Clippers: 5 point guards to pursue in 2016 NBA free agency
By Tom West
Jeremy Lin
It’s easy to overlook Jeremy Lin. Besides his wild hair style rotation and sporadic highlight moments, people quickly forget his ability due to the inevitable decline after the brief spell of Linsanity in 2012. He was never going to live up to such short-lived hype for seasons to come, and while he still has his flaws and remained somewhat inefficient from range this season, he’s still an energetic player who could help provide a spark off the bench in L.A. as a combo guard.
For the Hornets, Lin has been one of their many players who have impressed at times. Again, the highs have come inconsistently at times for Lin, but when he drives aggressively and is able to kick the ball to teammates, he can make an impact. Plus, as a 34.6 percent three-point shooter for his career, he could benefit from playing off the ball in lineups with guys like Paul and Griffin.
And while Lin isn’t as quite impressive on defense as Austin Rivers, he can definitely hold his own, contesting well on drives and forcing opponents to shoot 2.8 percent worse than normal on all two-point field goal attempts this season (per NBA.com). In fact, opposing teams scored three fewer points per 100 possessions with Lin in the game (per Basketball Reference), further highlighting his quickness and efforts.
Similarly to Ish Smith, though, Lin may be searching for more money if he opts out of his $2.2 million player option for 2016-17, and should be keen to stay with the Hornets; he certainly has plenty of reason to be after their surprising success.
Nevertheless, the Clippers showing their interest is easily worth their time.
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