How to move from your friend’s couch to your own mansion in only 35 games

Thirty-five games. That’s all it took for Jeremy Lin to go from undrafted point guard out of Harvard to one of the NBAs highest paid point guards.

The former Knicks point guard signed a three-year $25.1 million contract with the Houston Rockets last week.
It’s kind of ridiculous when you think about it. Lin started only 25 games for New York last season before sitting out with a knee injury. Before those 25 games he barely came off the bench for the Knicks and before that he was crashing on his friend’s couch without a job. What happened in those 25 games was apparently valued at over $25 million!!??

It gets better….in the final year of his deal, Lin will earn almost as much as Miami’s LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Sure, his story and the excitement “Lin-sanity” created was amazing….and he did provide a short-lived spark for a depleted Knicks team, however, if you look at his overall stats, you wouldn’t guess he would be worth $25 million.

Lin played 20 minutes or more a total of 27 times….that’s right only 27 games in his entire NBA career! The Knicks were 16-11 in those 27 games and less than half of those wins came against teams with winning records.

Lin shot less than 45 percent from the field and his assists-to-turnover ratio was an unimpressive 1.69 (which ranked 143rd overall). He did have some impressive games (a 38 point effort vs. the Lakers), but for the season he only averaged a little over 14 points per game.

Most importantly, Jeremy Lin has started only 25 games in his entire NBA career!

I don’t think Lin was being selfish by trying to find more money outside of New York. Every player in the NBA does the same thing.

The Knicks will have their work cut out for them in a tough Eastern Conference over the next three years with Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd at point guard.

Lin’s a solid player who can score and feed the ball better than the average player, but he is by no means an elite talent capable of turning the Knicks from a playoff team to a championship contender.

Lin is not worthy of $25 million over three years and will need to prove he wasn’t just a flash in the pan.
Maybe I’m just jealous that I can’t excel at my job for 25 days, go out on a medical leave and get a big bonus for my effort?

Comments

comments