How Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire Have Impacted Jeremy Lin

There's been plenty written, spoken and pontificated about how Jeremy Lin would affect (and has affected) the play of Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire with the New York Knicks, but what of the reverse?

How has Linsanity reacted to 'Melo and STAT?

Let's have a look at the numbers:

(Note: Lin began playing regularly on February 4th as a reserve against the New Jersey Nets)

	Minutes	Points	Assists	Turnovers	Rebounds	Steals
Overall (Since 2/4)	34.9	19.3	8.2	4.6	3.8	2.1
No 'Melo, No STAT	39.8	27.3	8.3	5.5	4.0	2.0
No 'Melo	38.8	22.8	10.8	7.5	3.3	2.5
With 'Melo and STAT	32.5	16.2	7.47	3.6	3.9	2.1

In short, Anthony and Stoudemire have served to shrink Lin's role on the Knicks, which makes plenty of sense. After all, 'Melo and STAT are New York's designated superstars, guys who should be using the ball more often than guys like, say, Jared Jeffries and Bill Walker, who filled in for the Knicks' cornerstones while they were away.

It's also worth mentioning that Baron Davis has siphoned off increasingly large portions of Lin's minutes since returning from a back injury on February 20th.

Not that Lin's reduction in responsibilities with a healthy roster around him is necessarily a bad thing. As far as playing time is concerned, Lin is still essentially a rookie without a full, 82-game NBA season under his belt. He's never played in more than 30 games in any given campaign, college included.

As such, Knicks fans should be pleased to see that his minutes—and his duties—have decreased as the team's roster has improved, along with the arrival of JR Smith.

And the coaching staff, now led by Mike Woodson after Mike D'Antoni's ouster, is probably happy to see that Lin has cut down on his turnovers significantly while playing with 'Melo and Amar'e.

Which, again, falls well within reason. Lin has little reason to pound the rock and make plays all by his lonesome with Batman and Robin by his side. Instead, Lin can find (and has found) Amar'e in the pick-and-roll and dump the ball off to Carmelo in his sweet spots, thereby allowing him to operate in isolation.

All of which leads to less work for Lin—a good thing for the Knicks, considering how raw Lin still is as a player and (more importantly) how much of their resources, both financially and hopefully, have been committed to Anthony and Stoudemire.

If you've got 'em, flaunt 'em. That's exactly what Jeremy Lin has done and, as the consummate team player, will likely continue to do as the Knicks chase after a spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

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