[tupark82]

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/03/11/...ent-281120

I'm happy for the Heat. It was just sickening to see all the unwarranted criticism on Lebron for not doing anything and everything imaginable to win a ball game every time the Heat fall short whether it was his fault or not.

His play on the court is inspiring, honestly. Whether it's making a great pass or coming up with a big defensive play, the guy puts his team in position to win every game. Compare him to the likes of a certain TMNT, and you get to appreciate his ability on the court that much more.

The Suns are on fire and looking to make a playoff run. The Western Conference competition is insane right now... even the WARRIORS are only four games back from making the eighth seed.

Speaking of the Warriors, Curry tweaked his ankle again. It's pretty unprecedented at this point. They said he's probable for the next game, but I wouldn't be upset at this point if they decide to shut him down... my little heart can't take much more of this.

Goran Dragic deserves his own team to run... dude is that good.

Oh and a note as usual for Xstreak, Detroit is not far behind in the playoff race, amazingly :]

Read and leave your thoughts. Happy Sunday

[xstreaminsanity]

Oh and a note as usual for Xstreak, Detroit is not far behind in the playoff race, amazingly :]

lol. Well, while it looks that way now, and while I've loved our play of late (beating LAL and ATL, lopsidedly beating TOR), 9 of our next 10 are on the road including a 5 game west coast trip. I'll be alright with .500 out of it, but not really expecting that. We still have holes that need filling, but if they keep playing with the heart they've been playing with, then we should be ok. Also, I won't put too much on making the playoffs. If we get in, it's a number 8, MAYBE 7 seed, and who do we get? Miami or Chicago. FUN!!!!!!

[robd5811]

Lebron still cant hit a game winner lol...great player but the man just doesnt have a champion mentality, dwayde would get my mvp vote before lebron any day
On another note, the knicks are on their way to a fifth loss with melo leading the team in points and rebounds..people need to stop blaming this guy for everything..the knicks just so happend to play some of the worst teams while he was injured and they won big deal..now they are actually playing good teams and peoplw blame him? Thats crazy
Notes:
Lebron chokes
Lin is trash
Melo is actually good
KOBE IS MVP

[xstreaminsanity]

Lebron still cant hit a game winner lol...great player but the man just doesnt have a champion mentality, dwayde would get my mvp vote before lebron any day
On another note, the knicks are on their way to a fifth loss with melo leading the team in points and rebounds..people need to stop blaming this guy for everything..the knicks just so happend to play some of the worst teams while he was injured and they won big deal..now they are actually playing good teams and peoplw blame him? Thats crazy
Notes:
Lebron chokes
Lin is trash
Melo is actually good
KOBE IS MVP

I wholeheartedly believe this: Just because a player leads a team in any stat, ESPECIALLY points, does not mean that they are the best on the team at all or in that category. Efficiency is key. I also believe that while Carmelo is skilled, that he is a very weak link. He needs to learn to adapt his style of play and teams not adapt to him. That HARDLY ever works. Also, I don't think Lin is garbage. He's a better than average point guard in this league who is finally getting the time and chance to show it.

[robd5811]

I wholeheartedly believe this: Just because a player leads a team in any stat, ESPECIALLY points, does not mean that they are the best on the team at all or in that category. Efficiency is key. I also believe that while Carmelo is skilled, that he is a very weak link. He needs to learn to adapt his style of play and teams not adapt to him. That HARDLY ever works. Also, I don't think Lin is garbage. He's a better than average point guard in this league who is finally getting the time and chance to show it.

Cmon xtream..just a week ago everyone thought lin was the best on the team because of the stats he was putting up..mostly every capt on each team leads tge team in scoring you know that...alot of people think lebron should be mvp because of his stats, hes the "BEST" on the team right? Lin just shot 28% along with 6 turnovers hes good? Everyone sure thought he was god for 2 weeks. Carmelo always has been a goid player just with flaws sorta like iverson

[xstreaminsanity]

Cmon xtream..just a week ago everyone thought lin was the best on the team because of the stats he was putting up..mostly every capt on each team leads tge team in scoring you know that...alot of people think lebron should be mvp because of his stats, hes the "BEST" on the team right? Lin just shot 28% along with 6 turnovers hes good? Everyone sure thought he was god for 2 weeks. Carmelo always has been a goid player just with flaws sorta like iverson

I never said Lin was great, I said his story was great (not that you were saying I said he was great). And for the most part, team Captains do lead the team in points, but that doesn't mean that they are the most efficient. Technically, I believe the Captain should be reserved for the person with the best IQ (for the sport, example coming), a person that is quite efficient, and someone who impacts the game on a level that may not show up in the stat sheet. I know this is a cross sport reference, but take Nickolas Lindstrom as an example. He'll never score 40 goals in a year nor will he ever win a break away competition. But his IQ for his game is off the charts, he's a leader in the locker room and on the ice, and you won't see how he affects the game in just the stat sheet. Giving the "Captain" title to the highest scorer (notice I didn't say best scorer) is almost like placing a target on the player.

Now, comparing Lin to Carmelo is almost like comparing apples to oranges. Ones a PG, ones a SG/SF. One has been in the league for almost 10 years, one for two. One was highly coveted and the other wasn't (both do something to your psyche).

Lin was playing great, but that doesn't make him great. On the season, he is shooting better than Carmelo except for at the stripe, more assists and steals per than Carmelo, and of course, more TOs and less rebounds per than Carmelo, but also less minutes. Does this make Lin better than Carmelo? No. Does it mean he's been more efficient than Carmelo? No. But they are pretty close (Lin - 15.12, Carmelo - 17.10). Lin is the PG that New York needed.

