FanPost

End of the LINe?  Hardly.

The New York papers are all in a twitter (ahem, in my day, that was just a word, not one of these social media contraptions!) about how Woodson's going to bury Jeremy Lin and honestly, I think it's sensationalist reporting, even coming from the Times.

First of all, sure, Lin's status as the next Michael Jordan superhero of the NBA was exaggerated. He deserved a Sports Illustrated cover for what he did, but two covers in a row? That was kind of overblown. Once other teams got to check out some film, and he faced better teams (with opposing point guards jealous of all his attention and shoulder-chipped to knock him down a peg), he came down to earth a bit.


But I mean, the guy's 23, in his first full season as a starting point guard. He's shown poise and intelligence out there. He has creativity and leadership, but it's not like the guy is uncoachable and unwilling to learn. Now, certainly, if Davis or Bibby or Toney Douglas starts outplaying the guy, Woodson will make the change. And if he totally sucks ass, he might not be back next year. But that's kind of an extreme scenario. And nothing Woodson said really suggests that.

Woodson:

"He's in a learning stage"

And:

"I played under Red Holzman as a rookie, and his instructions for rookies was 'Sit, listen, and learn'."

OK, well, Lin's not really a rookie though, and is still working with the first unit in practice. Now there's another quote everyone has:

"Woody’s inclination would not be to play him"

Is this quote from someone on the coaching staff of the Knicks, or from a player? No it's from someone who has worked with Woodson. In other words, someone who worked with him on another team at another time. Someone who has no idea how Woodson actually feels about Jeremy Lin, the player.

Of course, Lin could end up behind Davis in the rotation, if Davis is clearly playing better. And Woodson's quotes suggest that he would be willing to make that change. But he could also be talking about Shumpert and Jorts - actual rookies.

And as for the Knicks not wanting to sign Lin for next year, that's really a huge leap of logic. I mean, Lin remains an extremely popular player who sells jerseys and tickets. Unless he flames out spectacularly and the fans turn on him, how could Dolan not at least make every attempt to bring him back? And if Woodson buries him, how is Dolan going to be loyal to Woodson over Lin?

I know that Lin emerged as a point guard under D'antoni, but it's not like he has played big minutes at the point in the NBA under other head coaches and failed. He got his first playing time under D'antoni, but there's no evidence he can't play under another coach.

More importantly, suggesting that Lin's Knick career is basically over because of a couple of non-specific things Woodson said is really pushing the limits of logic to get a rise out of the fanbase. I'm not taking the bait.