Sixers free-agent target: PG Jeremy Lin

Share

With the Sixers in need of guard help and Sam Hinkie saying the team will be "discerning" in free agency, we take a look at which players they could target on the open market.

Jeremy Lin, point guard
Age: 26
Height: 6-3
Weight: 200
Last team: Los Angeles Lakers
2014-15 salary: $8,374,646
Status: Unrestricted free agent

Scouting report
It's July 4, so why not bring a little sizzle to our free-agent target series?

Jeremy Lin might be the biggest name of all the players we've profiled so far, but whether he has the game to match is a completely different story.

He is far removed from the days when "Linsanity" took over the entire sports world in 2012. That was when the seldom-used point guard got his shot with the New York Knicks and took full advantage, averaging 22.5 points and 8.7 assists during his first 12 starts to help reenergize the franchise.

More recently Lin has looked like a free-agent bust, who signed a big deal with the Houston Rockets only to have his starting job snatched away by Patrick Beverly before he was eventually traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The truth on Lin as a player really resides somewhere in the middle. He's not the world beater he looked like during the early part of his Knicks days and he's not the flop who was relegated to backup duty over the past two seasons.

Lin is an adequate scorer. He's averaged 11.7 points per game during his five year career. However, he always packs the potential to erupt offensively. The Sixers have found that out several times in the past with Lin scoring 29 points on 10 of 16 shooting against them on March 22 last season and dropping 34 points on them with nine three-pointers during a meeting in the 2013-14 season.

Lin's aggressiveness looking for his own shot ties into perhaps his biggest weakness, which is turnovers. Lin has averaged 2.5 turnovers per game in his career compared to 4.8 assists.

Projection
Hinkie was part of a Rockets front office that brought Lin to Houston on a three-year, $25 million deal. Plus, Hinkie was open to acquiring Lin in a trade just last summer, so the interest is clearly there.

It would appear the Sixers also have a fit for the Harvard grad. Lin thrived with the Knicks when he was able to have the ball in his hands and play without fear of making mistakes. That same opportunity would present itself as Brett Brown's lead guard for the Sixers.

As long as the two sides can find a middle ground on a contract, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Lin was the Sixers' starting point guard to open the 2015-16 campaign.

Contact Us