Can a sinking player help save a sinking ship?
In its most unflattering light, that appears to be the open question for an unsettled Jeremy Lin, the former New York Knicks darling and Houston Rockets mistake, who now searches to find his way on the equally discombobulated Los Angeles Lakers.
The team’s 3-11 start suggests they may even threaten the futility of last year’s 27-55 record, the worst since they came to LA in 1960.
Whether that happens or not may depend in some part on Lin, 26, the point guard, who inherited the starting job when injured Steve Nash, 40, called it a season before it even began.
It has been an erratic first month with his new team.
Lin has reached 17 or more points five times. But in his last five outings, he has mixed in a scoreless game against Golden State and a humbling three-point effort in his first return to Houston.
He knows what works best for him.
“Just keep attacking, attacking, attacking,” he said after a frustrating overtime loss to Denver this week. “I have to keep it simple, go out and create and create as many plays as possible for myself and my teammates.”
The inconsistency may not be totally in his control. Not playing on a team with the NBA’s most prolific shooter, Kobe Bryant.
To attack and create, a point guard needs the ball in his hands. It was the freedom to do as he pleased with ball possession that sparked his moment of NBA stardom in the winter of 2012 in New York.
Linsanity did not translate to Houston after he signed his three-year, US$25 million (Dh91.8m) deal that summer.
Once the Rockets acquired James Harden that autumn, the notion of having Lin run the team was over.
Another shooting guard like Bryant, the multi-talented Harden also preferred having the ball and making his own play from scratch.
The Rockets hoped Lin would adapt as a spot-up shooter when not performing like a traditional point guard. Instead, last year, he lost his starting spot to Patrick Beverly.
He was such an after-thought in Houston by last summer that when the Rockets were courting free agent Carmelo Anthony, the Rockets greeted Melo with a downtown billboard wearing Rockets uniform No 7 – Lin’s number.
Soon after Lin was traded to the Lakers, who were bribed into accepting the remaining $14.9m on his contract with a first and a second-round draft pick.
If that was rock bottom, coming in as the rickety Nash’s projected backup, opportunity knocked anyway, albeit as a Houston deja-vu situation.
In 14 games in LA, Lin has led the team in assists just five times, same as the shooting guard Bryant.
Bryant, of course, likes it that way, and even complimented their “chemistry” as the team looks for sunnier horizons.
“It’s fine,” said Bryant this week. “He added some jump shots to his game lately. That’s key for him and it’s key for us. It’ll open up our game.”
Coach Byron Scott has not been totally enamoured with Lin’s play, yet. He has criticised him for his defence and for “picking up his dribble” and, after the Denver game for “over-dribbling.”
When he compliments Lin, he often adds, “We expect better.”
But Lin is still a starter and an international curiosity. If no longer a star, he remains the only Chinese-American and the only player from Harvard since the 1950s.
Lin made some noise off-court when the team opened 1-9 and was quoted that their multiple problems were “communication, trust and effort.”
A couple of wins and a loss later, Lin said with a smile, “It’s better. I think we’re communicating, trusting and giving effort.”
It may not be enough to revive the Lakers, or jump-start his career. NBA observers note that Lin’s primary value now may be his expiring contract.
Whoever owns him at season’s end will have more than $8m in cleared salary cap space, making him possible trade bait if the Lakers need a draft pick or a cheaper player instead of the cap space.
In any case, he does have new life in LA, picking spots alongside Bryant to show off his game.
“I just need to create a lot of movement, keep defences guessing,” he said.
A lot of movement, a lot of guessing sounds like the story of his career, an improbable run however it turns out.
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