Somewhat confused about starting lineup decisions?

[thisissami]

Hey Guys,

I'm Sami, and I've been lurking on these boards for this past season. I'm a Lin fan who's been following his career throughout the league, and have been overall happy with his time at Charlotte so far. The team is pretty awesome with players who clearly care about each other, and the front office & coaching staff seem to be mostly super fair.

I had a question I wanted to pose to you all to get a sense of how everybody else feels about this (and please excuse me if there has been a thread about this before). When Lin first got signed by Charlotte, and especially once the pre-season started & MKG was injured, I had an expectation that the starting lineup would consist of Batum at SF (his natural position), Lin at PG (his natural position), and Walker at SG - namely because Kemba is the purest scorer on the team and I believed he would benefit big time by getting to focus more on that (getting set up instead of setting others up).

As the season went on, this never seemed to happen - but I continually felt that this would be the best starting lineup for the Hornets which would net them the most wins. I know that MKG is back from his injury now - so that complicates my question - so for the moment, let's pretend that he's still injured: Would you be a fan of Nic/Jeremy/Kemba starting at those positions? Why or why not? I think this lineup gives the Hornets the best shot at a playoff run (and in my opinion, a deep one).

[yosemiteben]

Lin wasn't ever going to be a starter for our team absent injury. He said so himself.

[Roy Tarpley]

Yeah, the expectation that Lin would start, whether PG or SG, was incorrect.

[ChokeFasncists]

Your lineup did happen, when PJ was out

[thisissami]

@yosemiteben - I know that he wasn't brought into the team to be a starter. I understand that the expectations from the get-go would be that he would be the back-up PG. However, I also had an expectation that the Hornets would want the lineup that would be most conducive to wins - and in my opinion, that's a lineup with Lin at PG and Kemba at SG. I just think that there would be a lot more ball-movement and more guys stepping up collectively if that were to take place, which ultimately would lead to more wins.

@ChokeFasncists - except Kemba was playing PG and Lin was playing SG Not the same!

[ChokeFasncists]

^
Cool, well, I guess it's cuz he's been here for longer, has always been the PG and more importantly, he's got much better handles.

[thisissami]

I agree that his handles are better. I think as a 1v1 player, he blows Lin out of the water. But the trend that I've noticed in following Lin over the years (I've been following him pre-linsanity, since he had a breakout game in the summer league vs John Wall before he was first signed by GSW) is that he consistently facilitates like no other and really gets other teammates involved. I think the recent game against Cleveland is a great example of that.

I dunno, I guess in my mind I just imagined that everybody would benefit from this & be up for trying it out. I figured Kemba would enjoy having less pressure and being continually set-up for easier shots (meaning his shot % would go up big time), and that everybody else would be more involved too.

[Walt Cronkite]

Hypothetically, in a world where MKG is still injured, the best possible lineup would've been Lin starting at PG next to a team of clones genetically manipulated (only to adjust for positional height necessity). They would've been fed an optimal diet (nutrition as well as information) to excel at every position and would've played a minimum of 48 minutes per game. Each Lin would have an identical replacement, but it would be overkill because he/it would never get injured (playing with his teamselfs, truly happy for the first time in his career).

David Stern, in his INFINITE wisdom (sarcasm), nixed the plan after seeing a plethora of advanced statistics (especially +/-) that painted a bleak portrait for humanity if this uberteam was allowed to align. The computers, unable to process a team's entire seasons without missed shots or opponent points scored (outside of shenanigans), became sentient and usured in the beginning of what would be known as the Lingularity. Nukes were launched in order to deal with the perceived threat and we found ourselves in a nuclear wasteland. In a bit of irony, this also would've lead to OriginaLin meeting his soulmate, Sarah Connors, and creating another genetically modified clone (after marriage), Jeremy Lin Connors. Lin's offspring, not having the imperfections of Kyle Reese's in the other instances of the multiverse, would've efficiently disposed of our robot overlords in quick fashion and brought forth the true Golden Age before sharing the secrets of transcendence to the survivors (mostly clones, but they WERE designed to last) who turned into pure white light and ascended as the universe literally smiled.

Robot annihilation would've been sad but I think we can all agree it would've been worth it.

[thisissami]

@Walt Cronkite - So ignoring the majority of what you said... Lin's stint in Charlotte is the first time that he's been happy in a long time. He's been smiling and goofing around and being his natural self, something that he hasn't done since his time in NYC/very beginning of his time in Houston. As someone who's been following him for a long time, it's been awesome to see.

