hood30 wrote:leeramundo wrote:bigbob wrote:not a great game by lin tonight..way too many turnovers especially in the first and 2nd quarters. Looked like he lacked energy. Still..this team its not working out. The way that hornets live and die with kemba is going to blow any chances of making playoffs. Lin needs to keep stats in decent condition and leave hornets asap
I hope not, there aren't many places he could end up that would be better for him. He gets to play a big role here for a coach that trusts him and is obviously actively integrating him into the system. This is also a team that's at least in the race for the playoffs. Kemba has been good this season, dropped off lately, but overall very good. He's a closer, every team has one, or 2. Where are you gonna find a team that would make Lin the 1st option? He's always going to have to deal with a couple of guys over him in the pecking order in terms of offense. That's just the way it is with pretty every single team, unless he wants to play for the sixers. Plus, he's been given the opportunities to take big shots, as have Lamb, Marin, Cody, Kam. You'll be hard pressed to find a better situation for Lin elsewhere, and if you do, I question how far that team goes.
For this year, given the fact Clifford has increased Lin's minutes, I agree that this team is turning out to be a good decision for Lin.
On the other hand, I don't think Lin should make himself comfortable in Charlotte just yet....MKG will be back next year and he's a big minute guy with a big contract...than of course, you have Batum if he's re-signed, Kemba and Lamb.....So unless Lin is given guaranteed on playing time, I think he should go.
If Lin can get his PPG to 13 and FG% up to 45, he should get plenty of offers from other teams...Maybe not as a starter but since he can now play 2 position, he could get plenty of time....
I'm simply not sure Lin will get enough minutes with MKG back...A good agent would tell Lin he should not gamble here...MKG injury benefited Lin so he should take advantage of it, pad his stats and leave for better contract and guaranty 25+ minutes.
To be honest, I really don't want to spend too much time to think about next season. Following Lin these years, we all know that things could change within a day. When Lin went to Lakers, it looked like a perfect position for him, with Nash as mentor, should have plenty of PT, and got to play with a legendary player in Kobe. Lakers has always been a winning team. Then what, everything changed to we could never imagine.
Then in the summer, we were so sure he would go to Marv, and it turns out he landed in CHA.
So, there is no point of planning for him or imaging where Lin would end up with for next season, as NBA could be so unpredictable, and even when we thought it was a good situation, it could turn bad, and vise versa.
To me, how successful Lin could be really rely on how successful Hornets is, Lin is not superstar like KD (in his early years), AD etc, that they could still shine with their team loosing, Lin need to have team winning to be considered successful. Lin need to demonstrate that he is versatile enough to help the team win in multiple ways to be marketable.
So our focus, and Lin's focus really should be now, one game at a time. One win at a time. With Hornets trying to build up something this season , I'm pretty sure Lin will find his way to help this team, make himself useful and he will have a lot of opportunity that the team will rely on him to be successful.
Next season, we could worry about it later. I hope Lin could grow together with Hornets, then he will be in a much better position next summer.