Now, how does this look in the record? Well, before Carmelo came back, they were coming up and got above .500 at one point. Since he's been back, they've been under .500. Now, Lin's numbers are down, but that is for a few reasons, not just because it's Lin. He is conceding more to Carmelo. Carmelo also isn't playing as good as he did when he was in Denver, partially because this is a different system and a different team. If your comparison of Carmelo to Iverson is correct, might want to cut him now (i.e. Iverson on the Pistons, Memphis, lol). Carmelo has had, and will continue to have, a better than average career. I'd no longer put him in SuperStar category personally, but he's still a great star (I also don't consider Deron Williams a superstar).

My whole point in my previous post, as well as this one, is that Lin is in no way garbage. Yes, he has high turnovers and that's his biggest flaw. From my perspective, Brandon Knight had high turnovers to begin the season and then they have steadied to an ok level. Occasionally he has a bad game and gets 5 TO or more, but he's steadied it. Lin will over time as well.

Now, here's a question I have for everyone else. If Carmelo was out again (injury or benched) and the team started winning, ask yourself these questions. Is it that Carmelo doesn't fit with Lin, or the system? Should the system fit around Carmelo, or Carmelo around the system? One thing that's hard to ignore, for me at least, is that Denver has played better since the day Carmelo was traded, and they remind me of a fast pace 2004 Pistons team with no SuperStar. They can score quite a bit and fit very well together. But when Carmelo was there, they were struggling. Again, I'm not saying Carmelo is not a good/great player, just that his flaws may be bigger flaws than his assets. Make sense?

[mrhurtado17]

lin in banners already wow

[robd5811]

Omg xtream..i woulda gave you my number if i knew you would write that story lmaoo
Ok lets get this straight..at the very beginning of a season everyone stats for the most part looks great as more games are played points go down along with everything else so we cant compare stats..you say they were a .500 team without melo but 8 out of the 10 teams they played were the worst in the league so thats not a valid argument..when i say lin is trash thats just me going a lil over bored lol..but in my opinion anyone turning the ball over that many times and just shot 28% taking 18 shots is hurting the team BIG time..when you say melo doesnt fit well, what exactly is he doing thats messing the team up?

---

Whoaaa..i didnt read that last part correctly..you said you dont consider deron williams a superstar????? Im at a loss for words right now..Wow

[xstreaminsanity]

Omg xtream..i woulda gave you my number if i knew you would write that story lmaoo
Ok lets get this straight..at the very beginning of a season everyone stats for the most part looks great as more games are played points go down along with everything else so we cant compare stats..you say they were a .500 team without melo but 8 out of the 10 teams they played were the worst in the league so thats not a valid argument..when i say lin is trash thats just me going a lil over bored lol..but in my opinion anyone turning the ball over that many times and just shot 28% taking 18 shots is hurting the team BIG time..when you say melo doesnt fit well, what exactly is he doing thats messing the team up?

I don't have the time to go over every game they've played, but I'm sure there's been games where Carmelo, Wade, LeBron, Kobe, MAYBE even Jordan has shot 28% or less. Again, I'm not sure, just stating. For the first 7 games he started, Lin was shooing +50% and on the season he's been shooting 46%. Yeah, it may go down, or that may be his average for the season, and 46% is pretty good for a perimeter player.

As far as Carmelo not fitting, it could be taken any way. We all know D'Antoni's system, it's run and gun. Carmelo is not a run and gunner, nor is Amare, but he's played under D'Antoni's system before with moderate success. Lin can be a run and gun facilitator (not with the same efficiency as Nash) and that does fit into D'Antoni's system. Also, with Lin being a distributor, the ball would naturally go through him most of the time. Carmelo likes to control the ball most of the time. Again, I'm not saying I believe any one of them is better for the team than the other, but they are very different players.

Also, I'm not one of those people that goes very very deep into Sabermetrics (don't know if that applies to Basketball) or other stats people use, but another thing I think both Carmelo and Lin may need to do is choose better shots. Yes, Lin drives a lot (so did Iverson) and he does put up some questionable shots. But so does Carmelo, just further from the basket and with people in his face with a few seconds left on the shot clock. If I knew the quality of shot choices of both of them, that would better determine what needs to be changed. But if Lin's low percentage was because he missed 13 wide opened shots, that's very different than missing contested layups. A wide open shot is something that shouldn't really be passed up, but if you shoot that poorly with wide open shots, there's a major problem. If there's nothing open for anyone else and you have to create a shot by going to the rim and you get double teamed and you miss a shot, that's not as bad.

I don't think people should be on the Lin bandwagon as much as they are, especially in reference to buying his cards, but at the same time, I think he has the chance at a long productive career. What he was doing was historical and stats show that. Will his entire career be like that? HIGHLY doubtful. But at the same time, I definitely don't think Lin deserves much bashing either. He had a bad shooting night that night with some turnovers, fewer turnovers than he's had in games they won even, but Carmelo went 5-13 (38.46%), so he wasn't that much better. Again, quality of shots is more important. Sorry for another story. In basketball mode, hoping MSU beats OSU right now. GO STATE!!!!!!!!!!

[robd5811]

Your speaking on the game played the other day..they just played the sixers today and lin showed a poor performance once again..you really didnt answer how melo doesnt mesh with lin besides him wanting the ball alot, melo is a shooter hes suppose to..if kobe were to go to another team everyone needs to play around him, hes the one producing so he needs the ball..ive said it before and will say it again lin should be coming off the bench he will never be a top pg.