Lin’s detractors say that Lin “failed” and once again lost his job to Price, an inferior talent, a journeyman NBA guard who indeed makes Patrick Beverly look like Jerry West. But Lin actually performed well in the starting role. Despite working with a roster of players who shot virtually every time they received the ball – Bryant, Carlos Boozer and Nick Young – Lin averaged 12 ppg on only 9 shots per game, shooting 45% overall, a career high 36% from three-point-land, and 5 assists per game. (On a per-36 minutes basis, this translates to the by now familiar statistics: 14 ppg and 6 assists.)
Bryant was then injured again, worn down by the pounding, and after a brief break tried to come back and play on a more occasional basis. While he played he demonstrated far more propensity to pass, but his on-again/off-again status further disrupted the Lakers. Price received 30 minutes a game for a stat line that barely exceeded the infamous “trillion,” the term used for a player who fails to record any stats at all for his playing time.

Lin became the leader of the second unit, and after a few sour games, found his niche. Lin, told to be a playmaker (rather than the score-first point guard that he is), would dutifully set up Boozer and Young on the second team. Boozer continued to shoot every time he touched the ball, shooting over 50%, and Young did the same, with the opposite results (he is shooting a Bryant-like 37%). Lin continued to deliver a reasonable stat line under the circumstances.
The Lakers are a terrible team, and finally Scott and company threw in the towel and started “tanking” in earnest. The Lakers own a first round draft pick that they can only keep and use if they finish among the worst five teams in the league. The Lakers’ perverse incentive thus caused all sorts of inversions, not the least of which is their second unit is actually far stronger than the first unit. The fabled Los Angeles Lakers are starting – wait for it – rookie Jordan Clarkson (who mercifully replaced Price), Wayne Ellington, Robert Sacre, Ryan Kelly and Tarik Black. These are the 7th, 9th, 10th, 12th and 13th leading scorers on the Lakers, and collectively they average 31.3 points per game, or less than Bryant did in two of his best seasons. Considering the Lakers are missing Nash and rookie Julius Randle, and you can see that most of these players, based on scoring alone, might not have even been on the Lakers second unit on a full-strength roster.

Starting the second-team – Lin, Young, Boozer, Ed Davis and Wes Johnson -- and playing them 32 minutes per game apiece would only increase the Lakers’ chances to win, and thus undermine the odds of securing that badly needed draft pick.
Lin continues to play well in this impossible role. Capped at 20 minutes per game, he continues to score productively – 9.2 points a game, and dish impressively – 4.2 assists per game. Project those totals to 36 minutes and you get – of course -- 15 ppg and 7 assists. And that is for a lousy team, playing for a lousy coach, in a lost season.
And yet the buzz continues…Lin is “overrated…a failure…not a starter…shouldn’t even be in the league.” It is perverse thinking and simply not justified by the stats. Byron Scott claims Lin is “inconsistent” but he is no more inconsistent than most NBA players, who routinely light it up one night and disappear the next. Only the true superstars produce almost every night, and Lin is not that.

But Lin is a solid NBA player. While reasonable people can agree it is difficult to judge just what he is and can be, it is hardly a stretch, and backed up by ample evidence at this point, to say that as a starter he would average in the 15 ppg range with 7-8 assists, depending on the system and his teammates. Clearly in a running environment, with a good pick and roll center and some three-point shooters on the wings, Lin could do even better. Stick him in a plodding offense with fewer possessions and an “Iso” offense and he will be less productive. But 15/7 seems to be the norm around which he will vary, given 32-36 minutes. That would make him about 15th in scoring among point guards and top ten in assists. Perhaps not a top ten NBA point guard or an All-Star, but easily in next ten, certainly among the best 30 point guards in the league. And if the system really works for him, and he regains his confidence, he could get up to, say, 18 and 9.
Lin will almost certainly not be traded by the February 19th deadline. Any team that picked him up would have to pay him the pro-rated portion of his $15 million contract, about $6 million for the balance of the year. There are not many teams with playoff hopes that do not already have a capable point guard. Someone would have to have a crying need for a back-up point…and then be able to afford the $6 million to fill that role on a rental.

