Can Jeremy Lin Be a Legitimate Building Block for Los Angeles Lakers?

The Los Angeles Lakers took a no-risk flier on the final year of Jeremy Lin’s overpriced contract this summer.

Could he be a legitimate building block for a team moving into an uncertain new era? Or will he be one more failed experiment for an organization that has stumbled badly over the past few years?

Starting the season with no wins and five losses, the Lakers need more than Kobe Bryant’s robust 27.6 points per game. One of the other things they need is a truly great point guard.

That doesn’t mean just a functional player or even a pretty good one. On a roster too defined by mediocrity, they need talent that can come within eyesight of Bryant’s orbit.

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The longtime Lakers leader has now entered a two-year extension that will likely serve as his swan song. And once he’s gone, what’s left? A steady parade to the draft lottery? A lack of fire, commitment and dedication to a storied purple and gold franchise?

Now 26, Lin once seemed destined for greatness. His 35-game zenith with the New York Knicks during the 2011-12 season led to a giddy media frenzy and anointment as a basketball prodigy and cultural icon.

It also resulted in a three-year deal with the Houston Rockets worth more than $25 million. That chapter ended when Houston dealt Lin and two future draft picks to the Lakers this summer.

The Rockets are now holding down the fort with point guards Patrick Beverley and Isaiah Canaan for a combined salary of only $1.7 million. The team doesn’t seem to be hurting with a league-leading 6-0 record.

Lin has tried to live up to his New York promise and his Rockets payday with diminishing results. Perhaps a statement from his press conference upon arriving in L.A. is becoming prophetic: “I’m not trying to recreate Linsanity or be that phenomenon that happened in New York. I just want to be myself more than ever.”

The question is, what does being himself really mean?

Through five starts in five games, Lin is averaging 10.8 points and five assists. Those aren’t horrible numbers, but they also don’t measure up to the 14.6 points and 6.2 dimes he delivered with the Knicks.

In fact, it’s his lowest scoring average since his 29-game rookie season with the Golden State Warriors.

Is Lin at least being efficient? Hardly—his 38 percent field-goal percentage is the worst of his career.

As relayed recently by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, Byron Scott is looking for more: “He has to go out and play his game. He’s thinking too much about the game. Just go out and play basketball.”

As a team, Los Angeles has the worst defense in the league, giving up 116.8 points per game. The Lakers also rank 28th in three-pointers attempted and 24th in assists made while dead last in comparison to opponents’ assists.

The 6’3” point guard can still help them, however, and shouldn’t be viewed as the most ineffective starter on the team. That honor would go to Carlos Boozer or Wesley Johnson—take your pick.

Now in his fifth season, Lin is still a curious work in progress—playing with confidence one night and other times seeming unsure. Despite the fits and starts, however, there have been some encouraging signs.

Late in the fourth quarter on Halloween night, Lin waved off Bryant and nailed a buzzer-beater three-pointer. The Lakers still lost to the Los Angeles Clippers, but afterward, according to Baxter Holmes for ESPN LA, Bryant had praise for the gutsy move:

"

You have to be able to assert yourself, especially on a team that I'm playing on -- especially on a team I'm playing on. Because I don't want chumps, I don't want pushovers, and if you're a chump and a pushover, I will run over you.

It's important for him to have that toughness and to say, 'I believe in myself. I can step up, I can make these plays, I can perform.' I think that is very, very important.

"

During Tuesday night’s close loss to the Phoenix Suns, Lin again showed an increase in assertiveness, driving hard to the basket, converting nine of 10 free throws and totaling 18 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including a three-pointer. He also had a team-high five assists.

Again, Bryant offered words of encouragement, per Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times:

"

Lin was being more aggressive and taking shots. I think the biggest thing for him to learn is to play relentlessly. The most important thing [for my teammates] is that they understand the relentlessness they have to play with.

I'll go out there and I'll leave on the floor everything, and compete and not be fearful of criticism or fearful of not playing well or missing shots.  That's the same way I want the guys to play, Jeremy in particular, because he's a really good player.  He's just getting used to playing with that kind of effort and attitude.

"

Lin’s intelligence has never been questioned. And it is admirable that he is responding to the challenges put forth by one of the league’s notoriously tough teammates.

And for all the talk about L.A.’s dismal start, it has so far only played against Western Conference playoff contenders.

But regardless of that, is the first-year Laker a legitimate building block for the future? Can he be counted on to step into the giant vacuum that will remain once a longtime superstar finally exits stage left?

Actually, this is a one-season audition at a premium price. The agreement Lin signed with Houston was structured with a final balloon year of $14,898,938. The Lakers may only be taking a cap hit of $8,374,646, but the larger number represents their investment in actual dollars paid out.

Lin has said he’s not looking to recreate Linsanity again, but does he mean fame or performance? He is being handed the encouragement of Bryant to seize a mantle, the green light from Scott to be his floor general and a wheelbarrow of cash from management.

Of those to whom much is given, much is required.

Lin has all but been handed the keys to the city. Now it’s time to pay it forward.

Don’t be afraid to replicate your apex—embrace that challenge.

Show Los Angeles you’re legitimate, and you’ll have a place in her heart for years to come.