When a new franchise centerpiece player arrives on the eve of the season, and when the average NBA experience on your roster isn’t even quite 2 years, miscommunication is going to be assumed at times for Houston this season. Whether on accident or as a small way of payback, Jeremy Lin‘s miscommunication with rookie point guard Scott Machado kicked off this season appropriately by making the rookie sweat out what he thought was the bad news he’d been cut or traded.
Nah. Lin just called the wrong rook when he heard about the trade with Oklahoma City. He meant to get Jeremy Lamb on the phone, but instead got a hold of Machado, who was sitting in his car, paralyzed (he says) with fear he’d been cut. Via Ultimate Rockets:
Jeremy Lin thought he was doing the right, veteran thing. He called Scott Machado to say goodbye and good luck. The only problem was that he called the wrong rookie.
Machado had been nervously awaiting word on whether he had made the Rockets’ roster. As Lin wished him well, his heart skipped a few beats until he realized he did not need to worry. Lin had thought he called Jeremy Lamb, who had just been traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
By Monday, Machado knew made the team when no one called.
“I was like, ‘Hey, it’s Scott, it’s not Jeremy,’ ” Machado said of his conversation with Lin. “‘Did you hear something about me?’ I was all nervous. He was like, “Oh, I apologize, I apologize.’ It all worked out.”
Machado made the team when he and guard Toney Douglas survived cuts Monday upon Shaun Livingston‘s cut, but if Lin was looking to make the rookie from Iona squirm it worked. Machado didn’t hesitate this summer, you see, to tell his hometown New York City papers that he wasn’t a fan of Lin’s last season and that he thought he could beat him out for a job in this one.
“He’s shown what he could do, and like you said, I had a better college career than he did,” Machado said. “And he just got a chance to show what he can do. He’s more of a scorer, and I’m more of a real point guard. It would be fun for a while [backing Lin up], but I wouldn’t like it. I’d want to play. It’s a business and they’re going to do what they’re going to do.”
A “real” point guard? Ouch — and undeserved — but I almost want to give Machado retroactive points just for the stones to say that as an undrafted rookie. Either way, he got a completely real scare this weekend with Lin’s call. Pretty funny. Skip ahead to the 38-second mark to hear Machado talk about the phone call.
What do you think?
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