Jeremy Lin: What’s his Role with the Lakers?

Byron Scott announced his starting line up awhile back.  He nominated Steve Nash as a starter.  While this may have been done based on Nash’s reputation, there is no guarantee that he’ll be able to start and play all 82 games this season.

Jeremy Lin is going to be the point guard for the Lakers.  Steve Nash has all of the credentials, but father time is catching up to him quickly.  Jordan Clarkson is an incoming rookie doing every thing he can, but things change once the lights of the regular season shine on the floor.

What does this mean for Jeremy Lin?

Jeremy needs to assert himself within the team and find where he fits best.  As a player for the New York Knicks, there was no doubt he was the leader of an injury-depleted team.  He led the team to multiple victories while being a near 20-10 point guard for over a month.  While there is no doubt that Kobe Bryant is the captain of the team, Jeremy needs to set up the half-court offense, dictate the tempo, distribute the ball, and most importantly, attack the basket.

New Laker point guards often get caught up in facilitating to Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol.  Do you remember what Steve Nash looked like running the Princeton offense?  Every time down the floor, he gave the ball up to Kobe.  Ramon Sessions stopped attacking the basket like he did as a player for the Milwaukee Bucks.  Pau Gasol is no longer a Laker.  Kobe Bryant may not be his All-Star self.  Derek Fisher fit perfectly next to Bryant, because he would spot up at the corners of the floor while Bryant went to work.

This time it’s different.

While the Lakers of the 2004 season may be considered a failure, it proved that Gary Payton could play next to Kobe Bryant.  Phil Jackson wanted the Lakers to run the triangle offense every time down the floor, limiting Payton’s abilities with the lack of pick-and-roll play and transition play.  Despite the injuries and missed games of that season, the Lakers finished #1 in the Western Conference that year.

Jeremy Lin, ideally, would push the tempo for the Laker team.  Not only is he a great finisher at the hoop for the point guard position, but high percentage shots can be found with a quick-hit offense.  There, Lin can assert himself as a scorer and still find opportunities as a ball-distributor within the offense.

Defensively, Lin did a lot of work this off-season.  Beyond lateral movement and fundamentals, he needs to assert his energy and enthusiasm on the defensive end.  If his energy can rub off on a young Knicks team to wins, the same can happen to the current Laker team.  Byron Scott is making defense a priority, and stopping the basketball at the point guard position, is where it starts.

Overall, Jeremy Lin has his work cut out for him.  While he may have fallen out of favor with the Houston Rockets under Coach McHale, this current team may be the best situation for him.  He can learn from Hall-of-Fame players in Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash.  He can use his style of play to blend in well with what Byron Scott wants.  He can finally get the minutes to be the starting point guard that he deserves to be.