Jeremy Lin entered free agency after a terrific year with the Charlotte Hornets. The New York Knicks, at the time, needed a good point guard. Lin, most likely, wanted a starting spot. The timing was perfect.
These two parties needed each other, just like they did in 2011-12, only in a different capacity. Lin needed a chance to jump start his career back then, and the Knicks gave him one. New York’s season needed a savior, and it found one. But the relationship dissolved that offseason, when the Knicks decided not to match Lin’s contract offer from the Houston Rockets.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Kind of like Lin’s chances of ending up in a Knicks uniform again.
Lin, now a member of the Brooklyn Nets, apparently never received interest from the Knicks. Why exactly? Because of his defense, according to the New York Post‘s Brian Lewis (h/t CBS Sports):
“If my life was done by what everyone else expected of me, I would’ve been done with playing a long time ago. I don’t really care what anyone else has to say,’’ said Lin, whose struggles on defense left the Knicks uninterested in a reunion, a source told The Post.
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Lin was 20th among point guards in ESPN’s defensive real plus-minus metric last year, better than Hornets star Kemba Walker, Nets predecessor Jarrett Jack and the Knicks’ Jose Calderon and Jerian Grant.
“These are knocks on my game that, when I was a younger player, I’d agree with,’’ Lin said. “I’ve improved. It just hasn’t been highlighted.’’
This is an LOL moment.
If the Knicks didn’t want Lin because of his defense, then they didn’t watch him play defense last season. He was better. The best he’s ever been. That tends to happen when you’re playing for a defensive mastermind like Steve Clifford, but he was still better.
Plus, judging by the Knicks’ offseason moves, they weren’t exactly in position to pass over players strictly because of their defensive warts. They traded for Derrick Rose and signed Brandon Jennings, neither of whom is a particularly tenacious defender.
If the Knicks didn’t want to invest long-term money in Lin, because they had plans to remain as flexible as possible for 2017 free agency, that’s one thing. But their purported distaste for his defense sounds awfully stupid given the makeup of their backcourt now.
