Howdy all. Looks like i'm the first Lin fans to start the fan migration. First things first, we all hope Lin is healthy, balls out, and the team get its moneys worth out of him (BRK sadly didnt, due to goddamn injuries), and then spin him at the deadline for some assets to a contender in need of a heady backup PG. Or Lin stays the whole year, does his best to mentor and bust the asses of the young'ens on the practice floor so that they can be all the can be, instead of being lackadaisical thinking they can goof off and rest on their laurels of being a high draft pick. Lin despite likely being a physical cripple, will work hard, and be like a coach on the floor doing whatever the coaches and management want out of him. If it's to be the towel waving champion of the league, he'll do it with gusto and not a single negative word out of his yap.
For all the ATL fan worried about crazy fans brigading your forums and reddits, ya'll dont have much to be worried about anymore. Practically all of the Lin "fanatics" insanity has pretty much died out due to two main factors. The trolls who pretended to be Lin "fans" purposely acting like idiots to piss off fanbases of teams he's on, have pretty much got bored and went away since it's clear Lin's career as potentially great player (i always felt he can be Goran Dragic level if given the keys and healthy) is effectively over due to his devestating Game 1 injury last injury. It's not that fun to kick a lame horse, especially Lin's fanbase essentially died on the inside seeing him go down like that, and doesnt bother rising to the bait and having those epic internet forum arguments that is so infamously known of Lin fandom (i admit i was hardcore defender early on in his career). Long time pragmatic fans like myself have basically accepted that Lin at best is prolly a backup point guard if his knee holds up, anything more would literally be a miracle akin to his breakout Linsanity all those years ago.
It is what it is for Lin. A shame all hope of future glory ended with his knee tendon snapping like a piece of celery.
So yea... why did ATL make this move? I dont understand it at all, i always figured ya'll would be doing the whole absorb deals for picks game, and then ya'll basically eat Lin's, post trade kicker, salary of 13.8m for... prolly moving up a few spots in the second round?!? I mean i know ya'll are sorta overloaded in the front court with Dedmon, Muscala, Collins, and Plumlee, so adding Faried and Arthur woulda made it an unholy overloaded mess, but most of em are gonna expire at the end of the year, so its' not a big deal.
I love Lin, but i know his odds of recovering even 60-70% of his athleticism is slim. And him at 60-70% of his peak is... to be quite frank DLeague level. Lin relied massively on his athleticism, he's gotten smarter over the years, but it was his speed and explosiveness that made him special. You guys are already 2 deep at both PG/SG, with rookies needing tons of developmental mins, so unless Shroeder goes out (which i have a hard time seeing due to his down year and legal problems), whats the point.
Edit:
Elmhurst NY wrote:Sad to see Lin go, he's a good dude. If he stay healthy, you guys will love him.
Also get ready for a huge influx of Lin fans. They are a great bunch of people.
Very level headed, unbiased. Great addition to any forum.
Man, i can imagine the elation you were having in typing up this parting shot at us Lin fans. *Shrugs* Lin's a scrub now, dont worry, we all know now, no need to spread any more enlightenment.