What I would like to see from the Knicks is a 40 minute commitment to Lin--IF Lin can give back games where TO's are now tolerable/valuing the ball(meaning less than 4) he gets back his C in his jumpshot and subsequent drive--he looks pass first and doesnt look for a homerun pass unless its wide open. He has to play lin with controlled aggresion--hes not doing that right now--hes not bad--but hes not Linsane right now.

StephenA, ranted yesterday that Lin is just an average player. I disagree. I think he is above average. He has exceptional intelligence. He has good athleticism. These 2 things alone will make him decent. What is missing with the team now and thus, Lin's game is the other players on the court. When he ran the show and the team looked for him to do it, he had the confidence and it was working. As the "stars" came back, they have, little by little, imposed their will on the team. Lin has tried to fit them in but its not working. That is not his fault but he is feeling the pressure and thus his confidence is shaken, so his shots are not falling now. It is making him average. A kid like Lin and his story, needs the confidence to push him to his best. Right now its missing a bit and we are seeing it.

If the superstars on this team were truly "super", Lin's confidence would have grown upon their return.

All that being said, his stats are settling into the range of 15 ppg, 8apg, 4rpg. If we knew at the beginning of the year that the Knicks would have a PG able to get those stats every night, we would have been elated. How could they lose, we'd all would have been asking! Well, they lose and they lose too much!

Lin can be the starting PG on a winning team, IMO. Does he need to work on a few things? Yes,of course. Steve Nash was not Steve Nash his first 5 years in the league. Derek Rose was not MVP his first year. It takes time but the skills are there and we all know the drive is there.

That said he is burned out and I think something that is being left out of the equation is that Lin is all of 23 years old. The kid has already adjusted and is only going to get better. How much more can teams adjust against hime? Triple team traps?

He played quite welL against Rose. Once the team starts to play better around him (well that has started actually) his play will improve even more.

The one big thing I worry about is the next coach. For Lin to succeed he needs an open system.

I agree as it seems that Melo and Stat back have had a 'bad' influence on him. MDA needs to coach him to 'be the man again' and that might help.

I also thought last night we saw some adjustments that were long over due, as far as having Melo & Stat work within the team concept.

This is not average. Last night Lin had 14 or 15 points on 11 shots. The headlines will talk about how Rose scored 32 points. Trust me...I ain't comparing Lin to Rose...but Rose took freakin' 29 shots last night to get his 32 points. I am sure a ton of the missed shots resulted in Offensive Rebounds and put backs. That is what happens when you take it to the hole and don't worry about your shooting percentage and feeding egos. He will lose some of the battles, but that is how teams win the game WAR. That is how the Knicks were winning before.

Asst/Game - 8.5 - 3rd
Steals/GAme - 2.4 2nd
Points/Game - 20.4 13th
Turnover/Game - 4.8 1st

RoyBatty wrote:Lin's in an unenviable position right now. We know he's an intelligent guy and we know that he knows that he has to feed the stars that we have. But I also think he's trying to play the system that D'Antoni is trying to put in. And this is where the conflict develops. People will ask "why doesn't he just drop it to Melo in the post?"

That's not D'Antoni's system. (I'm not saying D'Antooni's system is right; just that it's the system Lin is trying to play). So he's now trying to work this thing out. Now if we disagree on not feeding Melo or Stat enough, that's on D'Antoni. Lin, after all, is a 23 year old pt guard, and he's just listening to his coach.

but I thought last night they had made some clear adjustments, and were using Melo and Stat within the system. I thought they played PNR with Melo and Lin for what seemed like the first time - or at least, the first time they ran it somewhat effectively.

I really think MDA ought to put one of Melo or Stat to the bench, and start Jorts or someone else- maybe Iman if you want to go small.

1. Every other team in the league is trying to show him up right now because of the media induced "Linsanity" coverage. A good part of his "decline" is based on that fact alone.

2. During the "Linsanity" stretch we were playing sub-par teams. Against great teams he is not going to play as well because the circumstances will be tougher.

3. Stat wasn't playing for most of that same stretch, and Melo wasn't playing at all. When they came back full time, Lin had to adjust to a non-MDA, ball-stopping, ISO game every time Melo got the ball. That has a dramatic effect on reducing the effectiveness of the MDA offense. That's not on Lin at all.

