyone around him. I was rooting for him in LA and even when he left to go to Houston but the guy has just been a plague to the Rockets chemistry.

[tcorbin]

Dwight has ultimately regressed from his time in Orlando.

Back in 2011-2012 the guy was leading head and shoulders away as the best center in the league, and while the depth pool of centers has gotten much deeper in recent years, it's actually Dwight that is closing in the gap with how much he has declined in recent years. None of the centers today could match the Dwight of 2 years ago. Before leaving Orlando the guy actually had a pretty lethal offensive repertoire and gave a damn about organized defense.

Now he's more focused on making the best highlights. On offense he refuses to play traditional pick & rolls, demanding more isolation plays for himself and alley-oops instead of simple passes. Then on defense he is slow to rotate on screens and really only cares about playing secondary defense to get some exciting blocks. His attitude is just all wrong in so many ways. He always tries to pull off this happy/good guy demeanor but he's undoubtedly fictitious just a negative influence on everyone around him. I was rooting for him in LA and even when he left to go to Houston but the guy has just been a plague to the Rockets chemistry.

Orlando had a simple formula for Dwight, which was , Dwight + 4 shooters, Lewis, Hedo, Nelson, and Pietrus. Harden and Lin are not shooters, they need the ball in their hands to do something.

[Kupchak9]

Dwight has ultimately regressed from his time in Orlando.

Back in 2011-2012 the guy was leading head and shoulders away as the best center in the league, and while the depth pool of centers has gotten much deeper in recent years, it's actually Dwight that is closing in the gap with how much he has declined in recent years. None of the centers today could match the Dwight of 2 years ago. Before leaving Orlando the guy actually had a pretty lethal offensive repertoire and gave a damn about organized defense.

Now he's more focused on making the best highlights. On offense he refuses to play traditional pick & rolls, demanding more isolation plays for himself and alley-oops instead of simple passes. Then on defense he is slow to rotate on screens and really only cares about playing secondary defense to get some exciting blocks. His attitude is just all wrong in so many ways. He always tries to pull off this happy/good guy demeanor but he's undoubtedly fictitious just a negative influence on everyone around him. I was rooting for him in LA and even when he left to go to Houston but the guy has just been a plague to the Rockets chemistry.

Orlando had a simple formula for Dwight, which was , Dwight + 4 shooters, Lewis, Hedo, Nelson, and Pietrus. Harden and Lin are not shooters, they need the ball in their hands to do something.

I think its a bet far-fetched to say that Lin and Harden are not shooters as well as identifying the whole team by just singling out those 2. If that was the case than Hedo was pretty ball dominant and Nelson wasn't much of an off-ball player either. Anyway, last year the Rockets were second in the league in 3 points made per game and tied for 1st in most attempts per game. The Rockets are pretty much tailor made for Howard. In any case its not just that the system may no longer suit Howard its the fact that even though they run a post up play for him he's developed the tendency to shy away from contact. As a Magic he had more of a power game, he backed down opponents and was willing to take the hard-hits. However, now he always does the same move, a side-step running hook that will surely avoid any contact with opposing big men. So its not that he's less athletic it's just that he's been broken mentally to the extent in which he's afraid of getting hit in the post.

[Optimus_Steel]

Dwight has ultimately regressed from his time in Orlando.

Back in 2011-2012 the guy was leading head and shoulders away as the best center in the league, and while the depth pool of centers has gotten much deeper in recent years, it's actually Dwight that is closing in the gap with how much he has declined in recent years. None of the centers today could match the Dwight of 2 years ago. Before leaving Orlando the guy actually had a pretty lethal offensive repertoire and gave a damn about organized defense.

Now he's more focused on making the best highlights. On offense he refuses to play traditional pick & rolls, demanding more isolation plays for himself and alley-oops instead of simple passes. Then on defense he is slow to rotate on screens and really only cares about playing secondary defense to get some exciting blocks. His attitude is just all wrong in so many ways. He always tries to pull off this happy/good guy demeanor but he's undoubtedly fictitious just a negative influence on everyone around him. I was rooting for him in LA and even when he left to go to Houston but the guy has just been a plague to the Rockets chemistry.

Orlando had a simple formula for Dwight, which was , Dwight + 4 shooters, Lewis, Hedo, Nelson, and Pietrus. Harden and Lin are not shooters, they need the ball in their hands to do something.

That's not totally accurate. It became like that in his last 1 1/2 seasons in Orlando, but before that, Stan was constantly putting Dwight to set up jarring screens to free up Hedo and Jameer. He was elite at doing this. The screens were great because it opened up a ton of space for Hedo with his ball handing to either take it to the basket, penetrate & dish off to an open 3pt shooter, or dump off to Dwight after he cut to the basket for an alley-op or layup. Same for Nelson. Unfortunately his ego grew more and more and he basically refused to set up more picks and just park himself on the post waiting for a pass, he also decided to take easy on defense so he can concentrate on his post game. Dwight has always been deeply concerned about making top plays on Sportcenter, but I got to give Stan tons of credit for keeping him focused as he did for as long as he did.

