Could Baron Davis End Up Taking Jeremy Lin’s Starting Spot?

if jlin plays like he did last game but if bd starts to pick it up i would expect him to get alot more minutes… he has the experience, toughness and can get ppl open… i heard he was out of shape but i dnt see it….. only time will tell

Is this not what should happen with every position and every team In the L, best player plays? I don’t think It will tho. Baron can’t handle 30 plus mins a game at this point In his career. That plus Lin Is ballin.

i don’t like this politics. jeremy lin saved the coache’s ass and the team and brought the chemistry to the team. without him being the starter, the team will be dismantled again. this coach was still not smart enough to figure it out. the dump coach should not deserve a position next season.

This seems like a good thing to me. Lin must be exhausted, Davis can’t handle huge mins any more. Split time sounds about right, with the one playing better getting more minutes. Weird idea.

Paul, ever seen JET play? some guys are better off the bench (see MICROWAVE, Vinnie). It’s not always that the best players on your team start. It’s about filling roles for the good of the team. Some configurations are going to work better than others over 48 minutes when you factor in how your guys work against the other team’s first AND second units. Sometimes you want or NEED more talent to come screaming off the pine for you. Lin might be better off the bench as he seems to have a knack for scoring, has a ton of energy that affects his teammates positively, and is more turnover prone (granted, small sample size) than Baron. Starters don’t need to play 30 minutes. They just start. Finishers (JET) finish.

Not so soon, baron dont play ever since april 11 cause his injury

@Burnt. I was not really going that deep into It. All I meant was that, generally speaking, players get rewarded for their efforts. I agree that Jet plays better off the bench, and (as I said) believe that at this stage of his career Baron will play much better In that role. If they can play Lin 32 and Baron 16 there will be virtually no drop off at point. Baron was screaming off the pine on wed night, 8 assists In 15 mins. And that fourth quarter swagger was glorious. Great seeing him ENJOYING playing again.

Hahahahahahaha
Have you watched the whole game?
Lin got nose bleed. Lin sat down. Barron came in. Knicks still behind the Cav. Lin came in. Bumped up the offense and equalized the Cav. Then BD came in. Knicks already got the edge. They came with full energy not worried about bumping up the points to equalize. BD passed a few balls to Novak and got 3 points. Of course one alley oop to JR. I can also do the way BD did. Passing the ball to Novak though.

totally agree…lin is the spiritual strength of the whole team.

Lin isn’t all that, it’s just hype and the NBA trying to market off the Asian community. I’m sure they’re pulling strings for him.

This is just a motivational ploy by D’Antoni, and a good one. It will push Lin to play even better. And it will give Baron the idea that if he plays well enough he can be the starter again, which will not happen if Lin plays at his current level, and will probably get Baron to play better. Smart move by D’Antoni, he knows Lin won’t say anything detrimental to the team.

without lin the knicks wouldn’t more than 11 games won this season.
without lin there is no interest in this knick team, i haven’t watched the knicks in years and find myself watching and lose interest when he goes out.
it is exciting to watch his development otherwise the knicks are boring.

I’m not saying BD is mediocre. He is veteran. But just the one game and Novak performance it all became BD and the rest how the media make a prediction.

Lin/Fields/Melo/Stat/Tyson and BDiddy/JR/Iman/Novak/(Anything), sounds good enough.

There were reasons why BD was taken so cheaply, and over time against better and more rested defenses it will become evident. Ridiculous column.

I don’t know what the coach is thinking about. He should be benched and Herb Williams should be coaching. If it wasn’t for Lin the coach would be gone at the end of the season. Lin is doing good, he can’t play perfect every night, a lot of teams are bringing two and three men at him every time he gets. Lets not forget Lin is basically a rookie out there, so over time he will get better. The coach needs to learn how to get all of his players to play together and become a success story, and stop all the drama. I remain.

Starting unit or off the bench for JL…His potential will always be there…He will not be a splash on the pan player..he will continue to learn as the league ang his career progresses…We just give the young man a BIG THANKS for the smile he gave to the whole basketball world…NYK has been love even by non NewYorkers coz of JL..accept it or not. even outside the US..Jeremy and NYK become famous globally..A big help for NBA…correct me if I am wrong…for all the problems that every individual having now at least now we want to watch NYK games coz of Linsanity at least to make everybody smile for the whole quarter of the games. JL next season deserve a better contract…

hmm i think it’s the other way around. D’Antoni is why Jeremy Lin has a job.

If it’s the unit that was tested then it’s not so much the point guard. Wouldn’t mixing up those in the unit change things? I thought Lin stilled played very well in the last game and earned his spot. Lin assists as much as Davis, but Lin is also a stronger scorer.

In the first quarter of the Cleveland game, Lin ended with a close tie, then Davis came in and the Knicks went down 10 to 15, then Lin came in and brought it back up to 74-75. After that, Davis came in and increased it to about 15 and then Lin came in the last few minutes the points were increased a bit more till the end. It didn’t seem like the 2nd unit played much better as suggested.

A point guard is supposed to manage and distribute the ball – that is what Jeromy Lin is doing. It’s about making the team better.
It’s great that Baron has out play Lin in practice, but like Iverson said,”it’s practice, not game time.”
I watch the Knicks because of Jeromy Lin otherwise, I would rather watch college basketballs.
The name of the game is winning – who cares if the second unit is beating the first unit. Baron looks out of control when he is in the game -trying playing the whole game and see what happen. If Baron is so great than why didn’t anybody claim him except the Knicks. D’Antoni should give it a rest and stay the course with Lin.

the problem with the first unit is not the PG, but the forward positions. i absolutely cannot understand why the knicks continue to run Lin/chandler pick and rolls every time down, and leave amare parking at the high elbows to shoot 18 footers. talk about minimizing your talent. with Melo in the mix, i really don’t understand what the offense scheme is. having 3 1-dimension players in the starting lineup is the problem (amare/melo can only impact on the offensive side, while tyson is not too threatening offensively and lin is somewhat a liability on defense).

albie1kenobi why you so worried about the Knicks? That defense looking good…Melo’s actually playing some. Watch a game sometime.

@orange: i’ve actually watched almost every knicks game since Lin got regular minutes. you are telling me the defense from the first unit is good? the defense actually isn’t as much of a problem as their inefficient offense. i really hope it gets better.

If Baron played like a starter, I think this would be ideal. Lin would give fits to 2nd strings in this league and he’d certainly be back to Linsanity mode if he’s the 1st option. But I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Play them together.
Baron at the 1, Lin at the 2.
Free Lin up to do what he does.