Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Jeremy Lin signing a good move for Charlotte Hornets



Jeremy Lin? I like it.

The Charlotte Hornets agreed to terms with Lin Wednesday, according to a source, with the signing expected to be made official Thursday (UPDATE: The Hornets now have made it official). Lin has fallen a ways since his "Linsanity" days in New York in 2012 -- he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated for two consecutive weeks in February 2012, and he remains the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA. Lin was courted as a backup this time, behind Kemba Walker at point guard, and apparently he's fine with that since he displayed the Hornets' logo on his Instagram account as a way of "announcing" his signing Wednesday night

Lin will not be the savior for the Charlotte Hornets. He will not, by himself, lead the Hornets to "the promised land," to use the analogy that GM Dave Gettleman used when the Carolina Panthers announced Cam Newton's $103-million signing recently. Lin is a good NBA player but not a great one -- don't overhype this move.

But he will fit better with this team than Lance Stephenson ever did, and at a much more reasonable price. He's shaky defensively but he can score (he has a career average of 11.7 points per game). And the one thing the Hornets have proved this offseason is that they are going to put some more points on the scoreboard even if it means they are less effective defensively.

So at least their games are going to be more entertaining. And I am not a huge fan of Brian Roberts, so making him the third point guard instead of Kemba's primary backup makes sense to me. This is a good move for the Hornets, and hopefully it will be a good move for Lin, too. He did not do well with the L.A. Lakers last season, but he's a fine scorer and really good in the pick-and-roll, and I can see situations where he gets hot in the third quarter and Steve Clifford plays a hunch and leaves him in during the fourth and lets him play alongside Walker.

It gives the Hornets more scoring options, basically, and that's a good thing for such an offensively challenged team (Lin will more or less take the roster spot of Mo Williams). It's not going to be Linsanity around here, but this will be a better team with Lin on it.

6 comments:

DWS44 said...

Definitely better than Roberts, but I suppose this will end, or at least significantly diminish the chances of Aaron Harrison making the roster. I was really hoping he'd make it on the team.

Clay said...

Time to rename your son Jeremy and your daughter Lin.

Anonymous said...

It's a really nice pick up by Mr. Cho and the Hornets organization. LIn will excel under the right system and team. I think both parties will benefit from this transaction and Charlotte fan will enjoy the journey in the next two seasons. Good luck to Jeremy and the Charlotte Hornets.

USC88 said...

He's a ball-dominant PG like Mo Williams was. If Big Al and Kemba are sitting for a spell, Lin can provide some offense. Seems like a good fit. Sounds like we can expect a bigger role for Troy Daniels on the second line as well. I like how the team depth is coming together.

Anonymous said...

At a very cheap price...geeeeeeee

Unknown said...

For those who are really interested to know what happened to Jeremy Lin last season, the article by Andy Kamenetzky of Lakersnation would be a good reference.

http://www.lakersnation.com/what-byron-scott-and-jeremy-lin-can-learn-from-each-other/2015/03/31/

Jeremy Lin is the number 1 shot blocker among NBA point guards per 48 mins this past season
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/blocks/sort/avg48Blocks/position/point-guards
Jeremy Lin is ranked 17th in Steals per 48 mins; Kemba Walker is ranked 18th
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/player/_/stat/steals/sort/avg48Steals/position/point-guards
The DRPM (Defensive Real Plus Minus) of Jeremy Lin is ranked 20 among 84 NBA PGs
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/DRPM/position/1
The ORPM (Offensive Real Plus Minus) of Jeremy Lin is ranked 19th among 84 PGs
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/ORPM/position/1
The RPM (Real Plus Minus) of Jeremy Lin is ranked 18th among all PGs.
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/RPM/position/1
The WAR (wins attributable to each player on RPM) of Jeremy Lin is ranked 17th
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/position/1

There are only 14 PGs with both positive DRPM & positive ORPM and Jeremy is ranked 13th.

ORPM: Player's estimated on-court impact on team offensive performance, measured in points scored per 100 offensive possessions
DRPM: Player's estimated on-court impact on team defensive performance, measured in points allowed per 100 defensive possessions
RPM: Player's estimated on-court impact on team performance, measured in net point differential per 100 offensive and defensive possessions. RPM takes into account teammates, opponents and additional factors
WAR: The estimated number of team wins attributable to each player, based on RPM