Jeremy Lin News: Backup Role Possible With Free Agency Looming? By Greg Price @GP_IBTimes on May 10 2015 4:41 AM EDT Free agent point guard Jeremy Lin isn't expected to re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, but there are several options around the NBA. Getty Images After a disappointing one-year run with the Los Angeles Lakers, free agent-to-be Jeremy Lin enters the offseason likely seeking a new contract and a backup role on an NBA roster. The 26-year-old former Knick and Rocket averaged a solid 11.2 points and 4.6 assists on 42.4 percent shooting from the floor, but he lost his starting spot after only 19 games. Unfortunately for Lin, he played for a Laker squad that went 21-61 for the second-worst record in the Western Conference. He also faced criticism from superstar shooting guard Kobe Bryant early in the season and the ire of head coach Byron Scott for his play on defense, both of which serve as hints Lin is highly unlikely to re-sign with L.A. this summer. After the Lakers season concluded, Lin told reporters L.A. was an “option for me to consider,” but also stressed he’s trying to find the best situation. “I want to find a good place and hopefully the best place I can fit in at,” Lin said. “I want to be able to find a good fit for me.” Landing with the right team will entail two things for Lin. He is expected to take a major pay cut from his bloated salary. Also, Lin may have to come to grips with the possibility of coming off the bench once and a while, if not often. Lin made $8.3 million each of the last three seasons after signing a restricted $25 million tender offer from Houston that ended his sensational run with the New York Knicks in 2012. But with his play curtailing since then, teams won’t be offering Lin nearly as much. Lin’s also hitting the open market at the same time as such top point guards as Rajon Rondo, Goran Dragic, and Aaron Brooks, all projected free agents who stand to eat up a lot of space teams could use for Lin. Instead, one strategy for Lin might be signing with a contender and gradually winning over his next head coach for the starting job much like he did in New York. Several teams will be in need of point guards this summer, especially those unwilling to pay their own unrestricted free agents. There’s the Detroit Pistons who face a difficult situation with Brandon Jennings, the Denver Nuggets who could lose Jameer Nelson as Ty Lawson’s backup if he opts-out, the Charlotte Hornets could let Mo Williams walk, and the Brooklyn Nets might watch Deron Williams exercise his opt-out clause. Many of those teams could fill their prospective need at point guard in the draft, which would hurt Lin’s opportunities on the open market. Top prospects like Emmanuel Mudiay, Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant, and Duke’s Tyus Jones could all go in the first-round. Mudiay may have the potential to start immediately next season, while Grant and Jones are expected to start the upcoming season as reserves. As for what Lin might garner on the open market, a look back at last year’s point guard market shows anywhere from the $3 million to $7 million range over two or three years as reasonable. The Orlando Magic gave Luke Ridnour $5.5 million over two years, Brian Roberts got the same amount and years from Charlotte, Williams signed a one-year deal worth $3.75 million deal with Minnesota, and the Atlanta Hawks gave Shelvin Mack $7.3 million over three years. Lin’s tenure with the Lakers was disappointing on many levels, and there are many caveats he'll have to consider, but there are lots of options out there for him as free agency begins this summer. http://www.ibtimes.com/jeremy-lin-news-backup-role-possible-free-agency-looming-1915132
Because he's a starter, and people expected him to produce like a starter, to be a leader, to be fairly consistent. Off the bench... that's a completely different story.
Also he seemed to shrink from the moment, demanded to have the offense catered to him instead of adjusting his game to the offense, produced only when he knew he wouldn't be traded, and seemed not to take criticism constructively.
I'm not sure I agree with that. Rather than demanding something catered to him, he tried to do what the coach asks. He went half the season doing that, but he clearly struggled. His problem is that he only succeeds when he has the ball and when he runs the pnr. He admitted to this problem and said basically all season long that he's trying to become a more well-rounded player. He wants to succeed in other ways...off the ball alongside other players like Kobe. I don't know if that will ever happen though, which is why I think a bench role is perfectly fine for him. One main issue that I see is... Lack of aggression + Recklessness. Yes, despite being completely opposite things, somehow, both are a problem. Sometimes, he's incredibly passive. Sometimes, he's incredibly reckless. He goes from 0 to 100 in a split second rather than maintaining a constant 70. When you watch a player like CP3 (I know you hate him lol), he's always in control. He's probing and he dictates the speed he wants to play at. The game is a lot faster in Lin's mind. He believes he has to go at full throttle to create an advantage in offense because that's probably the way he's always played his entire life. It's the way he found success, but he needs to stop that. Change his speed up to throw the defense off. Learn to slow it down, take your time, probe the offense, and make a move. Unfortunately, that might be asking too much. Not many players can do that. On the other end of the spectrum, when he's not hitting shots, it's like he doesn't know what to do. He stops being aggressive and just slowly fades away into the corner. I think this has to do with both a lack of confidence and an issue with slowing the game down. Another problem is his shaky ball handling. I don't see him ever becoming someone like Curry, Kyrie, or CP3 in this department. He could take better care of the ball though. Just be careful with the ball.
