The Los Angeles Lakers begin their 2014-2015 basketball journey with 2 very ugly loses on back to back nights. The Lakers only lead in both games was when it was 3-2 agains the Rockets. Nice. They trailed by double digits for the entirety of both fourth quarters. Are we looking at a 0-82 season?
Jeremy Lin's stats line was nothing to write home about. Jeremy Lin didn't play great nor very bad. Was Jeremy Lin perfect? No way.
The coaching staff of the Los Angeles Lakers harped on making defense and conditioning the focal point of their training camp. Seems the coaching staff forgot to mention that to the Laker players. Giving up 108 and 119 on consecutive nights when they failed to score 100. And the garbage time in both fourth quarters shouldn't be underplayed as they got the game closer. With the focus on not shooting threes, the spacing is horrendous.
The offense also seems to flow through Kobe which is good when he scores. Unfortunately, that didn't happen all the time. Bricks to make a house. Mis-communications resulted in turn overs. Careless stuff like three second violations and passing to spots where no one is. Forcing passes into the post. Etc. Etc. Etc. Ugly basketball all around.
When will the Los Angeles Lakers play basketball vs. NBA Jam? When Kobe was on the bench. The offense was so snappy, but it was also against the teams 2nd unit.
The rotation of players on the court is also so perplexing. Ed Davis getting very limited minutes with Jeremy Lin is something that needs to be addressed by the coaching staff.
After only two games, there's a lot of blame to go around. Kobe was frustrated. Lin is being thrown under the bus after games.
I can only point the finger at a weak coaching staff and front office.
The defining game of Linsanity was vs the Lakers in 2012. THAT is the blueprint for how the Los Angeles Lakers should be using Jeremy Lin. Yet they want to run a no PG offense that constantly takes the ball out of Jeremy Lin's hands. Which is predicated by the PG crossing the half court and passing to the shoulder guy. What?! And when they try to put the ball in Jeremy Lin's hands, the rest of the 4 players just set up for isolation play and call for the ball without doing anything. Boozer and Johnson are not complimentary players for Jeremy Lin when he is looking for PnR.
With Randle's injury for the game against the Rockets, the solemn tone of the team took some attention off Jeremy Lin to an extent. But the post game vs. the Suns is very telling. So many "um"s and "ah"s.
I am going to read in between the lines of the post game vs the Suns. Jeremy Lin wants to say, let's run the offense through the PG, this triangle/princeton stuff is for college. Jeremy Lin wants to say, the PnR defense is so soft, they are making this look like Stockton and Malone. Jeremy Lin wants to say, when I call a play, my hope is that Kobe isn't demanding the ball and that the other 3 get in the right places. Jeremy Lin wants to say, can we get some spacing so Kobe and I don't run into 3 defenders when we attack the paint? Jeremy Lin wants to say, the help defense is weak and stop gambling for steals.
Robert Horry, please do every postgame analysis. Please!
Jeremy Lin and Lakers begin their 2014-2015 basketball campaign. Due to injuries to Steve Nash and Ronnie Price, Jeremy Lin was named the probable starter for tonights game. The insanity of that last sentence shouldn't go unnoticed nor should Jeremy Lin's post practice interviews with the media from 10/26 and 10/27. Jeremy Lin's statements have been sorta like, "I am starting, because there's no one else to start". Had Jordan Clarkson played most of the pre-season, he may have gotten the nod. Something about Jeremy Lin that prevents coaches other than MDA to want to bench him with bogus excuses of defense and wanting to win. Jeremy Lin's defense for a PG is in the top 10 and Jeremy Lin helps teams win. That's evident with his above average fourth quarter stats.
The season starts with the hated Houston Rockets. The team that Coward escaped to when the lights of championship or bust got to bright and the mostly defense deficient Harden. The team also made Jeremy Lin's game unusable to their squad.
Let's go Lakers and make the playoffs this season.
Selfie, the televison show that premiered on ABC is actually a pretty little show. A sitcom I can come into any episode and enjoy watching. The two main characters continue to help each other in areas they didn't know they needed help with.
Jeremy Lin came off the bench for the last preseason game. Kobe, Boozer, and Hill sat out. Before three minutes were up, starting PG Ronnie Price banged knees with the King's Darren Collison twice, inserting Jeremy Lin into the game early. Jeremy Lin went on to play 1 second shy of 32 minutes with 19 points and 7 assist. There's something to be said about Steve Nash's career. He consistently got almost 10+ assist a game in his prime with scrub players. But those scrub players made shots in the regular but faded in the playoffs. Seems Jeremy Lin does not have that same effect on the scrubs when he was in New York and now on the Los Angeles Lakers. Scrubs miss easy shots. By NBA standards, wide open shots. They made them for Steve Nash, but refuse for Jeremy Lin. That 7 assist total could have easily been 11 or 12. Here's to hoping that passing it to Boozer and Kelly will result in more long two pointers.
