Lin-sanity might have died down after the initial frenzy, but does that make Jeremy Lin a one season wonder? Not really, the boy does have some moves, and he is certainly settling down with the Brooklyn Nets nice and proper, being their point guard. The interesting thing was, during free agency Jeremy Lin was so close to putting down his John Hancock with the New Orleans Pelicans.
ESPN’s Mike Mazzeo claimed that Jeremy Lin met up with both the Brooklyn Nets and New Orleans Pelicans on July 1 this year back in his hometown of Palo Alto, California, prior to making his next career move. Of course, his decision was eventually sorted out as we know today, but that was before Jeremy did sit down with his inner circle to discuss on his future move.
Apart from that, the ESPN report also pointed out that close to half a dozen teams did express interest in Lin, but the seventh-year guard decided to narrow down his choices to the Brooklyn Nets and New Orleans Pelicans. Looks like he decided to turn down the advances of the Houston Rockets in the process, too, but who knows -- he might be headed there in the future as sports can be a very fickle thing.
It was a night that he would remember for a long time as Lin wrestled within for a decision. After all, an announcement was due the next day, and I am quite sure that he did pray about his future long and hard, and Twitter was his ultimate platform of choice to announce his next career move, teaming up with the Brooklyn Nets. It was a move that would see him reunited alongside former New York Knicks assistant Kenny Atkinson.
This has been an inspirational, if not heartwarming redemption story for Lin if I may say so. After all, after his Lin-sanity season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Lin ended up with little to no market value. It was the one year of playing time spent with the New Orleans Hornets that enabled Lin to find the spark that made him quite the revelation before.
In an interview, Lin shared, “I couldn’t even get the minimum from certain teams (after my time in Los Angeles). That showed me how low my market value was. Obviously, I was offended. I just couldn’t understand it.”
It is a good thing that there are folks keeping track of stats all the time in sports, and Lin’s stats with both the Lakers and Hornets are identical, although the point guard managed a renaissance of himself through a purple patch on the court, earning plenty of praise and support from coach Steven Clifford along the way.
Lin also relished in his role as an able deputy to Kemba Walker, assisting the Hornets to clinch the sixth seed in the East. Right now, Lin is surely working on his bond with teammate Brook Lopez, and their friendship off the court is reflected in the gameplay while on court. Expect to see Jeremy Lin and the Brooklyn Nets kick off their regular season campaign this October 26 against the Boston Celtics.