Did he really demand anything? I'm not sure about that assessment. He was quite open about his struggles playing off ball, and he started to produce in the second half of the season.
Yes he demanded to run more pick and roll until the team caved and let him do it. Then he started being more productive which is great and all, but we weren't really winning games. It wasn't beneficial to much of the team besides him. It didn't necessarily hurt either, but we stopped running any sort of set offense and just ran pick and rolls for him when he was in the game.
Again, not sure if I agree. We went on a 3-game winning streak with Jeremy running the show, followed by 3 close games to OKC, Charlotte and Miami. We looked pretty good during that stretch, until Byron spoke with Lin (around March 7th) and reduced our P&R usage. We fell completely flat after that. He is infinetely more valuable than a player like Young (a black hole) off the bench. At least he gets others involved.
1. He's not coming off the bench. 2. I'd love to see the stats and whether or not we actually stopped running the pick and roll or if you're just remembering things differently than I am. 3. He was supposed to be a starter and was supplanted by Ronnie Price. Enough said. Defend him if you want, but I don't want him here unless he's willing to shut his mouth, cater to the team and not just himself, and play off the bench.
I think Lin is fine for a bench role. He's not a starter and we found that out over the course of the season. For the right price, I'd bring him back. If not, it won't hurt us.
Byron actually had given Lin/Clarkson more liberty to run the pick in roll specifically after the All-Star break. I think once he figured we weren't going anywhere he'd give Clarkson and Lin more freedom than running his antiquated offense. That's why Lin looked a lot better in some of those games he had those scoring outbursts. I also liked Clarkson and Lin playing together; it seemed to work well for periods of time throughout the game.
Let me pose kind of a psychological question: if you've convinced yourself that you can't work off the ball and keep trying to do it but are failing... Is it because you CAN'T or is it because you THINK you can't so you fulfill your own prophecy? Then you finally decide to just run pick and roll anyway despite what's been asked of you... Is that trying to play team ball or is it just floating along until Then another question: if he can't figure out how to play off the ball and he's not good enough to lead a team as the main ball handler where does that leave him?
Well, here is our record during that stretch. Feb.22 win against Boston Feb.25 win against Utah Feb.27 win against Milwaukee Mar.1 loss to OKC 101-108 Mar.3 loss to Charlotte 102-103 Mar.4 loss to Miami 94-100 Mar.6 Byron talks to Lin http://www.dailynews.com//sports/20...debate-merits-of-la-lakers-pick-and-roll-play And don't forget we were 1-16 prior to that winning 3-game streak. So Lin running the P&R was probably the most success we enjoyed all season. Also, here is a quote of what you said during that streak, on Mar.5th Clarkson is our starter, so I'm not trying to argue his value as a starter. He is probably the best option we have as a FA though.
Well in the link I posted above, he does admit that he is who is at this point; a P&R player. Byron gave him the green light. Leading the bench with players like Black and Davis who showed good chemistry with Lin.
But where exactly are you getting the idea that he's convinced himself that he can't work off the ball? He's been saying that he's continuing to work hard at diversifying his game, and he is working toward being a player that can play both off the ball and on the ball. He went from a poor shooter to a decent one. His 3P% has gone up every year he's been in the league. His 2P% has gone up every year in the league until this year (and a lot of players on our team took a dip in efficiency). He has stated since his NY days that he's working on taking care of the ball. While he's not great at it still, his turnover rate has gone down every year since then. Are these not signs of someone working toward rounding out his game? If you believe that it will take time for the Lakers to start building a team, develop chemistry, and win games, then aren't you being overly harsh on Lin (in particular) for not being a great player in literally just the first 3 months he's been here? Players like Wesley Johnson have been much worse, and didn't you give him a pass for the first year he's been with us? Nick Young has been even worse this year than Lin both on court and off court. I think people are being overly critical of Lin because they expected him to be our future, long-term starting PG and he didn't deliver. Regarding your last question, that leads him to a bench role. If he develops into a guy that can control the speed of the game and play off the ball well, then great. He would be a solid starting PG. Otherwise, he's just a spark off the bench.
