Interesting data on the Jeremy Lin story
From NY Post Mark Berman:
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/lin_it_to_win_it_QTfLvSyckoIrvFOSHczXJL
You have to read between the lines because Berman is a bit of a snake and often has an agenda. However, as I read this story, combined with the data from another article that Lin never practiced with the starters, a picture begins to emerge.
Many of us have thought for a while that Lin, Balkman, Novak, and Jordan are under-utilized by Mike D'Antoni, to the detriment of the team's bench play.
We were also confounded when Lin and Jordan were briefly sent to the D League, performed well there, return quickly, but not be used at all (until the Boston game) except in garbage minutes (not enough time to benefit from the D Leagues so why send them down at all).
It appears quite clear from this article that neither were ever really given a chance to prove themselves in scrimmages until Baron Davis started to come back and Lin began to perform well against him in practice.
This shows what a poor and prejudicial judge of talent D'Antoni really is. As I read between the lines here, I suspect that since D'Antoni has under-estimated Lin's skill, he is also under-estimating Davis' readiness, because he has been guarded by Lin in practice.
I would guess that Jordan is also under-appreciated because he gets regularly schooled by Chandler in practice. This is an unfair assessment because Jordan is more likely to see minutes against the opponents backup centers not the starters. It would not surprise me if Jordan is not ready to face top centers, but it is stupid not to use him on the floor especially against weaker teams with weaker backup centers and benches.
I am beginning to how Mike D'Antoni can be thought of as a good coach by some while completely incompetent by others. Neither is true. A really good coach understands how to get the most out of players even when they are not fully developed. How to accentuate their skills and cover up their flaws. MDA is not that kind of coach. Players either fit his system or he does not know how to use them. In the long run, this is a serious flaw in his coaching, and we will be better off with someone else, but only with someone (like Van Gundy or Phil Jackson) who is actually a better coach. It is not immediately clear if Woodson is that person, so an impulse firing is probably not a good idea.
Believe me, I am incredibly frustrated with D'Antoni and his obvious shortcomings. However, I am beginning to also suspect that the staff is better at developing the young players than we get to see on the floor during games, and that given time this team will gel and improve. It may make more sense for them to continue to develop as a team and switch coaches at the end of the year, when we can land a better replacement coach, pick the right staff, and they have the whole summer to remake the system.
