Can Benson Lin surpass Lin Zhijie's legacy in the CBA?
Benson Lin has been one of the most promising young players from Taiwan. He is the son of famous coach Lin Cheng-Ming, and moved to the US while still in Highschool playing a year before attending Bryant University where only after one season and an unexpected COVID-19 outbreak he decided to turn professional and was picked 3rd overall in the CBA draft by Tianjin.
Benson has good size and length at the guard position but possesses average athleticism, explosiveness and quickness. He currently lacks strength and physicality which he will need to improve as he often gets bullied by bigger opponents.
Offensively he is a player with good fundamentals, overall skillset and decent 3-point shooting. Most his offense comes in transition as it currently takes up 27% of his offense, this is partly because of his defense and getting steals and partly because the team style as they play an uptempo offense. Other than that he is mostly a spot up 3-point shooter taking up 22% of his offense, which is similar to his role in NCAA playing off the ball taking open shots, he is currently shooting 35% from 3-point land, which is a slight upgrade on his 33% last season in NCAA. Because the team lacks a guard import or another good local guard, Benson Lin has run 16% pick and rolls which is a drastic increase from his 3% in college last season, but has been inefficient in doing so. He is not a good finisher at the rim which is backed up by his 18 for 41 shots at the rim, only drawing 7 fouls and no And1s resulting in 0.97 PPP, he wasn’t much better last season at the NCAA level at only 1.03 PPP. Overall Bensons offense is still limited to mainly playing off the ball and relying on teammates to create open shots for him, but we do see an increased role on the ball already. He lacks elite quickness and athleticism to be a dominant offensive player but is a good role player playing mainly off the ball.
Defensively he is amongst the best guard defenders for locals in the CBA despite his young age. Great defensive habits and help defender always staying active and getting in help position early. Has great anticipation and quick hands going a lot of deflections and steals. Currently has a 5.3% steals rate so far this season, a number that sill drop as was only at 1.5% at a lower NCAA level last season, but it aligns with how well he has been defensively so far this season in the CBA. One of the best closeout guard defenders always jumping out at shooters contesting shots without fouling . Shows good effort sprinting back on defense. On the ball he is only average as he does not posses elite lateral quickness to pressure the ball and stay in front of opponents. Guarding the pick and roll he often gets slown down by screens as he doesn’t pressure the ball enough, although he does show good awareness of where the screens are, tends to under screens then fighting over. He is not strong enough to guard bigger players in the post. Overall he has great defensive instincts and habits making him one of the better guard defenders in the league.
Overall Benson Lin has already proven to be an above average guard in this league. Although he lacks the creativity and confidence of Team Taipei teammate Ray Chen and is currently still a slightly worse player, he has more size and overall potential. He already is a more impactful defender than Ray Chen and will end up growing into a better overall player as he matures. Although he will never be a star player in this league like Lin Zhijie he will develop into a starting level shooting guard on an above average team and surpass Ray Chen.
林庭謙一直被台灣籃球圈譽為最有前途的年輕球員。 他是臺灣著名教練林正明的兒子，在美國上了一年高中之後，他加入加入NCAA布萊恩特大學開始他的美國大學籃球之旅。 但由於COVID-9疫情突然爆發，之後他決定挑戰CBA聯賽，在選秀大會中第三順位被天津隊選中。 林庭謙作為後衛球員來說，有著很好的身材臂展條件，但他的運動能力中規中矩，爆發力和速度都不出眾，他應該著重加強自己的身體力量。 這樣可以使他更有效的防守更高更壯的對手。
在進攻端，他擁有紮實的基本功，全面的技術和不錯的三分投射能力。 他主要的進攻方式為快攻轉換，這是因為他積極的防守和出色的搶斷能力，還有一部分原因是因為球隊快速進攻的風格。 在陣地戰中，他主要承擔定點投手的角色，這也和他在NCAA擔任的角色類似，他擅長通過不斷的無球跑動跑出空位然後出手，他目前三分球命中率為35%，比他上個賽季在NCAA的33%略有提升。 由於球隊缺少一名好的核心後衛，林庭謙在進攻端要更多的承擔擋拆發起者的任務，所以他比賽中使用擋拆進攻的比例從NCAA中的3%提高到CBA的16%，但這一進攻方式效率並不高。 他並不是一名出色的籃下終結球員，本賽季籃下出手41次，命中18次，只有7次造成對手犯規且沒有得到二加一的機會，本賽季平均每回合得分為0.97ppp，基本與他NCAA中1.03ppp 的數據持平 總的來說，林庭謙還是局限於無球進攻，依靠隊友為他創造空位投籃機會，但他在球隊中的角色變得越來越重要。 他的速度和運動能力不屬精英級別，並不會成為一名具有統治力的進攻球員，但在無球狀態下，他會是一個不錯的第三或第四選擇。
防守方面，儘管他還很年輕，但他應該是CBA本土最好的後衛之一， 他有著良好的防守習慣，協防方面做得非常好，會時刻保持機警，提前站在協防位置上。 林庭謙具備良好的搶斷預判能力，反應迅速。 這個賽季到目前為止他的搶斷率為5.3%，雖然這項數據會隨著賽季的進行下降，但比他上賽季在NCAA中1.5%的搶斷率要好的多。 他的撲防三分能力非常出色，經常能成功干擾對手投籃，打亂對方投籃節奏。 在防守端他表現積極，回防迅速。 在防守持球球員方面，他表現平平，因為他沒有足夠的橫向移動速度給持球球員施加防守壓力。 防守擋拆時，他經常會因為沒有給持球球員足夠的壓力而被掩護延誤。
總的來說，他有很好的防守意識和習慣，這也使他在防守端可以為球隊做出很大的貢獻。 林庭謙已經證明瞭他在這個聯盟是一個中上水準的後衛。 儘管他還缺乏一些信心，也暴露了一些缺點，目前還達不到陳盈駿的水準，但他有足夠的潛力會在未來超過陳盈駿。 綜合判斷，因為他的運動天賦有所欠缺，我們認為職業生涯上限不會超過林志傑。