The Lakers introduced Jeremy Lin at a press conference on Thursday. He spoke about Kobe Bryant and was asked about the Linsanity era in New York.
It’s almost August, and the Lakers roster is pretty much set for next season. Despite this, they’re still without a head coach. The team interviewed Byron Scott several times already, and Kobe himself has endorsed Scott publicly, but no hiring has been made. Because no coach has been hired, it led to some hilarious captions from Lin’s press conference yesterday:
Jeremy Lin and the Lakers coach wait for the Press Conference.
@marcelluswiley pic.twitter.com/fhT8S9aoCz
— SteveNBA (@FunnyNbaGuy) July 24, 2014
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Lin revealed to Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times, that he’s already spoken with Kobe Bryant, and he’s set for the challenge any teammate of Mamba’s is likely to face:
“The one thing he’s kind of just told me is we have a lot of work to do,” Lin said. “And I think that’s 100% accurate.”
Steve Nash is going to give it another shot next season to see if he can play, although with his injury concerns and age, it’s hard to envision him playing the entire regular season schedule. The Lakers recently waived Kendall Marshall, so there will be opportunities for Lin to play heavy minutes.
He’s ready, but he also wants to just get past the talk of recreating Linsanity already:
“I’m not trying to relive that banner season and I think that’s been a big weight off my shoulder. I’m not trying to recreate a ‘Linsanity,’ ” he said. “I’m not trying to be that phenomenon that happened in New York. I just want to be myself more than ever.”
Lin was considered a disappointment in his two seasons in Houston. A lot of that had to do with the fact that he didn’t build on the momentum of Linsanity, which is unfair given how out of this world his performance was with the Knicks.
Also, things were not all bad in Houston. In his first season with the Rockets, he started all 82 games and averaged 13.4 points and 6.1 assists. Last season, he lost the starting point guard job to Patrick Beverley, but still averaged 12.5 points in 28.9 minutes of play. He also shot a career high 35.8 percent from downtown.
Lin doesn’t play like a traditional point guard, and needs the ball in his hands on offense to create. There might be an adjustment period assuming Kobe returns healthy and remains a high usage player.
But with Nash’s health a huge question mark, Lin will be counted on as a secondary scorer on this team, something he’s proven capable of handling. Kobe’s relationships with point guards have been uneven in the past. He has a lifetime bond with Derek Fisher, but also soured on Smush Parker and Ramon Sessions. It remains to be seen how Kobe will get along with Lin.
The Lakers and head coach Mike D’Antoni parted ways this off-season. It would have been interesting if Lin and D’Antoni had been able to reunite. Despite the absence of his old coach, as Lin says, maybe it’s better to just move on from Linsanity at this point.
What do you think?
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