Jeremy Lin Emotional Following Houston Rockets' Pre-Deadline Trades
The Houston Rockets have a front office prone to making major shakeups, and general manager Daryl Morey once again pulled off a blockbuster just prior to the Feb. 21 NBA trade deadline.
On Wednesday, Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich and Toney Douglas were shipped to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Thomas Robinson, Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt, while Marcus Morris was jettisoned to the Phoenix Suns for a second-round pick (via Howard Chen of CSN Houston) in the latest in a series of spectacular moves that Houston has made since the offseason.
Jeremy Lin seemed to be visibly shaken by the news, as you can see by his reaction (click here for the video) following the Rockets' emotional, come-from-behind victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday evening.
According to Dave Zangaro of CSN Houston, the point guard didn’t even want to participate in the contest after finding out 20 minutes prior to tipoff:
"To be honest, I was like "I don’t even want to play. I don’t even want to play tonight." It was really emotional. I wish them the best. It just sucks to see them go and I guess that’s a part of the business but that’s a tough part for me.
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Lin went on to score 29 points, dish eight assists and grab six rebounds in the win, augmenting James Harden’s 46-point performance in Houston’s first "W" over the star shooting guard’s former squad.
It seemed that the hardest thing for the former Harvard standout to overcome was the fact that his close friends would no longer be a part of the franchise. He told Zangaro:
"That was just pretty much the worst thing. It sucks because we’re a close-knit team and we actually really, really care about everybody that got shipped off and it was just really emotional for me.
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It’s going to be an adjustment for the floor general to adjust to life with his new teammates, as it is his duty to facilitate and find the best way to put these players in a position to score.
This trade looks to be an overall upgrade to the Rockets’ roster, and it seems that the emotional impact of the trade did not have a negative effect on the players following their epic performance against the Thunder.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA, and while they may break up friendships and mess with chemistry, Lin and the Rockets will carry on and should be in even better position to make a playoff run in 2013 due to these transactions.
