Hope and The Playoffs

I wrote this right after the Heat game but decided to wait as I wanted to make sure Jeremy was on the playoff roster.


As bad as a DNP CD feels at this point, I still have hope that there is a positive chapter left to be written in the Jeremy Lin story. Here are my reasons:

Health and basketball age: Jeremy is probably close to at least 90% of his past physical peak. After completely tearing his patellar tendon, this is a minor miracle. All Star Antonio Mcdyess was never the same after his injury at 27 years of age and his stats plummeted after his injury. Andre Roberson at 26, hasn’t returned after 14 months and additional complications with his injury. Jeremy with missing close to 2 seasons due to injury and coming to the NBA after 4 years in college, is still a young 30 with the mileage of most 27-28 year olds. With a full summer of training, Jeremy should be able to get back close to 100%.

Talent and fit: Not only do you need to have immense talent to play in the NBA, but many non traditional players who need the ball in their hands, need to find a fit and a coach who understands their game and put them in position to succeed. Prime example besides Jeremy is Jimmer Fredette. He is one of the greatest scorers and shooters in the history of college basketball. He was never able to fit in even as a lottery pick for the Kings and always seemed iced out by his teammates. Getting a second chance with the Suns where you’d think he’d have a lot less pressure, still is shooting just around 30% from the field and 0 % from 3. My point is it’s really really hard for a non traditional high usage player to step in and make a big impact without buy in from the whole team and organization. Guys like JJ Reddick and Kyle Korver, catch and shoot guys are the exception. There are a few teams out there where Jeremy would be a much better fit. We can pray he ends up on one of those teams.

Opportunity: Sometimes it’s divine intervention that gives you the opportunity. With Linsanity, it took injuries to Baron Davis, Mike Bobby, Toney Douglas, and Iman Shumpert as well as a back to back to back game, for Jeremy to have the opportunity to play point guard for the Knicks. Even with all that D’Antoni was hesitant to play Jeremy as he was worried about “what the players would think”. To have an opportunity you need to be on a NBA roster and that’s where he is heading to the playoffs.