Jeremy Lin Discussion 2014-2015

Lin is a leader. His smarts make up for lack of athleticism. He will actually make us better this year.

 

Well Nash was injured so there's that and Blake came into the triangle in which he struggled. One He was used a true point guard he did better. I think Lin will be fine in this system or systems that we're using.

 

Not every guard is Westbrook or Rose (pre-injuries) or Wall or your fav speed burner / leaper. But saying Lin has a lack of athleticism seems a wee bit over the top. He gets to the rack and puts the ball in the hole consistently. Shiftiness and coordination are parts of a good athlete's game.

 

Lin is pretty athletic overall... how do you think he gets into the paint all the time? It's not by smarts. He just speeds by the defender lol

 

Clarkson would do well to learn from Lin a lot of points about Lin's game to add to his own special strengths and game. And he seems to be doing that, as Jeremy can often be seen talking to him with him paying attention.

 

Lin is the starting PG on opening night. Time to roll them fools Mr. Lin.

 

Starting to see an uptick in Doc's posts....always a good thing. Am taking as a sign Doc, like a lot of us..... is excited and eager to see what this team can do, and not "fearful" expecting to get our butts "kicked" most games as a team that is "lottery bound". Just give us our full squad back with health to all our key guys...no more than normal 1- 2 week out basketball type injuries THIS year after the last 2 ridiculous years. And let Mitch pull out, polish up and work magic yet once again with the WAND in taking advantage of the Nash player exemption and nearly $5 million in cash. All that happens and we are in the playoffs. Not a lottery team this year.

 

I'm not saying he's un athletic. But Rose, Westbrook, Lilliard, Wall, Walker, essentially every starting pg except Rubio is faster and a better leaper. I'd put Lin in the same category as Nash. Craftier than he is fast, but not slow either. Great at changing direction and changing pace. Not in the same breath as Magic, Kidd or Nash when passing, but still a good to great passer.

So I'll concede that he's not unathletic, but when describing him the word athleticism is not what first comes to mind.

 

I get what you're saying. He's not in the same category as Nash though in terms of athletes imo. Nash had amazing lateral quickness and ability to change direction, which Lin doesn't have.

To be honest, I've watched Lin since the NY days and athletically, he's a bit of a mixed bag. His athletic skillset is actually very weird, since he has some skillsets that normally don't appear together (Just like Randle being a PF who has handles like a PG, etc).

The way I see Lin is:

- Very explosive in a straight line (great on drives/closing out on defense). One of the fastest players in the league in terms of straight line speed if he builds up a head of steam. I've seen him go full court in around 2 seconds multiple times over the years in order to get a layup attempt at end of quarter situations.

- Lacking in footspeed laterally (both sides of the ball). This means he has a weakness in getting blown-by on the perimeter, (ballhandlers go around him quite often).

- The strange thing about the "explosive straight line," vs "lacking lateral footspeed," traits though, is that if he gets blown by on the perimeter, he also has the strength of recovering to challenge shots (because once he gets blown by, he explodes in a straight line for the recovery/challenge). Because of this weird combo, last season, Lin was actually one of the best players in the league at defending shots at the rim. (Allows a lot of shots at the rim, but challenges most of them for good defenses percentages.) lol

Good Example of this:



1. Parker blows by Lin. (Showing Lin's poor lateral speed)
2. If you watch Parker carefully, since he had to use his lateral speed/footwork to get around Lin, he now has to drive to the bucket in a curve.
3. If you watch Lin carefully, once Lin gets beat off the dribble, he runs in a STRAIGHT LINE in order to get to Parker's release point (the Glass) before Parker can get there. (Displaying his straight line explosiveness)
4. Basically, at the first moment of the blow-by, Parker has 1-2 steps ahead of Lin, which Lin erases because he's one of the fastest straight line guys in the league.

- Below average leaper vertically. One leg jumper. Never jumps with two feet.

- Even though he's below average in terms of hops, he has great hangtime in the air when he does jump (for layups, jumpers, etc).

- Great timing on blocks. One of the best blocking PGs in the league. Has a few highlight blocks out there. (Parker block from above, etc.)

Another Example:


1. Lin beat off the dribble by one of the other fastest straight line guys in the league (DRose).
2. Able to recover and match Rose's speed in straight line speed for the contest.
3. If you look carefully, Rose + Lin both jump at nearly identical times.
4. Lin displays the hang-time he has when in the air again, as he pauses for a moment anticipating the block.