The preseason finally comes to an end and the 82 game regular season journey begins on Tuesday against the hated Houston Rockets. When Jeremy Lin was traded to the Lakers, many in JLin Nation wanted MDA to come back and coach the Lakers, which was a pipe dream. After interviewing Byron Scott multiple times, they settled on him right after all key free agency moves were made. Handing Byron Scott a roster of mostly new faces to the Lakers roster. Combined with a healthy Kobe and Steve Nash, the trade for Jeremy Lin could have made the contenders for a low playoff seed in the West. If they played in the East, they would easily make the playoff, so ask the 9-11 seeds from last season.
However, for some strange reason, Jeremy Lin sprains his ankles and loses his starting spot after Steven Nash is not able to play anymore this season. By default, he will start on Tuesday because Price just got hurt. But I am perplexed by any thought that Jeremy Lin shouldn't start. The very same arguments the coaching staff and even some fans unfamiliar with Jeremy Lin's history are almost never applied to other PGs like Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Lillard, or Westbrook. Things like lock down defense and igniting the second unit. You could make the argument that OKC would be better served with Westbrook leading the second unit and maximizing his skills there by deferring to the MVP level play of KD. But NO, they don't argue a move to the bench but with co-existence. Why can't Jeremy Lin co-exist with Kobe? Are you not aware that Jeremy Lin stats and impact on the game is better than the other PGs currently on the roster?
But Jeremy Lin will get the start for the season opener by virtue of injuries. How a "smart" coach in Byron Scott could let this happen and to show to the media that you don't have confidence in Jeremy Lin via actions, is troubling. Basketball fans of Jeremy Lin don't want to see the same illogical behavior he received in Houston to be repeated by the coaching staff of the Lakers.
Jeremy Lin played off the bench for back to back games on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Jeremy Lin had sat out the 3 previous preseason games. We're looking at a wind down of the starters for the last game as it has been announced that Kobe would sit the last two preseason games.
You can see a stark contrast of the offense taylor made for up tempo and PG play in both Phoenix and Portland. The PG gets 2-3 high screens to work off of to get free to score or to initiate their offense. Goran ran buck wild over the Lakers and the Portland PGs got pretty much whatever they wanted as well. The bigs PnR defense has improve.
What is sad to see is the Jeremy Lin gets no screens when he initiates the offense. Jeremy Lin throws the ball to the outside/sideline guy who throws to a screener that pops to the top of the key while Jeremy Lin runs a full circle to get some low post rub screens to get the ball back to run a PnR. If Jeremy Lin has to do that every SINGLE time to get the ball to do a PnR, you're going to RUN him into the ground as the game progresses.
I know it takes time to get a defense ready and the type of offense that the Suns and Trailblazers run take no account of a SG's break down defense skills that the Lakers have in Kobe, but it would be nice to see them have Jeremy Lin get to a focal point.
It's the preseason and the coaches are looking to see whom will NOT make the next round of cut offs. So I don't want to over-react. But things that should happen as the season progresses is that Lin needs more PG plays run for him and that he needs to play more with Ed Davis.
Jeremy Lin was in Taipei this past summer and decide to team up with Adidas to trick some locals. As you can see, Jeremy plays it funny and loose with the customers trying to get a reaction. From his pre-Linsanity days to now, Jeremy Lin's mandarin has improved a lot. You can still hear the hint of ABT/ABC in him and in the video, he even mentions he from Japan to hide his accent.
Jeremy Lin's social media skillz are a step above other NBA players. With a smart crew around him and taping into the YouTubers, Jeremy Lin is blazing a new trail.
Jeremy Lin sprained his other ankle on Thursday and will sit out tonights rematch against the Utah Jazz. The Jazz last played the Clippers the other night. Jeremy Lin hopes to play on Tuesday in the first of a back to back against the Phoenix Suns and the Portland Trailblazers the night after.
With the summer build to see Jeremy Lin in a Laker uniform, having to see him sit the last three games is good. No need to make a injury worst during pre-season. But this is also good on the court time with his future teammates. No need to throw away games at the beginning of the season.
The Walking Dead return to broadcast last Sunday. Ho hum. It only bested their own record breaking viewing numbers from their fourth season. Seems there's no stopping this franchise. Every season has seen a major cast member bite the dust. I wonder who it will be this season. I think Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, Carl, and Michonne are safe. But the I think Rick, Daryl, and Carl are the only super safe. Carol, Tyrese, Beth, and Sasha are borderline. Bob and Tara are possibility for an early exit. The three amigos in Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene are not going last long. That's just my opinion.
Comic wise, I've only read up to the prison. So, I didn't get to Terminus myself. Seems that Gareth is alive and could come back to terrorize the group the future. Now, its to find Beth and save The Priest. Morgan's on the prowl now too.