But Lin will, of course, be a free agent this summer. This is a golden era of NBA point guards and so his options will be limited. He may choose to sign an inexpensive one-year deal with a team that will give him a shot at being a starter and see what he can do, or be a quality back-up in a system that favors him. Let him rebuild his reputation in a good environment and then go from there. His saga has been so visible and prolonged that people forget he is only 26 years old, heading into his prime.
His path thus far has been unique, remarkably so. Other guards of his age, such as Goran Dragic, Kyle Lowry and Reggie Jackson, have been nurtured in good systems and gradually have matured into quality players. Lin’s “development” has been virtually non-existent. Yet he thrived the most when he was simply handed the keys to the car and told to go for it.

A team like Dallas seems ideal to me. Rajon Rondo has not worked out and will likely leave this summer to explore free agency. Tyson Chandler, his old pick and roll buddy with the Knicks, roams the middle, and Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons (another former teammate) are formidable on the wings. And Monta Ellis would eat up the three-point opportunities Lin would create. Lin might score less on a team with that kind of firepower, but he could still excel, and be the missing piece to the Mavs title aspirations.
In any event, Lin’s strange career, full of the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, incredible polarization and misunderstanding, is crying for another act, a redemptive cycle. We shall see.

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恳请翻译大神降临施展功力,惠泽天下!

@吃白兔的胡萝卜 @红茶杯rp @afa198355 @戴慧佳 @RIP64

exer.tw (8级) 2015-03-06 07:11 亮了 回复 from:林书豪专区
我认为湖人今年的战绩和Kobe是绝对关系。
湖人今年一直有好几个怪象：替补全联盟最佳。
先发一直挖坑。
一直到12月Kobe打球伤停，湖人当时的实力也没想像的差，
至少Kobe第一次受伤时，湖人可是狂暴勇士。
而林书豪的确有不稳定的现象，
可是细分析原因，可见是默契不足的关系，
基本上控卫的大局观和能力还在。
他第一次被冰是对上11/29的灰狼，
虽然对手爆了林书豪，但是那是Lavine手感好和湖人的防守交代不清的关系。
林书豪个人没有表现太差，只是奇怪的，末节冰了林书豪，后来回想，是林书豪打快的关系。
可是，打快有什麽不好，假如你的球员能力足够，
快速反击打对方措手不及不是很好？
答案后来揭晓：是Kobe不能这麽打。
湖人不是不能打快，
这几场林书豪带着替补，
进攻回防都很快，
开了几次后门，
今天假如不是后来的体力下降，不敢打快，
相信热火很难拿下来。
第二个诡异的地方是：
从Kobe开始不能打后，一直到Kobe确定本季报销，
球队主动摆烂。
湖人当时不是不能打，你把林书豪拉上先发后打快，
相信没有球队会小看湖人；
一般球迷都看得出来林书豪能力还在，
NBA打滚的教练看不出来？
而前五选秀，其实也没那麽伟大，
要不然灰狼丶76人今年战绩也不会太差，
东区还有一个尼克血淋淋的教训摆在那理。
别忘了，湖人现在的Wesley Johnson当初也是第四顺位。
他改变球队了吗？
而湖人这三十年来，即便show time瓦解，
也没摆烂过。
而湖人只要有薪资空间，一直都是球星云集。
湖人这个球队经营不错，
但是，假如摆烂，会把这几十年经营的口碑毁了。
毕竟老球迷有时是为了一个“湖人精神”持续支持，
就像苹果迷一直爱用apple的产品。
所以，为了选秀权摆烂可能只是藉口，
我不大相信湖人高层有可能单单为了一个前五选秀牺牲湖人多年建立起来的声誉，
真正原因，可能就是有人不希望湖人少了Kobe还能打出好成绩。

而有利害关系的，就是Kobe和Kobe有关的产业。
也只有Kobe的势力，才有办法驱动湖人高层做出摆烂的决定。
不管如何，明年的林书豪应该不会留湖人，看看林书豪在湖人的最后几场吧。