Some Context to Linsanity and the Knicks’ season
By Rafael Uehara
I don’t think it’s unfair to state that Jeremy Lin has saved the New York Knickerbockers’ season. Overhyped coming into the year, the Knicks stumbled to a 7-15 start and that team was going in the wrong direction fast. Since Lin has broken out, meteorically rising to seventh in PER with a 24.31 rating, NY has won seven straight games and recorded a +8.1 differential over the last 10 games, third in the league during the stretch.
What most people are choosing to ignore is that the Knickerbockers have been setting the world on fire against not that great a competition. According to ESPN’s John Hollinger, New York has won eight of their last 10 games having gone against the third easiest schedule during the stretch, facing teams that have won just 43.4% of their games. Their seven-game winning streak has been put together as they’ve beaten the Nets, the Jazz, the Wizards, the Lakers, the Timberwolves, the Raptors and the Kings. And only one of those is a true playoff outfit.
Sure it’s better than what was taking place before, under the leadership of Carmelo Anthony, when they were dropping home games to the Bobcats, the Suns and Bucks, and couldn’t compete on the road against the Cavaliers and the Rockets. But it doesn’t change the fact that overall the Knicks are still underachieving this season, currently standing at .500 having played the second easiest schedule in the league, according to USA Today’s Jeff Sagarin. Their record against teams ranked on the top-half of Sagarin’s ratings is 3-8.
Lin has absolutely done enough to be given an opportunity to run the team for the remainder of the season. There’s still a ton to improve, however. He has turned the ball over 26 times in the last four games and currently possesses the 10th highest turnover-rate among point-guards, turning the ball over 14.9% of his possessions, and it should be remembered he has started just six games compared to 20 by Jason Kidd, an example of who’s ranked above him, so his numbers are actually more alarming than his already alarming ranking.
He has done a phenomenal job running Mike D’Antoni’s pick-and-roll heavy offense, managing to put his screeners in much better positions to succeed than Toney Douglas and Iman Shumpert had even come close and he is a great finisher off the pick-and-roll, shooting 48.4% on those sets, according to My Synergy Sports. His spot-up numbers are also much better than people think, as he has gone 10-22.
But when Anthony returns, he and Lin will have to work on a way to coexist. Yes, it will require actual working because their games don’t fit. ‘Melo isn’t any good playing off the ball (37.5% shooting on spot-ups and cuts account for just 3.2% of his offensive plays) and Lin’s rise has been built solely on his ability to run pick-and-rolls (which account for 50.2% of his offensive plays) as he meanwhile has shot 25% from three-point range this year.
(Oh, also, JR Smith has just confirmed on twitter he is joining New York, so that’s at least a fifth of the possessions going somewhere else now)
Lin is a great story and I do believe he exemplifies everything the Knickerbockers need moving forward. We can’t ignore, however, he has a seven-game body of work, mostly against teams placed in the bottom third of the league in winning percentage. We also can’t allow ourselves to project this New York team long-term just because they look cool on paper now. They did prior to the year too and lost 15 of their first 23 games, so we should wait and see.
Context is extremely undervalued and underrated these days, in which social media has put the 24-hour news cycle on steroids. It matters, though. And if we apply some context to Linsanity and New York’s season, it can be seen the Knicks aren’t much of anything but loose pieces yet.
Editor's Note: Rafael Uehara is the managing editor of 'The Basketball Post'. More of his work can be found here and he can be followed on twitter @rafael_uehara or reached via e-mail at rafael_uehara@live.com
I don’t think it’s unfair to state that Jeremy Lin has saved the New York Knickerbockers’ season. Overhyped coming into the year, the Knicks stumbled to a 7-15 start and that team was going in the wrong direction fast. Since Lin has broken out, meteorically rising to seventh in PER with a 24.31 rating, NY has won seven straight games and recorded a +8.1 differential over the last 10 games, third in the league during the stretch.
What most people are choosing to ignore is that the Knickerbockers have been setting the world on fire against not that great a competition. According to ESPN’s John Hollinger, New York has won eight of their last 10 games having gone against the third easiest schedule during the stretch, facing teams that have won just 43.4% of their games. Their seven-game winning streak has been put together as they’ve beaten the Nets, the Jazz, the Wizards, the Lakers, the Timberwolves, the Raptors and the Kings. And only one of those is a true playoff outfit.
Sure it’s better than what was taking place before, under the leadership of Carmelo Anthony, when they were dropping home games to the Bobcats, the Suns and Bucks, and couldn’t compete on the road against the Cavaliers and the Rockets. But it doesn’t change the fact that overall the Knicks are still underachieving this season, currently standing at .500 having played the second easiest schedule in the league, according to USA Today’s Jeff Sagarin. Their record against teams ranked on the top-half of Sagarin’s ratings is 3-8.
Lin has absolutely done enough to be given an opportunity to run the team for the remainder of the season. There’s still a ton to improve, however. He has turned the ball over 26 times in the last four games and currently possesses the 10th highest turnover-rate among point-guards, turning the ball over 14.9% of his possessions, and it should be remembered he has started just six games compared to 20 by Jason Kidd, an example of who’s ranked above him, so his numbers are actually more alarming than his already alarming ranking.
He has done a phenomenal job running Mike D’Antoni’s pick-and-roll heavy offense, managing to put his screeners in much better positions to succeed than Toney Douglas and Iman Shumpert had even come close and he is a great finisher off the pick-and-roll, shooting 48.4% on those sets, according to My Synergy Sports. His spot-up numbers are also much better than people think, as he has gone 10-22.
But when Anthony returns, he and Lin will have to work on a way to coexist. Yes, it will require actual working because their games don’t fit. ‘Melo isn’t any good playing off the ball (37.5% shooting on spot-ups and cuts account for just 3.2% of his offensive plays) and Lin’s rise has been built solely on his ability to run pick-and-rolls (which account for 50.2% of his offensive plays) as he meanwhile has shot 25% from three-point range this year.
(Oh, also, JR Smith has just confirmed on twitter he is joining New York, so that’s at least a fifth of the possessions going somewhere else now)
Lin is a great story and I do believe he exemplifies everything the Knickerbockers need moving forward. We can’t ignore, however, he has a seven-game body of work, mostly against teams placed in the bottom third of the league in winning percentage. We also can’t allow ourselves to project this New York team long-term just because they look cool on paper now. They did prior to the year too and lost 15 of their first 23 games, so we should wait and see.
Context is extremely undervalued and underrated these days, in which social media has put the 24-hour news cycle on steroids. It matters, though. And if we apply some context to Linsanity and New York’s season, it can be seen the Knicks aren’t much of anything but loose pieces yet.
Editor's Note: Rafael Uehara is the managing editor of 'The Basketball Post'. More of his work can be found here and he can be followed on twitter @rafael_uehara or reached via e-mail at rafael_uehara@live.com
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