The End Of Lin-Sanity?

Lin-Sanity isn’t dead yet, but it’s certainly on life support.

I put part of the blame on Lin himself, but the rest definitely goes to the circumstances that surround him.

Jeremy Lin is/was a great story. The little Asian kid from Harvard University who turned around the New York Knicks season made for some compelling stories and some great headlines. You couldn’t help but fall in love with Lin. He was defying the odds in every way imaginable.

In 12 starts before the all-star break, Lin was averaging 22.5 points, 8.7 assists and the Knicks went 9-3. Everything was right in New York.

Now, the game plan has changed.

Mike D’Antoni is out as head coach. Mike Woodson is now the replacement for the rest of the season and perhaps beyond. Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire are both healthy and back on the court for the foreseeable future.

There is even a rumor that Baron Davis could be in the running to replace Lin as the starter once he is back to full health.

Mike D’Antoni was the best thing that could have happened to Lin. His high-octane offense suited Lin to a tee. He was able to run the team on the court the way he wanted too. Now with Woodson calling the shots, that won’t be the case anymore.

The new Knicks coach has already told the media that he will start going to Amare and Carmelo more in clutch situations instead of his younger players i.e Lin

This was the way it was supposed to be all season. The emergence of Jeremy Lin as something more than a 4th-string point guard was nice, but this team was and always will belong to STAT and Carmelo.

I am a big supporter of Jeremy Lin, but he’s still young and still learning. He’s a legit starting point guard in the NBA, but as evident by his past games, he’s going to make mistakes. For every great performance he has, he will throw you a stinker right back.

His 3.6 turnovers a game are not the numbers you want your starting point guard to have if you want your team to make any noise in the playoff race.

Jeremy isn’t perfect, but at least he’s an upgrade over Davis. In almost 1/4 of the possessions he takes part in, he turns the ball over. He’s just as prone to lose the ball as Lin is. Davis also shoots 32% from the field and 21% from long range. I understand he’s more experienced and maybe a better fit alongside the teams two stars, but Lin is the better point guard right now.

That might not matter though. Woodson is entitled to go with the players he wants. If he wants the ball in the hands of Stoudemire and Anthony more, than its going to happen whether Lin is starting or not.

James Dolan did not sign those 2 for them to play backup to Lin-Sanity.

The days of an offense where Jeremy Lin could shine are over. He will have his good games here and there, but ultimately this is the Amare/Melo show. Lin is smart enough to realize and understand that and know he isn’t the main man on this team. Despite his obvious awareness of the situation, his play and numbers will probably suffer because of this.

D’Antoni isn’t around to save him now.

Christopher Walder is a sports blogger and lead editor for Sir Charles in Charge. You may follow him on Twitter @WalderSports