Jeremy Lin has become too good to be a rotation player off the bench but not good enough to be a starting point guard on a playoff team, so he’s settled in now with the Brooklyn Nets on a three-year, $36 million deal.
The average starting salary with the new cap is about $15 million, so a $12 million average rate for Lin is certainly tolerable, especially for a rebuilding team like the Nets.
Lin is ideally a high minutes, second unit point guard off the bench for a playoff team. Lin was in a perfect situation backing up Kemba Walker, but he was a luxury piece for the Hornets while he delivered on what was a make good deal.
Lin has significantly decreased his turnover rate from the peak of Linsanity when he too often flew too close to the sun. Lin’s assist rate also dropped but the trade-off was generally worth it and he also proved he could play with another point guard.
Lin had a career low PER of 13.8, down from 15.6 the season before with the Lakers when he had the ball in his hands more with a higher assist rate. Lin shot 33.6 percent on 226 three-point attempts and had a True Shooting Percentage of .534. Lin ranked 33rd amongst point guards in Real Plus Minus.
The best non-Warriors’ lineup in the NBA was Lin, Walker, Nicolas Batum, Marvin Williams and Al Jefferson that had a net rating of 33.0. Even a bench unit of Lin, Jeremy Lamb, Marvin Williams, Frank Kaminsky and Spencer Hawes had a superb 22.3 net rating in 93 minutes.
The Nets are trying to attain a baseline level of competence and signing Lin brings stability to the point guard position even if he’ll be inferior to his counterpart on most nights.
For a player of Lin’s age and skill level, the Nets did well to sign him without giving a fourth year where he’ll firmly be on the wrong side of 30.
Grade for Nets: B+
Lin has made decent money already in his career after signing a three-year, $25.1 million deal with the Rockets in 2012. This is another significant payday for Lin, who turns 28 this August. The real upside for Lin is getting to play in New York again and be guaranteed starters minutes.
Lin could have waited on the market a little bit and received a more lucrative four-year offer from another team, but the opportunity to reunite with Kenny Atkinson and basically run his own team was too good for him to pass up. The Nets are unlikely to be a playoff team for the life of Lin's three-year deal, but he could play a key role in ushering in their turnaround.
Grade for Jeremy Lin: A
Without holding his Bird rights, the Hornets were never going to be able to re-sign Lin. The Hornets received a ton of production from Lin and the hope is that he serves as a prototype for how to use a rotation point guard moving forward and that they find their next version of him either through another mid-career veteran or a developmental player.
Grade for Hornets: A