by Tyler Dencker
After his inaugural season with the Brooklyn Nets, what grade does Jeremy Lin deserve?
Jeremy Lin has had a rollercoaster ride of a career, to say the least. He was undrafted in 2010, but ended up with the Golden State Warriors. That didn’t last too long, as he played for two teams in the D-League over the next year.
In 2011, Lin was picked up by the New York Knicks… and “Linsanity” was born. Despite playing in just 35 games, Lin averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field. Five seasons removed from the outburst, all of those statistics remain Lin’s career-best.
The breakout season led to Lin signing with the Houston Rockets in free agency, but he was ultimately a disappointment. In his two seasons in Houston, Lin failed to replicate his “Linsanity” numbers despite playing 2.5 more minutes per game.
Things didn’t get much better for Lin after signing with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2014. Excluding his rookie year, Lin posted career-lows in points and rebounds per game.
However, Lin turned his career around with the Charlotte Hornets in 2015. Perhaps this was because he had a new, adjusted role — sixth man. Providing a spark off the bench behind Kemba Walker, Lin helped lead Charlotte to the playoffs.
Following his rebound season, Lin was considered one of the best point guards in free agency. The Nets ended up being the lucky bidders, signing Lin to a multi-year contract.
Now that Lin has his inaugural season with Brooklyn in the books, let’s take a look at his highs and lows this season.
Highlights
When Lin was on the court this season, there were many positives that came out of his play.
Statistically, Lin actually had one of the best years of his career. He posted 14.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists in just 24.5 minutes per game.
To put those numbers in perspective, Lin averaged 14.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 26.9 minutes per game during his “Linsanity” run with the Knicks.
Additionally, Lin performed at a highly efficient level. His 19.2 player efficiency rating was second-best on the Nets and the second-best mark of his career. He also posted a 56.6 percent true shooting percentage, the second-best of his career.
Perhaps the most important stat of them all, though, is the one that reflects just how valuable Lin was to the Nets. In the 36 games Lin played in, the Nets were 13-23. In the 46 games Lin didn’t play in, the Nets were 7-39.
While 13-23 isn’t impressive by any means, Lin’s presence evidently made a huge impact on the Nets. The best stretch of his season was certainly the one at the end, when he led the Nets to a 11-12 record in his last 23 games to polish off the year.
Overall, there wasn’t one specific part of Lin’s game that was especially impressive this year. Instead, it was his presence, paired with his dynamic ability to do it all, that was the most valuable component.
Lowlights
The most blatant “low” of Lin’s season was his struggles with injuries. Lin missed a total of 46 games on the season, and most were due to injuries.
Lin first injured his hamstring against the Detroit Pistons on Nov. 2. That injury kept Lin off the hardwood until Dec. 12. Despite taking over a month off, Lin still couldn’t shake the injury bug. He only appeared in seven games after his return, before tweaking his hamstring again on Dec. 26 against the Hornets.
This injury ended up being the longest to recover from, as Lin was forced to miss 26 consecutive games through the end of February. This had a colossal impact on the Nets, who went an abysmal 1-25 during this stretch.
Considering how valuable Lin was to the Nets this season, the fact that he had trouble staying on the court really hurt the team. If you expand the Nets’ 13-23 record with Lin in the lineup to 82 games, they would have won approximately 30 games — a 10 game difference.
Aside from injury, there weren’t any obvious negatives from Lin’s season. He exceeded expectations while he was on the court and did everything the Nets paid him to do — make a difference.
Final Grade: B+
Lin is an especially hard player to grade. He was great when he was on the court, but he missed over half of the season because of injuries. Without the injuries, Lin could be in the conversation for receiving an A. However, his constant battle with injuries especially hurt the Nets, and thus drops him down to a B+.
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