Los Angeles Lakers guard Jeremy Lin (Photo : REUTERS/GARY A. VASQUEZ)
Incoming free-agent point guard Jeremy Lin admitted that Byron Scott's decision to pull him out of the starting lineup in favor of journeyman playmaker Ronnie Price was the lowest point of his stint with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lin, who pocketed a career-high $15 million in his final year with the purple-and-gold, said in a recent interview that he's not ruling out another stint with the Lakers, but finding a team where he can 'fit in' well will be his priority this summer.
The 26-year old Lin wrapped up an up-and-down season with the Lakers, averaging at least 11 points and 4 dimes in 27 minutes per game. Lin opened the season as the team's primarily ball-handler, a job he lost to Price 20 games after as Scott believed he was consistent and too sloppy on the defensive end for him to keep the starting role.
In an interview with Bill Oram of Orange County Register, the former Harvard standout considered his relegation to the bench as the turning point of what had been a very frustrating stretch from December to late January.
Although it wasn’t the first time he lost his starting job to a backup (Lin was replaced by Patrick Beverley in the Houston Rockets starting five prior to 2013-14 season), the Asian-American confessed that being relegated back to the bench the second time around and knowing he lost his starting job with a struggling team hurt him more.
"His winter doldrums, he said, stemmed from being replaced in the lineup by Price, a training camp invitee who earned the veteran's minimum $1.3 million this season."
"I went through losing my starting position (last year) in Houston," he said, "but we were a playoff team and we were doing well and here we were at the bottom of the standings, setting all types of records in the wrong way."
After taking a one-week All-Star break away from basketball activities, Lin came out with a man on a mission and put up a string of strong performances that impressed not only his teammates and pundits, but also his biggest critic in the locker room - his head coach.
Scott eventually put Lin back into the starting lineup with 14 games left in their regular-season schedule, but an upper respiratory infection and soreness in his surgically-repaired left knee forced the Lakers medical staff to shut him down for the remainder of the season. Lin will become an unrestricted free-agent this offseason, with the Rockets, Lakers, Sixers and Nuggets being mentioned as potential suitors.
