In a rumored move that is surprising pretty much no one, the Houston Rockets seem to be shopping around the NBA, looking for any taker on Jeremy Lin, their usually very good point guard who just doesn’t seem to have the trust of the coaching staff behind him in order to play the way he should, instead preferring a different style and different key players in something that clearly doesn’t suit him abilities.
According to Alan Hahn of ESPN Radio, Lin getting benched earlier this season was just the first step. Him missing a few games did slow down the Rockets in looking for a new place for their player, who is costing them $8.3 million a season although they can’t seem to fit him in a way that gets the best out of him and the rest of the team, and his two games since coming back from injury might indicate that they’re doing everything possible to move him on to somewhere else.
It’s only one rumor and one source, so it’s no time to get excited or panicked, depending on your view. The Rockets were seemingly looking to move Lin this summer but that didn’t work out, or simply didn’t happen. Lin has been playing 28.8 minutes a night, but it’s clear his offense and general play is better this season compared to last one, with all the offseason work paying off. He is scoring 14.3 points while shooting an improved 49.7% from the field and 37.5% from beyond the arc.
However, that still doesn’t seem to be enough for him to get a starting lineup spot if everyone’s healthy, or the trust of his head coach in order to put the ball more in his hands. The Rockets seem to be heading in the direction of what many people seem to think is wrong with the NBA – use superstars and fill the rest with minimum deals. Omer Asik is also on the trading block, with the Rockets trying to clear up enough space so they’ll have money to make a move for another free agent star this summer, teaming him up with James Harden and Dwight Howard.
Wrong or right? The Rockets play better basketball when it’s not all about Harden calling all the shots, and guys like Lin and Parsons get to have some input in the playmaking. However, Morey and McHale seem to have made their choice a long time ago, and try to be the next in building a megalomaniac project, that has only worked out in one place – Miami, and that’s because they have the best player in the league. The rest of the Big three or four projects going around the league right now haven’t been very successful, which might serve as a warning to the Rockets, who might be better off with Lin than without him. For Lin, however, leaving to somewhere where he can be a point guard without interruptions this trade might do a lot of good.