There was a great article in the New York Times about the end of Linsanity, and talked a bit with a friend/reader about the Melo- D'antoni feud. As much as I loathe the Knicks, this is a great story, with a bevy of opinions.
If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I've never been a buyer of Jeremy Lin. I watched him play pretty well, lighting up mediocre point guards, and taking more shots than Allen Iverson. The flaws in his game were clear as day: he can't go left, he can't really handle the ball, and he makes a lot of unforced turnovers.
Yet, there's no doubt he can play. Is he a top 5 point guard as many speculated? Not by a long shot..
1. Derrick Rose
2. Deron Williams
3. Chris Paul
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Steve Nash
6. Rajon Rondo
7. Kyrie Irving (I'm going to regret putting him behind Rondo)
8. Tony Parker
9. Ricky Rubio (can't shoot, but neither can Rondo)
10. Kyle Lawry
And you can argue that CJ Watson, Eric Bledsoe, Darren Collison, Andre Miller, Brandon Knight, Ty Lawson, Mike Conley, Jeff Teague and John Wall are on another level above Lin. So, yeah, he's basically a league average guard playing in New York.
So if Linsanity is over, I wouldn't worry about it. There are at least 15-20 better point guards in the league (and a few are back-ups!).
When did Linsanity die for me? Not surprisingly, against Los Bulls, earlier this week. In the 4th quarter we saw Carmelo Anthony, one of the best half-court scorers in the NBA, calling for the ball against a combination of ROOKIE Jimmy Butler and Ronnie Brewer. Now, both are excellent defenders, but still, Carmelo is one of the best scorers in the game. He should be getting the ball in the 4th quarter.
Nope, Lin waves him off. Possession after possession, Lin seems to give the ball to anyone but Carmelo, until he demands the rock within the last 2 minutes (and puts up a few moments of epic chucking).
Frankly, I don't give a damn how good Lin thinks he is. He's still a 2nd year player refusing to defer to one of the best scorers in the game. And D'Antoni didn't care.
This begs the question, who's more important: Carmelo Anthony or Jeremy Lin?
In my eyes, that's a no brainer...it's probably the guy you traded several starters for. Probably one of the best scorers in the game, a guy who is considered the 3rd best small forward in the NBA.
And since D'Antoni has tried to force his run n' gun, open court style of basketball on a team built around a dominant isolation player, we've seen Carmelo go into hiding. New York fans seem to forget that Melo is awesome. He's a fantastic, top 10 NBA player who should be celebrated a lot more than a league-average point guard. Maybe this is crazy, but I think this team is better without D'Antoni and without a Lin/Melo feud.
Talking Wednesday's game against the Heat...
John Lucas III is one of my favorite players, mainly because he might even be a little shorter than me and posts hilarious shit on Twitter. He came to play, scoring efficiently, lighting up LeBron and not really turning the ball over. I'm so impressed...to the point where I might end up ordering my Lucas jersey.
Of course, Deng is clearly more hurt than he's let on. He played alright, but a healthy Deng doesn't let LeBron score at will.
Boozer looked ineffective, as is the norm for him against the Heat. He had TWO points. I'm not sure what it is, but I'll give him a pass since he's looked like Utah Boozer the last few weeks. We might actually need him in the Eastern Conference Finals, though. So Carlos, come to play.
As for the enemy... I will admit, I still love LeBron. He's one of my favorite players, and as a former headcase athlete, I genuinely feel sorry for him. He's usually the best player on the court, but once that 4th quarter comes, or something throws him off, he's not what he should be. I'd love to beat the Heat with a beasting LeBron, but that might not happen.
Dwyane Wade on the other hand went nuts in the 4th quarter. He almost single-handedly won the game and looked like an MVP out there. Let's rejoice in victory and not think about what could have happened.
And now...
BEAT THE BLA (uh, what the hell did they do at the deadline?)... I guess this is the Blazers!
No comments:
Post a Comment