Another day, and another attempt to read between the lines of what the Brooklyn Nets are doing, trying to figure out whether Jeremy Lin is going to play or not.
No back pain for now, shootaround participation wasn’t interrupted, so Lin seems on his way to make his second appearance after over a month of absence with a hamstring injury. The Nets, mysterious as always, ruled Lin out of the win against the Los Angeles Lakers very close to game time. Maybe they were surprised by his back tightening up all of a sudden, maybe it was a ploy to get a$$es in seats, but we’ve already went through that. It doesn’t matter a day or two later, as long as Lin is coming back.
With very little to actually say something about, it’s mostly wishful thinking regarding Lin’s health and minutes. The Nets need to shelf Isaiah Whitehead as soon as possible, give Sean Kilpatrick a decent backcourt partner, and maybe start thinking about moving Bojan Bogdanovic to a sixth man role, which is better suited for someone who can score but can’t do anything else. There are a number of changes that can turn this season into a lot more enjoyable for the fanbase. Getting Lin back in a significant capacity is above all of the possible alterations.
The Magic aren’t having the best of starts to this season, but they’re in the playoff picture. They stopped a three-game slide with an impressive 131-120 win on the road against the Atlanta Hawks. They have two terrific rim protectors in Bismack Biyombo and Serge Ibaka, they have a big man who can score in Nikola Vucevic but is playing less than he wants to be, and they have a very inconsistent group of shooters. Evan Fournier is the best of them, but overall the Magic are one of the less inspiring teams in the NBA from an offensive standpoint, mostly disappointed with Jeff Green, signed on a one-year deal to boost this team into the postseason, but seems to be hurting Orlando more often than helping them out.
As of Now, Lin seems to be playing. What it means in terms of role and minutes? Until we actually see him playing consecutive games, anything trying to predict and project the course of one of his games would be an amateurish attempt at prophesying. Hopefully, he actually plays, and gets more than just 20 minutes like in the loss to the Houston Rockets.
We’ll finish with a video – Lin scoring 18 points against the Magic when he was still playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.