Before he ended up with the Charlotte Hornets, Jeremy Lin reportedly had a talk with fellow ex-Los Angeles Lakers teammate Ed Davis regarding the possibility of bringing their pick-and-roll act together to the same team.
Lin, who signed a two-year, $4.3 million deal with the Hornets, apparently hoped to play with Davis on the same ball club as they had some success playing together during their brief time in Los Angeles.
Although they never had a chance to share the same floor that much because of Byron Scott's constant reshuffling of lineup, Lin and Davis proved to be a very productive pairing last season, especially on pick-and-roll plays.
Lin has been one of the finest pick-and-roll orchestrators in the game, ranking in the upper half of the table in pick-and-roll efficiency as a ball handler these past few years. But with the Lakers pushing for a slower-tempo Princeton-based offense, the former Harvard standout never got a chance to execute his bread-and-butter play.
Davis also had to deal with the same situation, scoring most of his point on put-backs instead of doing more damage as a roll-man in pick-and-roll play. Scott could have tapped into Davis' scoring potential by pairing him with Lin on the Lakers second-unit, but he didn't really buy into the idea.
Davis, who averaged 8.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 23 minutes per game, signed to a three-year, $20 million deal with the Blazers. There, the former North Carolina stalwart will have the opportunity to flourish as an offensive player with the Blazers looking to fill the void left by LaMarcus Aldridge. He will be playing alongside the league's top pick-and-roll ball handler in Damian Lillard.
Lin, on the other hand, will be running a more free-flowing offense on the Hornets second unit, though there may be occasion where he can play pick-and-roll with another solid pick-and-roll rollman in Al Jefferson.