Lin: Knee will be set for camp
LAS VEGAS — Nets guard Jeremy Lin, who essentially missed all of last season with a knee injury, insists he’ll be healthy for the start of training camp. But getting back all of his old explosiveness and timing may take longer.
After rupturing his patellar tendon on opening night, Lin says he’s been going one-on-one with contact for over a month. But he admits he isn’t going five-on-five yet, and that retraining his body to move has been tough.
“I feel good right now, just still progressing. Everything is really good, smooth. I’ve been playing, working out every day. ... Things are going as we planned. I’ll definitely be ready for training camp. There won’t be any issues,” Lin said. “Yeah, that’s been nice. I first started playing 1-on-1 five or six weeks ago. So it’s been a bit.”
But it hasn’t been long enough. Yet.
While Lin is lighter and his knee is healthy, his lengthy rehab at Vancouver’s Fortius Sport & Health included extensive kinesiology work, remaking the way he moves. That’s an ongoing process.
“I haven’t played in a long time, so it’s not like you come back and you’re better than you were before. It’s going to take a lot of time. My body’s not used to moving fast or playing against contact so that takes [time],” Lin said. “Having a year where you’re out, you don’t get that in four weeks. It takes a lot of time, which is why we’re going to keep building up and stay with the plan, try to not get too frustrated if I’m not moving the way I want or I’m not as explosive as I want.
“It’s definitely hard. Every time you push the dynamicness of your move- ments, you almost have to relearn it to some degree. You learn it, but you learn it at 25 percent or stationary, and then you start moving and realize, ‘ Wow, it’s not the same.’ Every time you progress to the next stage, you have to relearn a bit more and strip it back, let it go a bit and strip it back. So it’s definitely an up-and-down process.”
Lin has missed 127 of a possible 164 games as a Net. After tinkering with his shot last season, he now has had to relearn how to move while going back and rebooting his jumper all over again. He acknowledged the amount of mental work was “a daunting task.”
Brooklyn has a batch of playmakers in Lin, D’Angelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie and Caris LeVert. They have until July 31 to pick up Isaiah Whitehead’s $1.54 million guarantee, and last year’s two-way player Milton Doyle is at summer league.
Though general manager Sean Marks said he isn’t set on culling the point guard glut — or dealing Lin — other NBA execs and even some Nets players aren’t so sure.
“Yeah, at some point it will. It’ll work itself out,” one Net told The Post when asked if he presumed the logjam would be lessened.
For his part, Lin said he isn’t worried because if talks were real instead of rumors, Marks or coach Kenny Atkinson would let him know.
“If something’s real, they’ll come and tell me. Rumors are rumors. At the end of the day, if something is real they’ll come and tell me,” Lin said. “We have great communication. I’m texting with Kenny and talking to him all the time.”