Toronto Raptors: Jeremy Lin’s importance in banged up backcourt

The Toronto Raptors signed Jeremy Lin to shore up their point guard depth. Adding him could pay dividends in the postseason.

When the NBA Trade Deadline concluded, the Toronto Raptors had decided they needed a further boost to make a championship run.

To that end, the team signed the recently bought out veteran point guard Jeremy Lin to aid a unit that looked thin in depth at the time. After all, Fred VanVleet was sidelined with an injury and Delon Wright was traded at the deadline in the deal that brought in Marc Gasol.

With the playoffs approaching, Lin’s role on the team will be in the spotlight more than ever.

Entering Sunday’s penultimate regular season game, Lin has logged 22 games for the Raptors, starting three of them. He’s averaging 7.0 points and 2.0 assists per game on 21.6 percent 3-point shooting – some of his worst career stats.

Granted, those numbers haven’t come with an abundance of minutes in hand. Lin is only playing 18.8 minutes per game, which would also be his lowest amount of playing time since his rookie season with the Golden State Warriors. The only rotation regular that plays less than Lin is Patrick McCaw, currently out nursing a sprained thumb.

So let’s put his numbers in a better context. Lin made his Raptors debut on Feb 13 in a home win over the Washington Wizards. He dropped eight points while also dishing five assists and grabbing five rebounds in the well-rounded performance. The All-Star Break immediately followed.

Since then, among players who have played at least 15 games but are averaging less than 19 minutes per contest, Lin ranks 14th among scorers (per the NBA’s official stat page). Under those same parameters, Lin also ranks 9th in assists.

Perhaps that’s grasping at straws, but it still makes Lin look a little better than what the box score has suggested, which is a player that might not see regular minutes in the postseason.

Then again, the Raptors didn’t bring him in to be “Linsanity” for the rest of the season; that era has come and gone for the 30-year old veteran.

Toronto brought Lin in to provide depth in case of injuries and to provide some veteran experience off the bench. With many of the team’s core entrenched on the roster from previous seasons, most haven’t tasted any significant playoff success. It’s difficult to quantify the importance of having that veteran experience, but it helps.

(Devil’s advocate: Lin has never been out of the first round of the postseason.)

His value to the team’s depth is more important. Some websites list Lin as the team’s second point guard, behind Kyle Lowry and ahead of VanVleet. Based on minutes, however, it’s obvious that Lin is the third point guard in the rotation. Teams can do far worse than having Lin as their third-string point guard.

Here’s a quick look at some third-string point guards on contending teams (depth charts courtesy of ESPN):

• Quinn Cook (Golden State Warriors)
• Isaiah Thomas (Denver Nuggets)
• Chris Chiozza (Houston Rockets)

It’s easier to have confidence in Lin than any of those guys right now. The Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers don’t even have a third point guard listed!

Jeremy Lin has had some rough times since signing with Toronto a month and a half ago. But the Raptors brought him in with the postseason in mind, and they still expect him to shine brightest then.