Three games in and Jeremy Lin is already showing why he does not belong in the G League.
Now technically past his physical prime, his game is completely redeveloped. For those that followed him while he was in Atlanta back in 2018, his current style of play is an improved version of that.
But for those who haven’t followed his journey since his 15 minutes of fame, gone are the out-of-control driving and passing of the Linsanity era. In is a calm, cool and collected savvy veteran guard who plays the pick-and-roll to near perfection, creates open shots through an insane level of patience and plays extremely stingy defense — he was the CBA’s Defensive Player of the Year last season. Oh, and he can shoot the three-ball so much better than he ever has in his career.
On Feb. 13, Lin poured in a game-high 29 points on 9-12 shooting, including seven threes and nine assists. He was finding himself open on catch-and-shoot attempts. He was finishing at the cup. He was finding the open man off of dribble penetration. And to be honest, it all seemed effortless.
What’s sad is that no media outlets one really cared. Bleacher Report was busy hyping up the Myles Powell vs. Nico Mannion (Lin’s teammate) rookie matchup, where they each shot a pretty mediocre 8-20 from the field. Whereas there was very little noise about Lin’s performance, where he knocked down the most threes by anyone in the G League bubble this season.
Though it’s a small sample size, Lin is averaging more points, assists, 3 Pt FGs and has a higher shooting percentage, 3-Pt FG percentage and free throw percentage while playing less minutes than he did in his stint with the Reno Bighorns in 2010-11 prior to his call-up to the Warriors.
The ‘real’ Warriors haven’t found much success in their backup shooting guards, with Damion Lee, Mychal Mulder and Brad Wanamaker combining for a pretty lowly 14.6 PPG in 45 MPG. I wonder if the Warriors even have any interest in bringing a player up anytime soon with the whole quarantine protocol that would have to take place. But a veteran guard like Lin who can not only orchestrate an offense, but provide a much needed scoring threat as well, is 100 percent someone that Warriors can utilize in so many ways.
Like I’ve always said one chance is all he needs. He got that one chance to come back to the G League and he proved to everyone that he’s worthy. Now, he just needs that one chance to prove his worth once again in the big leagues.
