New York Knicks Glad to Be Rid of Linsanity

By A.J. Speier
Troy Taormina-US PRESSWIRE

When Jeremy Lin signed the offer sheet with the Houston Rockets, everybody knew the New York Knicks weren’t going to match it, but how the teams fared since?

The Knicks are off to a hot start with an 8-3 record. The Rockets have a 6-7 record.

With Raymond Felton averaging 15.8 points and seven assists per game, the Knicks certainly don’t miss Linsanity. There are less dead ball isolations now because of Felton’s experience to make plays.

Following the trade to acquire James Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder, Lin isn’t even their biggest name on the team. Harden is fourth in scoring with an average of 25.2 points.

Lin isn’t doing anything spectacular. He’s averaging just 10.2 points, 6.1 assists and 4.6 rebounds.

The other “big” offseason acquisition Omer Asik is even outperforming Lin. He ranks third in the NBA with 11.9 rebounds and also has 10.2 points to go along with that.

With Lin gone, the Knicks are able to focus more on ball movement and as a result, more players are able to get involved offensively. Tyson Chandler leads the league shooting 65.6-percent from the field.

From beyond the arc, the Knicks have thrived and have four players inside the top 25 for 3-point shooting percentage. J.R. Smith is fifth at 52.9-percent, Jason Kidd is eighth at 51.3-percent, Felton is 18th at 45.1-percent and Ronnie Brewer is tied for 25th at 44-percent.

Lin knows it’ll be hard to duplicate the success he had with the Knicks and that’s probably why he chose to take the largest contract offer over a team discount.

“I feel like I’m not looking to recreate what happened in New York,” Lin said. “For me, I want to be a consistent player, I want to get better. I don’t know what my potential is and I don’t know if I could play any better than I did during that one-week stretch, but we’ll find out and see how close I can get.”

Follow A.J. Speier on Twitter @Ajbisons for articles, news, and all things NBA

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