I'm getting that idea because he had half a season to do it and figure it out and instead we had to revert back to him in the pick and roll for him to be effective. For a guy who has been working towards that end his whole career, he sure was a trainwreck for 3 months. Then things magically turn around when he gets the ball back in his hands after the All-Star break. He proved to me that he's not going to be an off-ball player which means one of two things: 1. You give him the team and let him run the offense or 2. He's a bench player masquerading as a starter for us. I gave Wesley a pass out of necessity i.e. he was still here. If Lin comes back I expect him to embrace his bench role and shut the hell up about the offense being catered to him. I simply posed a psychological question about whether or not he actually embraced the role of playing off the team or whether he'd already subconsciously given up and was instead just going through the motions knowing he didn't want to do this so he didn't. I'm not saying that's what happened, but I suspect it played a role in it. Sure he can have some credit for "trying" but his attempt was so bad that I tend to think his heart wasn't in it. Maybe he's still too young to see the forest for the trees. Maybe he still thinks he can be a starter, I don't know. But the truth is he's not good enough to run an offense by himself and that he needs to work better within the team concept instead of just having the ball in his hands the whole time. I disagree that Nick Young was worse for the team. Maybe this season, but the year before Nick's energy was infectious. He was playing decent defense, scoring when he had to, and getting the team behind him. This year he was hurt for a while, off on his shot for the rest of the time, and became a distraction for a moment. That's one good year and one bad year. He gets another chance. Lin came in and didn't fit in for the first half of the year, was beaten out as a starter by Ronnie f***ing Price, and wasn't a competent player for us until we finally gave in to him being our play maker. I'm being a little hard on him, sure, but someone has to. He needs to learn how to fall in line or he needs to get the hell out. If he wants to come back off the bench I've been open to that all summer. Otherwise he can catch the next plane out of town and we can find a soldier who won't be such a pansy when things aren't going his way.
Once again ^^^ pansies everywhere are saddened by their name being used in a demeaning way. They suggest instead the term "puss".........which of course could be problematic for this group.
Is Lin brought back as a backup with a long term deal in 2015? Or does he look elsewhere for an expanded role? Jeremy Lin to Denver Nuggets Gains Traction as Ty Lawson’s Future in Mile High Uncertain The prospect of Jeremy Lin suiting up for the Denver Nuggets next season gets a shot in the arm following reports about the Nuggets' interest in trading starting point guard Ty Lawson. According to Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post, the Nuggets are expected to gauge the market for Lawson and power forward Kenneth Faried. Denver, which holds the 7th pick in the coming draft, is reportedly hoping to salvage another high pick by dealing away either or both established veterans. "While Kroenke steadfastly refuses to offer specific names when talking about plans to aggressively retool the roster prior to opening night of the next NBA season, it's realistic to expect point guard Ty Lawson or forward Kenneth Faried or both to be part of trade discussions prior to the June 25 draft," Kiszla stressed. Averaging 15.2 points and 9.6 assists in 44 percent shooting last season, the 27-year old Lawson has been the team's primary ball handler the past four years. But after back-to-back regular-season disappointments, his future with the Nuggets becomes uncertain with the team entrusting their future to young center Jusuf Nurkic and Italian sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari. If the Nuggets pursue their plan in moving Lawson this offseason, it would be a welcome development for the 26-year old Lin, who is once again looking for a home after a tumultuous stint with the Los Angeles Lakers last season. Lin's 2014-15 season averages (11.1 points and 4.6 assists) are inferior to Lawson's production, but his post All-Star break surge (when he averaged at least 15 points and 6 dimes) proved he's more than capable of putting up better numbers. In fact, the Nuggets have been an appealing destination for Lin largely because of its run-and-gun style of play. In addition, the possibility of playing again under the wings of Mike D'Antoni, one of the frontrunners for the vacant head coaching job, is surely something hard to pass on. Lin stressed at the end of the season that his priority for the coming summer will be to find a team where he can fit in well. The Nuggets appear to have all the criteria Lin would want for his new team, and with Lawson likely vacating his job soon, he might have another crack at becoming a regular starter again.