Jeremy Lin sprained his ankle last Saturday during a 5 on 5 scrimmage. Robert Sacre either stepped on Jeremy Lin's ankle or Jeremy Lin stepped on Sacre's foot. It matters not. The result is that Jeremy Lin has a sprained ankle. As their Sunday game against The Golden State Warriors started, Jeremy Lin was not in the lineup and did not play. The Lakers lost big in that game. Steve Nash did not play much either.
The pre-season is playing out how it should, test their 19 man roster and see who's gonna stay and who's gonna get cut. There's also the evaluation of who's starting as well. The Lakers have a lot of players that were not on the team before and are playing together for the first time. If you can remember back, there was a time that OKC with both KD and Westbrook were not even picked to make the playoffs. It takes time to get a team to gel.
With Lin out of the game, I could barely watch this incarnation of the Lakers. Kobe had an off shooting night paired up with GSW going buck wild.
Since that Sunday game, there have been a couple of new developments. Steve Nash is not healthy anymore and Jeremy Lin in the starting line up. These are major developments for both Steve Nash and Jeremy Lin. Steve Nash is a future first ballot Hall of Fame player who may have stayed around the NBA one too many seasons. Jeremy Lin was poorly used prior to his time on the Lakers. Time will tell if Steve Nash can be healthy enough to contribute to the Lakers and if the Lakers will play FULLY to the strength of Jeremy Lin's game.
There's no doubt that Jeremy Lin's game has grown tremendously since his pre-Carmelo Linsanity run. Jeremy Lin has improved a lot with his shot, off the ball movement, etc. But the current offense of the Lakers still does not play fully to Jeremy Lin's strengths.
The Walking Dead Season 5 begins tonight, Sunday, October 12, 2014. The build up to it has been pretty intense. The one minute clips tease us, and taught us. Just start already!
Jeremy Lin had is Laker debut at Staples two nights ago against the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers lost the game and not many were all that surprised. The way they lost suggest they've got a lot of things to work on, specifically their defense.
Jeremy Lin finished 4 for 4 after going zero for six in his last outing. Add to that five free throws and Jeremy Lin has 14 points to go along with his 4 assists. Playing with the other four starters for the first time, you can see that they were a bit unsure during the first quarter. As the third quarter wound down, they looked a little better. But the Warriors were just so fluid.
It seems like it'll be a rough season, unless their defense takes off. I think the offense is limited in the front court, but with Lin, maybe he gets each of them a bucket or two more each game. That'll add up.
Jeremy Lin began his Lakers campaign in San Diego a few nights ago. On the bench with the second unit as Steve Nash starts, Jeremy got 10 assists for a 27 minute run. The second unit has 2 rookies that looked like rookies. But the starting five wasn't as strong as everyone thought as well.
It's going to be a long season. The Lakers looked very very disorganized out there. It'll be fun to see them gel and get their chemistry on. I predict a 450% team as the season rolls into the half way mark with a great run towards the all star break. I predict slow out of the gate there to have a massive push to make the playoffs in March and April.
Injuries will be a major factor in how they end the season. If Kobe or Jeremy Lin have any significant injuries, they will have no chance at the playoffs.
After only one game, there are a lot to take away from, but also nothing as this is pre-season.
The movie still follows Mark Chao with a new side kick. They much save the day, the fate of the city is in their hands.
During September, the crew of the movie went on a promotional tour. They seemed to be everywhere. I am not sure if this movie will make it to Zhong Guo, but the last two movies feature Zhong Guo stars in the side kick role.
Selfie made its premiere this past Tuesday night on ABC. Funny Or Die has a great article about how minorities are gravely misrepresented on US TV. Which makes John Cho's turn as the leading man all that more impressive.
This first episode is normally the pilot and was made available online the past few months. In any event, I stayed up to the late hours of 8pm to watch it and support the show.
Looking forward to see how this progresses. I also had to get a crash course on "My Fair Lady", for which this series is based on. I think its a generational thing here. I don't get My Fair Lady. Looks like the show only took the essence and not the play literally.
The Los Angeles Lakers began training camp three days ago on Tuesday. But Media Day was Monday. Jeremy Lin was one of the highlighted players. Recently traded to the Lakers, Jeremy Lin is in the last year of his current 3 year deal signed after Linsanity.
As a life long Lakers faithful. I can't even quantify the joy these last few days have been. This has been the LONGEST off season ever for me. I think the only other training camp I followed was in 2008 when they rebounded back to get the first of their back to back championships.
I am glued to Time Warner Sportsnet. I am following LakersNations. I only had a passing fancy about this stuff. I only wanted to watch the games if time allowed.
The one thing this season will present is the challenge of watching games via TWC vs. on league pass. I normally watched games days later to catch up. As of now, I don't see the watch back feature on the TWC app. And I don't have tivo.
Welcome to Los Angeles Jeremy Lin. Your presence is already annoying my wife and kids more than you will ever know.
