Jeremy Lin has taken over the sporting world by storm. The Harvard graduate came out of nowhere and is currently leading the New York Knicks to a 7-1 record over their last 8 games. They lost for the first time today to the Hornets ever since Linsanity had his breakout game two weeks ago.
He is definitely performing and playing well in the basketball mecca that is New York but this begs the question; is he overrated?
Before I say anything, keep in mind that I love the game and is not biased towards anybody and is very happy for Lin, what’s he doing right now is great for not only himself but for the game. Even though he has had a phenomenal week, we might be crowning him a little early.
In the stretch where they had seven straight wins and one loss coming today against the Hornets, the teams they played against had a combined record of 89 wins to 155 losses. That is well below .500.
The only good team that they played against was the Lakers, beating them 92-85 and Lin scored a career high 38pts in that game but everyone knows that the Lakers have trouble defending the PG and Lin just went off.
Lin’s numbers from the past eight games are impressive, 24.6ppg, 8.6 apg, 1.87spg, and shooting 50% from the field which is always great coming from your PG.
There are some negatives however, in that same stretch, he is averaging 5.7 turnovers (he had nine today against the Hornets) and is only shooting 29% from three.
Playing in Mike D’Antoni’s system always helps PGs get good numbers (just ask Chris Duhon) and while some may consider this as nitpicking, his true test will be when they start playing the elite teams.
He still has some ways to go, his decision making and outside shot needs to improve, lets see if he can be consistently good for the rest of the season.
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