The Charlotte Hornets signed Jeremy Lin, despite having Kemba Walker at the same position — now they’re clashing and the team is suffering.
Jeremy Lin was supposed to be experiencing a career renaissance of sorts with the Charlotte Hornets, after signing a free-agent deal that would allow Jeremy to display his talents, then get paid next summer. Instead, Kemba Walker and head coach Steve Clifford have made it hard on Lin to display his skills, and now he’s right back in the spot he’s been trying to avoid.
In each of Lin’s previous spots, he’s found himself stuck behind a ball-dominant player (and supporting coach) who has made it difficult for Lin to play to his strengths. With the New York Knicks, it was Carmelo Anthony and Mike Woodson, with the Houston Rockets it was James Harden and Kevin McHale and then with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant and Byron Scott.
Coach Clifford made certain statements before the season began that led folks to believe this stop would be different, this one on the subject of Walker and Lin playing together (via Charlotte Observer):
"It’s always good to have two pick-and-roll players on the floor. That way you can put pressure on the defense at one side, then switch it to the other. That makes more room to play similar to how Golden State does. You’ve got Steph (Curry) on one side, so defenses have to load up there, and then you’ve got Klay Thompson on the other with room to operate.That’s what Kemba can do for Jeremy and Jeremy can do for Kemba."
Sounds good in theory, but in practice, Lin has suffered greatly from playing next to Walker and unsurprisingly thrived with Kemba on the bench.
Lin’s overall numbers are solid but unspectacular, with per-game averages of 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 22.5 minutes. His shooting line of .409/.314/.806 isn’t what Lin is capable of, and a large reason for that is the time with Walker.
| Lin’s Numbers | Min | FG% | 3P% | AST | PTS | Plus/Minus | Off Rtg | Def Rtg |
| w/ Walker | 9.7 | 34.0 | 22.2 | 0.8 | 3.0 | -0.3 | 100.1 | 98.6 |
| w/o Walker | 12.9 | 44.8 | 36.4 | 2.1 | 7.4 | 3.2 | 107.4 | 96.5 |
Every major number is noticeably better with Lin being the primary playmaker. When Walker is on the court with him, Lin’s usage rating is 17.8 percent — that number jumps to 27.4 percent when Walker goes to the bench. It’s no surprise that the Hornets are 3.5 points better when Lin is able to steer the proverbial ship.
I don’t believe that Kemba is freezing Jeremy out (at least not on purpose), but one of Lin’s greatest abilities is getting into the paint, putting pressure on the defense with his quickness. Lin is then able to make the decision to kick it out to an open shooter, dump it to an open big or finish near the rim.
Perhaps the two most damning numbers I found when researching this clash of styles are these two:
Lin with Walker: 3-for-9 (33.3%) on FG from 3-to-16 feet
Lin without Walker: 13-f0r-20 (65.0%) on FG from 3-to-16 feet
Lin with Walker: 4-for-18 (22.2%) from 3-point line
Lin without Walker: 12-for-33 (36.4%) from 3-point line
Instead of placing Jeremy on the perimeter to act as a decoy (where he’s not effective), he needs to be able to create for himself and for his teammates. Although it’s admittedly one cherry-picked stat, of those 12 3-pointers that Lin has made with Walker off the court, nine have been assisted upon.
When Walker is off the court, the Hornets as a team see a 7.6 percent increase in assist percentage (up to 62.5), they get an increase of 2.1 in assist ratio and the team’s eFG and TS percentages rise (4.4 and 4.1 percent, respectively). The team’s offensive rating jumps by 3.3 and the defensive rating improves by 7.5.
Jeremy said it best himself, in an interview with the New York Post’s Marc Berman:
"Funny how God works things out. Charlotte wasn’t on the top-six list, but I ended up here. That’s how it ends up for me. It always ends up the way I never imagined. Ever. I wasn’t surprised. I’ll be surprised when things are pretty smooth and clear."
This isn’t ending up the way we imagined, either. Coach Clifford and the Hornets brass need to wake up and realize that they’ve put their team’s stock into the wrong guard. At 27 years old, Lin is running out of time to find a coach and an organization that will allow Jeremy to do what he does best.