Simply understanding of human nature will conclude that Once Lin is traded 1. all of LOF leaves (not a bad thing.) 2. all the LOH now have no one to hate , must look for new hate target. 3. most likely new hate target will be Dwight. so welcome the era of DOH (appropriately termed) 4. Dwight Howard is far from the most thick skinned person ever. 5. Odds are we won't win it all next year so DOH will be on full blast by this time next year. 6. Dwight forces his way out of Houston. DOH celebrates for 1 day and proceed to find some other ways to destroy the team. To avoid that, keeping Lin as the idiot bait (on both extreme.) is perfect. he's the human shield for Dwight Howard, that's definitely worth 8 million just by itself, that he plays some basketball too is just a added bonus
Ignoring the gross comment above, the OP makes a valid point -- I wouldn't be surprised if this at least crossed the minds of the front office
Lin is not worth his contract from a basketball perspective, that is the ultimate deciding factor in trading him. He has inflated trade value at the moment which, coupled with the need to move a little extra cap, is the reason he is now on the block. His saving grace is that he is a pnr point guard with high chemistry on the team but is certainly replaceable if we cannot clear the cap space in other ways.
If Josh Smith is the package deal with Dwight ... Morey will trade two each of Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik.
Heh, I'll go out on a limb and say that Lin won't be traded. This is obviously a snark at the non-basketball side of the things, but even basketball once it's not hard to make that argument. (though that is entirely different argument that will be excessive) We'll see, but my bet is firmly on the Lin will be the starting PG on opening day next year camp.
If lin isn't getting it done trading him is ok. Wouldn't be to worried about a flock of DOH's with someone as talented as Dwight. If anything Howard will average a double double every night in his sleep while offering tremendous defense in the interior. Dwight is a whole different beast from lin, probably shouldn't compare the two since people already figured jeremy was subpar even before we gave him his luxurious contract. Dwight is already proven as one of the most dominant big man in the game and a Defensive player of the Year. Any DOH talk would be just silly because Dwight is legit/averaged a double double with a bad back, while with lin were still trying to find where his game goes sometimes whether hes hurt or not.
If Morey's thinking, "We need Lin to deflect criticism from Dwight Howard," then there had better be a new stat for that at the MIT Sloan Conference next season. BHR= Blocked Hater Rating? LeBron James would be a great example. His BHR in relation to Chris Bosh was through the roof in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and he probably saved him from getting traded to the Charlotte Bobcats.
If Dwight wants Josh Smith, I think the best senario is to Get dwight to sign the dotted line, then SnT for Smith with Asik, Jones and or Dmo + picks... Atlanta is interested in Asik + young prospects...
So if a person, and let's suppose he exist, comes to clutchfans only for the sake of hating Jeremy Lin. But if Jeremy Lin leaves, instead of leaving the board to follow Lin to his new team, instead remains a Rockets "fan" and start hating Dwight Howard... Wouldn't that mean he's not a LOH?
Most of the LOH didn't start out feeling that way. It evolved solely from Lin's inconsistency and then they were pushed further into not liking him by those who see him as a God. Those who'll blame the weather, or sunspots, or whatever for his problems...anything/anybody but Lin himself. With Lowry and Dragic, they would have an occasional down game throughout the season. And also the occasional triple double game. But you pretty much knew what you'd get from them every night. Lin is very different. He has a good game, then will disappear for three or four games in a row. In order to win in the NBA, you need consistency from your point guard. And things don't vary too much from one NBA game to another. So any excuses made for his play, should be true for the next game too. Not just the ones in which he plays poorly. When he played well, the circumstances were not any different. Only Lin's play was. I don't think the LOH will be the ones who turn on Dwight. Those who do, will likely be the new generation that follows him into this forum along with the DOF's.
If Lin's PnR was so deadly with Tyson Chandler, imagine how good it will be with Dwight Howard. No, I don't think we will trade Lin unless we're getting back an all star level PG in return. The one we might trade is Asik.
That stat has been in play since the 96-98 Bulls could commit crime sprees and all the media would do is talk about Rodman's latest night out.
U forget we barely made it into the playoffs this year as an 8th seed. Lin was the third highest scorer and the leading assist man on this team. Had Lin not started all 82 games during the regular season, we may still be a lottery team.