- Has an elite first step off the dribble. If you watch him blow by defenders, he doesn't really have the handles/skills to do any fancy jukes to get the defender out of position before he drives, so he just does a little hesitation and then flies by in full speed. His ability to get to the lane is really just pure speed most of the times.


1. Slight hesitation
2. Straight line drive

- After his first step drive, he's a straight line driver. Once he blows by, he's going straight to the rim. (Over the years, Lin's playing style (athletically) has actually not been crafty at all. It's basically just speed-speed-speed.)

- Since he drove in a straight in a line at full speed all the time in previous seasons, he didn't really have the ability to stop on a dime in previous years. His drives were commonly reckless all or nothing plays (he couldn't change the speed of his drives because he didn't have a change of pace dribble).

- Fast forward to this year: He seems to have a change of pace dribble now on drives... The new dribble happens after he drives past his defender initially on the blow-by, and then occurs when he tries to stop on a dime by channeling his leftover momentum through a dribble between his leg into the opposite hand. He then pauses to lull the defender into a stationary position, and then restarts the dribble-drive. (I'm not sure how good this move is yet though. He literally didn't have that move his entire career before now... so I'm not sure what to make of it.)

Typing that all out sounds confusing, but here it is in action:



1. Hard drive to the RIGHT for a blow-by (Displaying great first step).
2. Stops the momentum of his body going right, by dribbling between the leg into OPPOSITE direction (LEFT hand).
3. Slight hesitation and pause.
4. Causing the Defender (Sessions) to instinctively pause along with Lin.
5. Lin restarts drive to the left for the second blow-by.

He's been using that hesitation dribble not just on iso-drives, but also at slower paces on the perimeter around screens, on the PNR, etc. Tbh, it's got me excited. He literally wasn't using this dribble at all last year. (He had a behind-the-back change of pace dribble but it was pretty terrible imo. It was a very shaky move, but this dribble looks like he has much more control with it.)

- Great body control in the air: This is why he's such a good finisher at the rim. His straight line drives get him to the cup, and then he contorts his body as needed to finish the play.



With all these things said, skill-wise Lin actually has been lacking nuance in his game over the years and he's only been getting around it because he's actually a very good athlete (it just never seems like it for those who don't watch him a lot because he doesn't do the athletic feats we normally are drawn to: dunks, crossovers, etc.) Recently, it seems like he has started to figure out and add some nuances to his game though, like the hesitation dribble from above. Which is very encouraging. (Added a sweep-through move too when driving.)

 

Great post GB thank you.

 

I know it's nitpicking, but it's a pet peeve of mine:

There is no such thing. The amount of time a player spends in the air is a function of the speed and angle of the jump. Player's aerodynamic properties, which are the only other thing that may affect the "hang time" (by introducing air friction or resistance) are so negligible that there is no detectable difference.

 

Great post Gangsterbomb, and use of motion media to perfectly illustrate what you were referring to in each section. Really well done.

 

Agreed. But hang time is the perception of hanging in the air. MJ did it with an incredibly long and high jump, and then a body contortion near the basket which makes it appear as if his body is hanging in one place.

Not many guys have the power in their jumps to create the perception of hang time.

 

Damn.. it just clicked. Did yall forget whose wing Lin is under now? Im kind of excited&say all you want, I see some of Kobe&that clip above&no I am not high lol. Lin IMO will be a blessing in disguise to Nashs injury&adds EXACTLY what we needed as far as someone that can push the ball,attacking the basket at any given moment.I dont think weve ever had a PG do that since Van Exel? Im just curious on how he will play alongside Kobe&how the offense is going to be run.

 

Everyone was fouling a lot in preseason, but that's what Byron is trying to do.

He's trying to build up the Lakers as a physical team, so those type of fouls don't get called as much. A lot of what Boston did in 2008.

 

thank you Gangsterbomb for taking the time to write that in depth and informative post.

 

lol,agree... Kinda like the Seattle Seahawks except without the whole grabbing on every play which is illegal. My point? They cannot call it all the effing timewhen a team is playing scrappy,legal,up in your face Derek Fisher type D haha.Plus NBA is trying to set tempo for the regular season,things are looking better under Silver IMO from what I saw as far as letting them play more physical in playoffs&teams still scoring around 100.

Back to Lin, I dont think its far fetched to say he might just be in consideration of 2nd team All-Star material. Just watch,when youre playing&surrounded by the presence of one of top 3 GOATS IMO,his all around game,dedication,passion,work ethic,striving to get better ALONG with his AWESOME team&humble personality he simply HAS to be better.