4. He has reduced his turnover numbers (e.g., 3 against the Bulls' top-ranked defense and best PG in a generation in D-Rose.

Moonangie wrote:BRIGGS, your observations are usually astute and well-considered. But you omit some important details about Lin.

1. Every other team in the league is trying to show him up right now because of the media induced "Linsanity" coverage. A good part of his "decline" is based on that fact alone.

2. During the "Linsanity" stretch we were playing sub-par teams. Against great teams he is not going to play as well because the circumstances will be tougher.

3. Stat wasn't playing for most of that same stretch, and Melo wasn't playing at all. When they came back full time, Lin had to adjust to a non-MDA, ball-stopping, ISO game every time Melo got the ball. That has a dramatic effect on reducing the effectiveness of the MDA offense. That's not on Lin at all.

4. He has reduced his turnover numbers (e.g., 3 against the Bulls' top-ranked defense and best PG in a generation in D-Rose.

I really disagree with number 3. Those other guys were playing well because teams took them lightly. With Amare and Melo they basically cling to their shirts up and down the floor at all times reputation does that just ask Lin. You guys are picking on the best players on the team but I want you guys to watch the role players see what they do. Fields should be having a field day out there same with Chandler. Lin might be the only one doing his role on the offensive side. On the defensive side this is on Amare he has to rebound that is all effort he shows no effort on defense. On the bright side though he did up his blocks last game if you can take it as that.

SlimChin wrote:

RoyBatty wrote:Lin's in an unenviable position right now. We know he's an intelligent guy and we know that he knows that he has to feed the stars that we have. But I also think he's trying to play the system that D'Antoni is trying to put in. And this is where the conflict develops. People will ask "why doesn't he just drop it to Melo in the post?"

That's not D'Antoni's system. (I'm not saying D'Antooni's system is right; just that it's the system Lin is trying to play). So he's now trying to work this thing out. Now if we disagree on not feeding Melo or Stat enough, that's on D'Antoni. Lin, after all, is a 23 year old pt guard, and he's just listening to his coach.

that's what's going on right now. MDA and Melo is not a good mix and Lin is stuck in the middle. something's gotta give. either melo buys in or we keep losing and MDA gets fired.

can there be a happy medium? maybe but that's going to take some self reflection on Melo and a change of coaching philosophy on MDA—and that's not happening anytime soon.

if anyone is to blame, it's our genius owner Dolan who didn't have the foresight to know that Melo and MDA would not gel.

I think our owner was told that Melo and D'Antoni had a high probability of failing. I guess in his mind it's harder to get great talent on your roster than find a great coach. After D'Antoni is finished we'll see if Melo/STAT/Lin can work with a guy like Jax. One hting is for sure, Tyson Chandler is our MVP and can play for anyone. Can't teach heart.

MSG3 wrote:

SlimChin wrote:

RoyBatty wrote:Lin's in an unenviable position right now. We know he's an intelligent guy and we know that he knows that he has to feed the stars that we have. But I also think he's trying to play the system that D'Antoni is trying to put in. And this is where the conflict develops. People will ask "why doesn't he just drop it to Melo in the post?"

That's not D'Antoni's system. (I'm not saying D'Antooni's system is right; just that it's the system Lin is trying to play). So he's now trying to work this thing out. Now if we disagree on not feeding Melo or Stat enough, that's on D'Antoni. Lin, after all, is a 23 year old pt guard, and he's just listening to his coach.

that's what's going on right now. MDA and Melo is not a good mix and Lin is stuck in the middle. something's gotta give. either melo buys in or we keep losing and MDA gets fired.

can there be a happy medium? maybe but that's going to take some self reflection on Melo and a change of coaching philosophy on MDA—and that's not happening anytime soon.

if anyone is to blame, it's our genius owner Dolan who didn't have the foresight to know that Melo and MDA would not gel.

I think our owner was told that Melo and D'Antoni had a high probability of failing. I guess in his mind it's harder to get great talent on your roster than find a great coach. After D'Antoni is finished we'll see if Melo/STAT/Lin can work with a guy like Jax. One hting is for sure, Tyson Chandler is our MVP and can play for anyone. Can't teach heart.