One thing that bothered me in Orlando was that he was a fake good guy and leader. He always had this fake smile on his face and would try to come off as the happy go lucky good guy, yet here he is constantly yelling at teammates, coaches, for things that are not necessarily their fault, and basically undermining the team. He always talked about being a leader and setting an example but it was all talk and no action. How can you lead when you act like the grinch, pouting on the court constantly getting called for technical fouls by the refs? Or by bashing your teammates for every little thing and offering no support? He also seemed more interested in being a celebrity than being great at basketball. He has the mentality of a 12 year old: what grown man goes around proudly proclaiming that Finding Nemo is his fav movie while repeating movie quotes? All the while trying to get with ugly porn stars and irresponsibly getting a bunch of chicks pregnant, which he denies btw. Just man up man.

[Sixerscan]

feel like there is probably a much larger context to this. kind of a waste of time to assign fault without having the full Story

[Ettorefm]

.

[Frank Mulely]

feel like there is probably a much larger context to this. kind of a waste of time to assign fault without having the full Story

A "Lin being bullied" thread is a lock to be chockfull of knee-jerk reactions.

[princeton_o]

Dwight has ultimately regressed from his time in Orlando.

Back in 2011-2012 the guy was leading head and shoulders away as the best center in the league, and while the depth pool of centers has gotten much deeper in recent years, it's actually Dwight that is closing in the gap with how much he has declined in recent years. None of the centers today could match the Dwight of 2 years ago. Before leaving Orlando the guy actually had a pretty lethal offensive repertoire and gave a damn about organized defense.

Now he's more focused on making the best highlights. On offense he refuses to play traditional pick & rolls, demanding more isolation plays for himself and alley-oops instead of simple passes. Then on defense he is slow to rotate on screens and really only cares about playing secondary defense to get some exciting blocks. His attitude is just all wrong in so many ways. He always tries to pull off this happy/good guy demeanor but he's undoubtedly fictitious just a negative influence on everyone around him. I was rooting for him in LA and even when he left to go to Houston but the guy has just been a plague to the Rockets chemistry.

Orlando had a simple formula for Dwight, which was , Dwight + 4 shooters, Lewis, Hedo, Nelson, and Pietrus. Harden and Lin are not shooters, they need the ball in their hands to do something.

That's not totally accurate. It became like that in his last 1 1/2 seasons in Orlando, but before that, Stan was constantly putting Dwight to set up jarring screens to free up Hedo and Jameer. He was elite at doing this. The screens were great because it opened up a ton of space for Hedo with his ball handing to either take it to the basket, penetrate & dish off to an open 3pt shooter, or dump off to Dwight after he cut to the basket for an alley-op or layup. Same for Nelson. Unfortunately his ego grew more and more and he basically refused to set up more picks and just park himself on the post waiting for a pass, he also decided to take easy on defense so he can concentrate on his post game. Dwight has always been deeply concerned about making top plays on Sportcenter, but I got to give Stan tons of credit for keeping him focused as he did for as long as he did.

One thing that bothered me in Orlando was that he was a fake good guy and leader. He always had this fake smile on his face and would try to come off as the happy go lucky good guy, yet here he is constantly yelling at teammates, coaches, for things that are not necessarily their fault, and basically undermining the team. He always talked about being a leader and setting an example but it was all talk and no action. How can you lead when you act like the grinch, pouting on the court constantly getting called for technical fouls by the refs? Or by bashing your teammates for every little thing and offering no support? He also seemed more interested in being a celebrity than being great at basketball. He has the mentality of a 12 year old: what grown man goes around proudly proclaiming that Finding Nemo is his fav movie while repeating movie quotes? All the while trying to get with ugly porn stars and irresponsibly getting a bunch of chicks pregnant, which he denies btw. Just man up man.

This is a brilliant post. This is perhaps one of Daryl Morey's weaknesses; or perhaps it's the organization's fault more generally speaking, but the rockets under morey seem not to have a screening process if you will, regarding player character. Obviously few teams prioritize personality and character: they are going to sign top talent wherever they can find it.

But when an organization stresses character, the payoffs can be enormous. The spurs are a great example. To a large extent, the heat are an example of a different kind. Phil Jackson held players accountable, while also serving as a sympathetic mentor.

There simply aren't many great leaders in the ranks of nba execs, coaches and owners. We all know who they are: doc rivers, mark jackson, lionel hollins, popovich, pat riley, frank vogel, among others.

One wonders just how good the rockets could be if they had a coach who really cared. Right now, morey's hands are tied. Mchale was a hire as a favor to danny ainge: the recipient of garnett from mchale's twolves. It's really too bad that mchale will finish out the year. He has been a horrible, incompetent coach and it will be a gorgeous day for anyone following the rockets when he is replaced.