As of the eve of Thanksgiving on November 25, the Charlotte Hornets are on a four-game winning streak with its blowout victory over the Washington Wizards. The team totes a 9-6 win-loss record and is at the No. 7 spot in the NBA Eastern Conference.
Jeremy Lin is playing very well with the Hornets coming off the bench. He has become the team’s reliable sixth man relieving starting point guard Kemba Walker. He is averaging little less than 12 points per game and about three assists and three rebounds per game.
Meanwhile, the reigning champion, the Golden State Warriors, have just recorded the best start in NBA history with its 16-0 win-loss slate to start the season after their blowout victory over the struggling Los Angeles Lakers on November 24.
So when rumors started flying around that Jeremy Lin would be traded to the Golden State Warriors, it seems not only absurd, it is short of ridiculous for both teams that would be involved in the supposed transaction if ever.
For one, the Golden State Warriors appear to have the perfect pieces put in place to make a run and defend its title in next year’s NBA Finals so any change on its roster would have a negative impact on the great chemistry that the team is showing right now.
For the other, Jeremy Lin is a good player but not a great player that the Warriors would put their money on. Besides, Jeremy Lin is currently enjoying more than 20 minutes per game of playing time in every Hornets match and he would not be able to get the same playing time with the Golden State Warriors considering the great play of NBA MVP Stephen Curry, who is currently averaging over 33 points per game.
The start of the rumors
According to Kdramastars, the trade rumors on Lin possibly going to the Warriors began as a result of his post-game interview at the Madison Square Garden when the Hornets visited and played against the Knicks almost two weeks ago.
During the post-game interview on November 17 following Charlotte Hornets’ loss to the New York Knicks at the Madison Square Garden, Lin said that he believes that he made the right choice in signing up with the Hornets.
In stark contrast to his previously lucrative contract, the Hornets signed him for a measly $4.4 million two-year contract. And now some of the more unbiased critics are saying that the 27-year-old Harvard graduate is quite an underpaid NBA player for his current contract.
But Jeremy Lin is taking it in stride, saying that it was God’s will that led him to decide to play for the Hornets.
He disclosed that he had six teams on his and his manager’s radar to join while he was a free agent last summer and the Charlotte Hornets was not one of them.
He added that he actually had a chance to rejoin the reigning NBA champion, the Golden State Warriors, alluding perhaps that he was offered a spot on the team during the off-season. The Warriors was his first team in the NBA during the 2010-11 NBA season.
Had it been other NBA players, they would not pass up the chance to play for the Warriors because the chance of the team doing a repeat is quite high and it is becoming very evident in the young NBA 2015-16 season as the Warriors are now 16-0 to start their championship defense.
Good reserve point guard
Playing for the Hornets, Lin is proving to be a dependable reserve point guard for Steve Clifford’s backup roster, notes the Christian Post.
In terms of popularity and fans base, Lin would be better off playing for Warriors. He’s from California and lots of Asians are Warriors’ fans. But as a Christian who always believes that God places him wherever God pleases, then he made the right choice of playing for Hornets.
JLin is not Clifford’s favorite player. It seems Cliff played mostly 9 players against the Wizards and Lin began to feel like an LA Laker under Byron Scott’s cage. Wherever he goes, his teams improve. The BULLS need a player like JLin to make a deep run into the playoffs. It remains to be seen whether Clifford warehouses JLin (Jeremy Lamb is playing great) before Dec 15 which means a trade is likely. Michael Jordan, like Daryl Morey, will lust after Bulls draft choices, not JLin’s impact on a team.