Saturday, February 18, 2012

Room to grow

Well, no not really, I mean, Jeremy Lin is still a really good player, but you had to wonder when those turnovers would catch up with him, and I guess they did on this last 89-85 defeat at the hands of an undermanned New Orleans Hornets squad. I mean, on paper they had everything going in, but still, that glaring turnover number in Lin's stat line was something that we needed to really pay attention to. I haven't had much opportunity to review all of Lin's play, but from what I did see, I can tell what his coach Mike D'Antoni is telling him is completely on the dot:

"But at the same time, I was telling (Lin) he’s trying to make the hardest pass out there; he’s trying to make the home run pass."
Not that the home run pass isn't sweet, but let's face it, Jeremy Lin is no Steve Nash, well, optimistically speaking, not yet. I still stand by my comparison of Lin's game to veteran (and highly underrated) PG Tony Parker, who, while playing in a completely different system, plays a style of basketball very similar to our newly discovered Harvard phenom.

The natural answer to Lin's issues is that he needs to calm down, as great as those little highlight reel passes are, he's not going to get those Steve Nash contortion passes, those Penny Hardaway no-look behind the back, or even those Jason Williams street-ball-where-did-that-come-from fancy pants passes every single time. From the footage I was able to review, Lin's biggest problem more specifically from trying to hit those home run passes, is that he's trying to pass through the defense. I recall listening to Deron Williams during the 2004 Beijing Olympics training talking about Jason Kidd, he said the main reason Kidd had all these great passes wasn't because he saw lanes that weren't there, Williams saw all the same lanes, but Kidd was willing to risk those lanes, Nash is of a similar vein, but the difference is, that they were such mercurial passers that they can get away with it a lot of the time, granted Nash averaged at his worst 4.2 turnovers per 36 minutes and Kidd, 3.9, that's still a lot of turnovers. Lin on the other hand is now up to 5.4 turnovers per 36 minutes, that's a new level of not good. I completely understand that D'Antoni runs a high PG usage offense and that Lin is young and getting used to playing at the NBA level, but I also recall turnovers being an issue since Harvard for Lin, he's just finally had enough minutes in the NBA to have it start showing. I mean, 5 turnovers in a single game is already pretty bad, but to be averaging more than 5 across the season (granted he's only played really like 8 games), we've got an issue.

I'm no basketball guru, I don't play or understand the game incredibly well, and I'm not going to claim to be able to fix Lin's issues. I think one of the reasons though, that Lin is having this issue is partially because of his emphasis on keeping a live dribble. When you dribble the ball you have to keep it low, however, to come up for the pass, the straight line is through the defenders, where all those arms are swinging and legs are kicking, Lin may see an opening, but you've got to have that quarterback bullet pass in order sneak it in through there, and frankly, NBA players are just too good and react too fast in order for anything short of perfection to slip through. At the end of the day, here's my advice to Lin, stick with the easy passes, run your pick and roll, you've got to be okay with the hockey assist. If I were to take D'Antoni's spot, the last play I would run, would be a basic pick and roll with Amar'e and Lin, then have J.R. Smith and Steve Novak sitting in the corner and wing respectively for the three if it needs to be kicked out. The pick and roll doesn't have to be flashy, it just has to score two points, I know Knicks fans are asking for a show, but at the end of the day, your job is to win basketball games, and I'm sure they'll forgive you the couple of highlights lost for the W. If I were to ask Lin to model his game after someone, it'd definitely now be Tony Parker. He's not going to get the rack as fast, but he's definitely attacking as aggressively, so keep it up.

Finally, I'd say that Lin needs to play over the defense, sometimes, he doesn't need to keep the ball on the floor. Yes, I know, a live dribble, awesome, but that being said, the Knicks are an athletic team, play over the defense. Lin's greatest assists have always been when he has been keeping his passes high over the defenders' heads. I'm not asking for an alley oop every single time, but sometimes you have to trust your teammates to get to the ball, you don't always have to put it into their hands directly. Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady made a lot of their facilitating success looking over the defense, now I know Lin is only 6-3 to Carter's 6-6 and McGrady's 6-8 but still, you need to keep looking up. I'm sure as much as the team is adjusting to playing with Lin, Lin is adjusting to play with the team as well. I'm still very optimistic about Lin's career, he just needs to calm down, and play some sound basketball. If you see the bounce pass, go for it, your bigs are going to roll a lot harder to the rim because they know you can get them the ball, so don't be afraid to throw a lob, trust your guys to get to where they need to be, you don't have to be Steve Nash, and remember, as good as Nash made Amar'e, Amar'e made Nash look good by being ready for the pass and finishing, so keep your head up, both on and off the court.


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