Jeremy Lin: Houston Rockets Have Bright Future If Knicks Let Point Guard Walk
Jeremy Lin might feel disrespected by the New York Knicks, but the situation with the Houston Rockets he now finds himself in should quell all negative feelings.
After the Rockets and Lin agreed to a back-loaded three-year contract worth a little more than $25 million, it appeared the Knicks would re-sign the star who resurrected his basketball career in New York, especially considering they were reportedly ready to match an offer up to $1 billion.
Not so fast.
It now appears, however, after trading for Raymond Felton, the Knicks are going to let the 23-year-old walk.
The Knicks' loss is just the Rockets' gain.
After trading Kyle Lowry to the Toronto Raptors and losing Goran Dragic to the Phoenix Suns via free agency, the one glaring hole in Houston's future was at the point guard position.
Not anymore.
Lin will constantly get criticized for what appears to be an overly-generous contract, especially in the third year, but that is just making people forget how good this kid can be.
In 25 starts last year for the Knicks, the former Harvard star averaged 18.2 points, 7.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
There are concerns about Lin's game, sure. He turns the ball over too much (4.7 per game in those starts), he can be inconsistent as a shooter and there are question marks about his defense.
But people act like most 23-year-olds don't have problems in their game during their first real season in the NBA. Lin gets the magnifying glass treatment because he jumped right into the middle of the spotlight in a huge way, everything he does bad is seen as the worst crime in the history of men.
I agree that at first, Lin was a little overrated. But people bought into the "overrated" theory so much, they started ignoring what he could really do on the court. He became so overrated that he is now underrated.
That makes sense, don't worry about it.
When it comes down to it, this is an intriguing point-guard prospect for the future and that's what you build franchises around.
Now take a look at the talent the Rockets have to surround Lin.
Kevin Martin is as electric of a scorer as they come, although there's a good chance he won't be a part of the future plans, especially with lottery-pick Jeremy Lamb waiting in the wings.
In addition to Lamb, Houston brings in two more intriguing rookies in Terrence Jones and Royce White, both technically power forwards, but both versatile guys who can run the court and play the 3.
Chandler Parsons will be looking to build off a terrific rookie season.
Donatas Motiejunas, who has a little Pau Gasol in him, makes his return from overseas after being drafted in the first round last year.
Throw in Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris and Josh Harrellson, and that is, as the kids would say, a stupid amount of young talent.
Houston, considering the ridiculous amount of forwards, obviously still has some moves to make, but Daryl Morey has proven he isn't afraid to make moves.
Nonetheless, in two years, imagine a starting lineup of Jeremy Lin, Jeremy Lamb, Chandler Parsons, Royce White and Donatas Motiejunas with Terrence Jones coming off the bench and plenty of depth to make trades in order to get even better.
If these guys develop like they are supposed to, that is going to be a menacing lineup. It might need a true star (I'm not going to talk about that big center from Orlando, because I'm tired of talking about him) to really top things off and make a run at a championship, but with all those young players, the Rockets will have cap space to go after a star, even with Lin's poison pill contract on the books.
So while Lin is likely disappointed about feeling betrayed by the Knicks, he's on a team that can help him get the right kind of revenge in a couple of years:
Wins.