[ChokeFasncists]

I agree that his handles are better. I think as a 1v1 player, he blows Lin out of the water. But the trend that I've noticed in following Lin over the years (I've been following him pre-linsanity, since he had a breakout game in the summer league vs John Wall before he was first signed by GSW) is that he consistently facilitates like no other and really gets other teammates involved. I think the recent game against Cleveland is a great example of that.

I dunno, I guess in my mind I just imagined that everybody would benefit from this & be up for trying it out. I figured Kemba would enjoy having less pressure and being continually set-up for easier shots (meaning his shot % would go up big time), and that everybody else would be more involved too.

Na, I think Kemba likes the dribble and shoot more than spotting up.

[Elden Payton]

We'd be murdered defensively with Kemba at SG.

[ChokeFasncists]

^
I think he's mainly talking about offense.

[thisissami]

I am mainly talking about offense. When it comes to defense, couldn't Kemba + Lin hypothetically switch it up? (AKA if one is PG on offense, guard the SG on defense, and vice verse.)

Thanks to those of you who have responded! I've been curious as to what long-time Charlotte fans would think about this.

[bws94]

I think the lineups are fine as is. I've watched Lin a long time and I don't get sometimes why he sort of takes himself out of the offensive flow. He did that last night. He didn't do much in BF1, was sort of hesitant and just didn't look right. He has those times. He also has times where he just gets way too sloppy with the ball for a few plays in a row. He's an electric open-court player, wonderful transition fast-break guy, solid lob thrower that isn't being exploited on this team but his jump shot isn't reliable (but somehow in the clutch, he hits jump shots as seen last night), he is slowed down too much by ball pressure and traps, he sometimes takes forever as a facilitator to do anything if guys don't run to their spots taking valuable time off the clock and I think sometimes his clock awareness isn't the best. He's bailed out by having a great sense of making tough running shots with the seconds clicking down or getting fouled and going to the line.

Since Kemba's basketball handling skills are so high, he can get to his area of the court under pressure way better than Lin, I like him as the PG. But, Kemba is really helped by Batum in getting the facilitation going and is a subpar passer for a PG. I would like to see Lin's facilitation, from any point, the 1 or 2 more utilized especially in fast break situations. Unless it is MKG or Kemba, if Lin is on the court, and even sometimes if it is Kemba, if Lin is in front of him on the court, get it to Lin and let him make decisions on the fast break. At other times Kemba should just bring the ball up and tell Lin to run a series of plays. Then Batum. I think Lin sometimes is spacing the floor in the corner too much and his facilitation skills aren't being utilized. If he gets in a flow, he's great.

This is a long post but this leads to my concerns with BF1. I think it is a mess now. And that's Lin's unit. I hope they sort things out but that's another post that isn't on starting lineups. But BF1 has gone from a strength to a liability and that needs to turn around quickly.

I also think Cody needs to stay in the starting lineup when Big Al gets back due to chemistry with Batum.

[bws94]

Another problem about Lin is he seems to happy to give up the ball as a PG. If Lamb is dribbling up the court and then makes a mess out of a set, the next time that happens most PGs will assert their authority and say give me the bleeping ball. Lin seems to be fine with others running the PG show and that can make for a messy offense. We saw that yesterday with BF1. Even Hawes brought up the ball in Friday's game. That shouldn't happen.

[BatumtheGlue]

BWS94: You know what bro? Sometimes i think Lin needs to grow a mentality like Swaggy P, just do what you wanna do and **** off with others as long as what you are doing brings positiveness for the team. Stop being a nice guy, because he needs some swags to be good.

[thisissami]

@BWS94 - good analysis man. Yeah I think everything that you've said is pretty accurate.

Also agree with @BatumtheGlue - I wish Lin wouldn't defer so often. He is super hesitant on a semi-regular basis and I wish he would just recognize his own worth and take control when he needs to.

[BobsBuddy]

Lin?Rubio(Trade Kemba To Minn)
Batum
Mkg
MWill
Deing(Trade Cody to Minn)

[BlackOutBuzz]

Even if we did trade Kemba for Rubio, I really doubt he'd back up Lin.

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[lin is ok]

Come on . Lin and kemba can switch on defense.