Jeremy Lin's lost jumper
Bledsoe's scoring, Hickson's cleaning the glass among other emerging trends
Originally Published: November 26, 2012
By Joe Kaiser | ESPN Insider
Troy Taormina/US PresswireJeremy Lin has had trouble landing the jumpers he easily hit with the Knicks in 2011-12.
Editor's Note: This is Insider's weekly series that identifies and analyzes tendencies or trends exhibited by five players.
Things change fast in this league, and depending on the team and situation, some trends can mean the difference between a spot in the starting five and a DNP-CD.
Just look at the Minnesota Timberwolves' Derrick Williams, a player whose struggles we touched on last week; once Kevin Love made his season debut against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, Williams appeared in only one of the Timberwolves' next three games for a grand total of 11 minutes.
Sure, a demotion was inevitable upon Love's return, but had the former No. 2 overall pick been playing better, it would have likely been impossible to keep him off the court. As it stands now, we have to wonder how much of a role Williams will have going forward.
This week, we take a look at five other players who are trending in different directions:
Trend: Missing shots he used to make
Lin's game is one that has been analyzed as much as anyone's in the NBA over the last 12 months, as he continues to be one of the most fascinating players in the league today.
Though Lin helped his new team blow by his old team on Friday as Houston blew out New York 131-103, he clearly isn't the same offensive threat that he was when Linsanity peaked last February.
Omar Shaik of HoopData.com wrote on Friday that one of the biggest reasons for this is the sudden disappearance of Lin's jump shot:
"Last season, Lin ranked in the NBA's top seven among point guards in field goal percentage from 10 to 15 feet and 16 to 23 feet. He was more accurate from these distances than many household names, such as Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Tony Parker, Derrick Rose, andRussell Westbrook. He demonstrated a jump shot that deserved to be respected, and teams adjusted accordingly."
Through the Rockets' first 12 games this season, Lin is shooting 16.7 percent from shots in the 10- to 15-foot range, and 29.4 percent on attempts from the 16- to 23-foot range. Those numbers are, to put it mildly, not good. Most worrisome, defenses will adjust and limit Lin's ability to penetrate as they back off, knowing his shooting is so suspect.
It probably won't be until Lin plays another season or two until we can safely say whether the real Lin is closer to the guy we saw last season with the Knicks or the one who's struggling to find the net this season with the Rockets. But you can bet that won't stop the conversation on the topic between now and then.
Trend: Taking better care of the basketball
Phoenix moved quickly to ink Dragic to a four-year, $34 million deal just hours after agreeing to send Steve Nash to Los Angeles in a July 5 sign-and-trade deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Replacing a legend like Nash couldn't be an easy situation for anyone to step into, let alone Dragic, a former Sun who played behind the Canadian point guard for two-and-a-half seasons before being dealt to Houston. But so far, the 26-year-old Slovenian is proving to be one of the biggest bright spots on a Suns team that -- admittedly or not -- is in rebuilding mode.
Playing a career-high 33.3 minutes a game in his first season back with the Suns, Dragic is on track to shatter his career bests in all of the major categories. But the most impressive part of Dragic's game so far this season is the way he's taking better care of the basketball. Dragic's 2.2 turnovers per game are less than the 2.4 he averaged while playing nearly seven fewer minutes a game with Houston last season. And his current 3.43 assist-to-turnover rate shatters his previous career high of 2.24, set last season.
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