Jeremy Lin to Rockets: Predictions for Linsanity's First Full Season in Houston

He's baaaack. 

After playing seven minutes in two preseason games for Houston, the Rockets signed Jeremy Lin in December of 2011. But with Goran Dragic, Kyle Lowry and Jonny Flynn already on the roster, Daryl Morey let Lin go just 12 days later.

The rest is history. Lin turned into Linsanity with the New York Knicks, the Rockets agreed to an offer sheet with the restricted free agent and the Knicks shockingly let him go. 

Lin is officially, once again, a Houston Rocket. Just for a little bit more money this time. 

Breaking down how Lin will fit in his first full season with Houston is a little tricky.

For one, Morey is essentially never done dealing. He's been easily one of the most active general managers since the Miami Heat won the championship, and with the Dwight Howard situation likely to annoy us for the foreseeable future, nothing about this roster is set in stone. 

Additionally, this roster is full of youngsters. Jeremy Lamb, Terrence Jones, Royce White and Donatas Montiejunas are all rookies who could see playing time. Chandler Parsons is a second-year player who will again carve a big role. Omer Asik could or couldn't be making his way to Houston. 

Predicting how the minutes will be distributed on this team is a bit of a crapshoot, but one thing is sure.

Jeremy Lin is going to start and he is going to get all the minutes he can handle. After trading Kyle Lowry and letting Goran Dragic walk via free agency, point guard is easily Houston's thinnest position.

Because of that, expect Lin to average at least 32 minutes per game.

With that settled, let's take a look at what the rest of his stat line might often look like. 

Scoring

Lin proved in New York that he thrives off the pick-and-roll. While he won't have an Amar'e Stoudemire or Tyson Chandler to run that with in Houston, Montiejunas has a little Pau Gasol in him, meaning those two could form a nice duo. 

At the same time, Houston has plenty of shooters the defense will have to defend. Kevin Martin attempted just under nine shots per game from 16 feet and beyond last season, Chandler Parsons attempted three threes per game, and even the big men—Montiejunas, White and Jones—can all step out and hit a jumper.

Expect the Rockets to spread the floor a lot, get in transition and open up the lanes for Lin to create a lot of buckets at the hoop.

That's why, even though I expect his three-point percentage to stay somewhere around the low 30 percent range, I wouldn't be surprised if he upped his field goal percentage to about 46 percent as long as he doesn't start settling for jumpers.

Furthermore, with Lin as the second option on offense, expect something in the vicinity of 18 points per game.

Passing

The drive-and-kick will certainly benefit Lin, but let's not forget this is a very young, developing team. There will be times when the Rockets struggle immensely on the offensive end.

They won't always be knocking down shots and that will hurt Lin's assist totals. He averaged 7.7 dimes per game as a starter in New York, but I wouldn't be surprised if that number drops closer to six in 2012-13.

He just doesn't have enough proven weapons around him. 

The Rest

Everything else isn't nearly as dependent on those around him, so don't expect a ton of changes from when he was starting in New York. 

The rebounds and turnovers will continue to be about to same—somewhere in the high threes per game—while, even with inconsistent defensive ability, he should be able to pilfer 1.5 steals per contest.  

In short, expect a little bit more scoring, but a little bit more inconsistency from the young point guard in 2012-13. 

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