Jeremy Lin News, Stats, Contract & 2014 Season in Review: Despite Decrease in Playing Time, 'Linsanity' Remains Relevant; Will He Remain in Houston?
The 2013-14 Houston Rockets season is officially over after a six game series to the Portland Trailblazers. The team failed to defend home court and will now be watching the NBA playoffs from home. An interesting player, who the Rockets will have a lot of future decisions to make with, is point guard Jeremy Lin.
Rockets head coach, Kevin McHale significantly reduced Lin's playing time from last years and increased Patrick Beverly's. Last season, Lin started all 82 games for the Rockets as the starting point guard, however this season he started just 33 games. Beverly on the other hand saw his started games increase from 0 to 55. Unfortunately, Lin also experienced a few health issues as well. A sprained knee and back spasms caused Lin to miss 10 games.
Despite some minor injuries and being benched by coach McHale for much of the season, Lin had his moments.
On Feb. 1, Lin put up one of his best stat lines of his career. Lin would record 10 assists, 11 rebounds, and 15 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers, earning his first career triple double. What made this performance so impressive is that Lin only played 29 minutes in the game. Lin would also put multiple 30 point games against the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers during the regular season. Lin's season high in points was 34 against the 76ers, when he also dished out 11 assists on Nov. 13.
During the postseason, Lin and Beverly continued to swap minutes in the opening round against the Trail Blazers. Often times, the Rockets had James Harden run the point guard position with Lin shooting many outside shots. In the six game series, Lin shot 23 perimeter shots, only making five of them. Lin is no Reggie Miller or Ray Allen by any stretch of the imagination, so coach McHale's game plan comes off as a head scratcher. Lin's interior and mid range shooting didn't suffer at all. Inside the perimeter, Lin shot a combined 20-38 in the six games, more than 50 percent efficiency.
In a lot ways, a point guard is like an NFL quarterback. It's very difficult to continue swapping the position between players. If the Rockets believe Lin is their guy, they should make him the full time point guard.
Presently, Lin has one more year remaining on his three year contract. The Rockets have a lot of decisions to make. If the Rockets are going to get value for Lin, they must trade him this offseason or before next year's NBA trade deadline in February or March of 2015.
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