BE LIN AGAIN
Struggling Nets hope star guard near return
Jeremy Lin has taken the next step toward his return.
Friday afternoon, for the first time since suffering a strained left hamstring Nov. 2, Lin was back at practice. During the 37-day hiatus, the Nets have used a host of different players in the point guard position with limited success, contributing to the team’s struggles.
“He’s not going to play [Saturday at San Antonio]. That’s his first practice in a while,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “He looked good. He was out there making good passes and moving well.”
This is good news for a Nets team that has struggled without its big offseason signing.
Since Lin’s injury, the Nets have gone 4-12, including a dismal sixgame losing streak during which the average margin of defeat was 19.3 points per game. Additionally, the Nets struggled to defend against the NBA’s top guards, with Chris Paul averaging 23 points over two contests and the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook dropping 30 on Brooklyn last month.
“[Lin’s] presence is huge for us,” Atkinson said. “He’s been great when not playing, being supportive of the guys, but it’s just different to be out there sweating with the guys and getting them together. You’ve seen the leadership ability. It’s going to help us.”
Prior to the injury, Lin was one of the major bright spots for the Nets. The seven-year veteran of six franchises found his niche in Atkinson’s up-tempo offense. In five games, Lin averaged career highs in points (15) and assists (6.2), benefiting from a lethal high pick-and-roll combination with Brook Lopez.
With Lin on the court, the Nets’ offensive rating was 109.3, but without him, the rating fell precipitously to 103.9, worse than all but six other NBA teams. The Nets’ defensive efficiency also was hurt, jumping from 107.4 to 112.3.
“He looked good,” rookie Caris LeVert said after facing Lin in a 1-on-1 battle during practice. “He’s still working on his conditioning like myself, but he looks really good out there.”
Without Lin, Atkinson has played key personnel out of position. Sean Kilpatrick, the Nets’ starting point guard in Lin’s absence, last played point guard in high school and had to adapt to a different mindset from his past role as a scoring guard off the bench.
While Kilpatrick had his moments — his 38-point, 14-rebound effort in the Nets’ two-overtime home win over the Clippers on Nov. 29 comes to mind — he is better suited to scoring rather than his current distributor role.
“We’ll see how [Lin] looks tomorrow and then get feedback from our medical team and our performance team,” Atkinson said. “Again, I think he’s thrilled to just be out there and mixing it up a bit.” Spencer Dinwiddie’s journey over the past two days has been a whirlwind. The former second-round pick of the Pistons received word from his agent Thursday the Nets had signed him and would fly him to Texas for their game against the Spurs. No more than 15 minutes later, he learned he would have to make a 4:30 p.m. flight to New York.
Dinwiddie had time to pack just two bags for his flight, underwent medical testing Thursday night, did more Friday morning and made it the HHS Training Center just in time for practice with his new team.
While Dinwiddie averaged 19.1 points and 8.1 rebounds in nine games for Windy City, he says it may have been his 25-point,12-assist effort against the Nets’ D-League affiliate that put him on their radar.
“I can’t say it hurt me,” Dinwiddie said. “[The Nets] are a team that said they liked me since the draft process, my first couple years in the league, and it’s amazing to be here.”