Linball

Assist to turnover is an essentially meaningless stat, since you have to take it with so much context that you can't ever just look at the number. I'd suspect that Lin and Irving's numbers, for example, are toward the bottom of the point guard rankings because they have to create a lot of offense for their team. Traditionally, the guys who lead that category are standstill shooters (Kyle Korver) or pure distributors who don't really ever turn the ball over because they're not a big part of the offense anyway.

My connection is kind of crappy right now, so I can't look through the previous 18 pages right now to see what my former take on Lin was. However, IIRC, the debate at the time was whether he was an overhyped flash in the pan or a superstar, or as most people on this thread seemed to believe, probably somewhere in the middle. A year out from it, it's pretty clear he's not Tebow, and while he's not a legit all-star, he's at least a serviceable starter out there.

 

You haven't watched the Rockets this year, I take it. James Harden is the real offensive playmaker. And Lin has 2½ months as a starter-level NBA player and two months this season as an unfit starter making too much to bench.

 

I haven't, correct, but I was just assuming that those two took pretty much all the shots, since I couldn't even think of another Rocket beyond them and Asik.

 

Chandler Parsons is the team's second-leading scorer, and Patrick Patterson and Carlos Delfino are close to Jeremy Lin for fourth and fifth. The issue has been Lin and James Harden don't play well together. Both play better with others, but the Rockets struggle without Harden. So the solution is to take out Lin during key stretches. That's not what you want after signing a guy to such a big deal.

I don't think his play this season ranks him among the top 30 point guards.

 

I don't get it.

Jeremy Lin was the best story in the NBA last season. Tim Tebow was the best story in the NFL last season.

Both of them had crossover appeal, and brought in people who didn't normally follow the sport/league.

Lin was the first good thing to happen to the Knicks in ages.

If neither becomes a Hall-of-Famer, or even a top player in the league for years, does that take away from what they already did accomplish?

Am I some sort of idiot because they actually mad me watch an NBA game for the first time in years, or check the NFL schedule to see when the Broncos were playing, because I actually wanted to watch a game for a change?

I know people here get cynical, and get bored of all the hype, but sometimes sports does provide us with a great story. These guys were great stories, and if they never accomplish another thing in their respective leagues, you can't take that away from them.

 

Yup.

Jeremy Lin and (to a lesser extent) Tim Tebow were great stories, just like Mark Fidrych was a great story in 1976. Like you, I hope time remembers both that way.

 

Nah. If there were better players at their position, nobody should ever root for them ever. Sports is more fun when you analyze the numerical value of every play.

 

It's not just the $$$, there isn't exactly a better option waiting in the wings for Houston.

 

Maybe the Rockets' current 13th guy can pull a Lin on Lin? Oh sweet irony!

 

Sure, good stories. But ESPN ruined them both, and that's where the cynicism is derived.

Mark Fidrych is remembered so fondly because, although he was on the cover of SI, his story wasn't blown completely out of proportion. If Lin has a pedestrian career for the next 5-10 seasons, nobody is going to remember the 20 or so games he dominated with the New York Knicks, especially if they go deep into the playoffs this year. And if Tebow is still around in five seasons, few will remember his magical run in winning a shitty division and leading the Broncos to the playoffs, where they got crushed.

 

Tebow and Lin are not that similar.

One came from a football machine in a top conference and was a highly regarded high school player. This player was also a first round draft pick.

One barely got DI basketball looks out of high school and played college basketball in a league that is on the outer fringes of DI. That player was never drafted and bounced around the league looking for playing time.

The only things they have in common are not being black and the majority of American not thinking that could play at the professional level.