Jeremy Lin's Terrific 6-Game Start To The 2013-14 Season

I'm not going to get caught up in conspiracy theories and I'm not here to talk about who should start and should not start.

What I want to talk about is the improvement in the play of Jeremy Lin, as demonstrated through statistics.

Most Rockets fans -- including LOF -- would probably agree that Jeremy Lin had several issues, if not more, that he wanted to work on this past offseason. Among those issues were:

* Defense
* Three-point shooting
* Turnovers

The early returns are in. And they're looking good.

First of all, Lin currently has a PER of 19.0. That is approximately #53 in the NBA among all players who have played 100 or more minutes this season. There are 175 players in the NBA who have played 100+ minutes this season, which means Lin is in the top third of all such players in the NBA in PER.

Lin's PER puts him #10 among point guards in the NBA for players who have played 100 or more minutes this season. The players ahead of Lin at the position are, in order of PER best to worst: Chris Paul; Isiah Thomas; Stephen Curry; Mike Conley; Damian Lillard; Tony Parker; Ty Lawson; Michael Carter-Williams; and John Wall.

Secondly, defense. Even given the team-wide debacle that was the Clippers game, Lin's current Defensive Rating following the Lakers contest is 099.1. Last year, that figure was 104.0.

Here are Lin's Defensive Ratings by game this season:

CHA -- 091.8
DAL -- 082.3
UTH -- 091.9
LAC -- 145.9
POR -- 088.1
LAL -- 093.0

The Clippers game, then, is clearly the aberration in those statistics.

To give an idea of how a 099.1 Defensive Rating looks (lower number is better), the best defensive point guard in the league last year, Mike Conley, had a number of 095.1. With the Clippers game tossed out of the stats, Lin's Defensive Rating would be 89.4 or so. And he held Jose Calderon and Jamaal Tinsley scoreless in back-to-back games so far this year.

Additionally on the defensive front, in two of the Rockets' better defensive runs this season -- against Portland in the third quarter and against the Lakers in the third quarter -- Lin was on the court rather than on the bench.

Third, three-point shooting. Lin is currently tied with Omri Casspi at 43.8% (both are 7-of-16) from three-point range to lead the Rockets.

Fourth, turnovers. Lin's Per 36 Minutes turnover rate is currently 3.4. That is ranked about #28 of 38 point guards in the NBA this season who have played 100+ minutes. So, there's still work to be done there. And, Lin's rate last year Per 36 was 3.2. But, his PER last year was also just 14.9. Meaning, you probably can handle 0.2 more TO's Per 36 if you are also getting +4.1 in PER.

What's good about Lin as regards turnovers is that the issue no longer seems to be a glaring one for him. All of these point guards, each good players, have higher TO/36 numbers than Lin this season (all have played 100+ minutes, too):

Chris Paul
Deron Williams
Kyrie Irving
Stephen Curry
Derrick Rose

As I have noted in several posts on the board, last year was the only year of Lin's career that he had a negative (On Court - Off Court) rating. Which means that the team was better with him off the court. I thought that number was an anomaly likely due to his recovery from the knee surgery, among other things. And so far this season, that looks to be the case.

Here are Lin's (On Court - Off Court) ratings for his career (numbers from NBA.com):

2010-11 = +04.9
2011-12 = +04.4
2012-13 = -02.7
2013-14 = +05.2 (6 games)

Unlike last year, then, Lin is having a positive net effect when he is on the floor for the team in the statistics.

Lin also leads the team in Assists Per 36 Minutes with a 4.8 figure.

He leads the team, as well, with a 67% True Shooting figure, and is drawing 6.9 Free Throw Attempts Per 36 Minutes despite having only a 19.9% Usage Rate.

Finally, Lin leads the team with 1.736 Points Per Field Goal Attempt. That figure is #5 in the entire NBA.

So, very promising returns early this season for Jeremy Lin. Hopefully he can continue his strong production as the team moves forward. And hopefully as the season moves along, the turnover rate can become even better.

 

I know, I know.

But you can only work with what you have!

Plus, bit tired of conspiracy talk and negativity so I wanted to make just a positive post. Even if it had to be one involving a small sample size.

 

You're welcome!

Sample size stuff: I dont think there has ever been ANY serious discussion about Jeremy Lin that did not in some way involve sample size. I'm not denying the sample size argument, at all, but this is all I have to work with right now.

Hey, if nothing else, let's enjoy it while it lasts! :grin:

 

Great point on the consistency. I forgot to mention this.

One of JLin's issues last year was the Yo-Yo Effect of like good game, bad game. In April, as his knee apparently healed, that started to go away. And now we are seeing more consistency from him overall, in, for example, scoring.

CHA -- 16 points
DAL -- 14 points
UTH -- 20 points
LAC -- 14 points
POR -- 12 points
LAL -- 16 points

That looks a lot like April 2013, the numbers.

Jeremy is young, or at least inexperienced. But I think now you are starting to see what he can become (or is becoming) with a healthy body and a bit of time to develop.

Great!