I’m one of the few that’s seen him play against NBA-caliber players before yesterday, so I knew what he was capable of. In a stifly Ivy League conference and with teammates not good enough to be in the right place at the right time, i.e., during his entire college career, you only saw glimpses of this. The no-look zinger from the far baseline to an open big man for layup. The early offense lob to a cutter coming in from the blind side. The sleepy lull just before halftime, baiting you into thinking he was going to keep the ball and try for a last-second shot, when really he was waiting for some other obstacle to move before a bullet pass hit a man under the hoop at the last possible moment.
Jeremy Lin tallied 6 assists in just 25 minutes of play. There were two instances where he could’ve had assist #7 and #8, but UNI’s Adam Koch was too slow (reminds me of Ivy League play) and another guy couldn’t finish a quasi-lob-alley-oop.
Jeremy did draw some oohs and aahs from the crowd. For instance, when he took a guy left baseline, clutched in the air, then at the last second zinged it to a guy (either Michael Washington of Arkansas or Roderick Flemings of Hawaii, i.e., big men who can’t shoot) who had an open shot from the FT line but passed up the shot for a swing pass to someone else, so the tally count could’ve reached 9.
But I’m sure you could say that for anyone who logs an assist. Easy come, easy go. Just trying to say, Jeremy seemed to be on point with his dimes last night.
In case you were wondering, John Wall averaged 6.5 assists and 34.8 minutes per game this year. So 6 assists in 25 minutes ain’t bad. Now, the only reason I bring up Wall is because I’ve yet to find someone near his height and speed who delivers the ball like that to teammates. I’d say that Armon Johnson and Ben Uzoh (who is here at Portsmouth) have the size, but not the speed and not the vision.
Therefore, with this year’s point guard draft class, I’d say Tier One: Wall. Tier Two: Jeremy. Tier Three: Johnson and Uzoh. I’d probably put Greivis Vasquez in Tier Two-and-half or Three and Jon Scheyer in Tier Four. I’d put Malcolm Lee in Tier Three but probably behind Johnson and Uzoh. I’d put Manny Harris in Tier Two, but because of his scoring and not because of his vision. Lee and Harris don’t score high with me in terms of point guard vision or plan of attack. Neither does Vasquez, but it depends what mentality Vasquez is playing in: “me, me, me” versus “just trying to fit in”.
Jeremy was also very efficient in the scoring department, taking people quite easily off the dribble with his jabs and fakes, using high ball screens effectively, and using his body to shield the ball as he laid it up. He went a typical 4-for-9 from the field, had 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. Characteristically, he bricked his only trey attempt.
Uncharacteristically he got blocked two times at the rim, as far as I can remember. If his performances against the frontlines of UConn (Gavin Edwards, Stanley Robinson), Georgetown (Greg Monroe), and Cornell (Jeff Foote) are any indication, I would have to say that he underestimated the competition yesterday and got a little surprised by the blocked shots. One was by Chas McFarland, 7-foot skinny more-mobile version of Foote, of Wake Forest. Pause.
See? I knew you didn’t think McFarland could block a Jeremy shot, either.
The other block was either McFarland again or Ryan Thompson. If you saw Thompson play yesterday, you’d give anyone he blocked a pass. He was a man among boys. Who knew? OK, maybe Rider fans and brother Jason Thompson of the Sacramento Kings knew.
The hot three-point shooting by Thompson’s team really put Jeremy’s team on edge on defense. They didn’t know what to do. As such, I did see a rather un-Jeremy-like defensive play when he was caught choosing between helping on a big man open down low, and staying on his man. I’ve praised him many times before on this blog that, on Harvard, he would sacrifice himself to cover the big man down low (usually a huge height disadvantage and perhaps too late in the play) versus staying on the open wing. For whatever reason, he chose the latter on this one play.
The last nitpick I would have is his lone turnover in which he thought someone might be cutting as he was driving past two lines of defense. He left the ball to be picked up by a trailer, but the trailer was never there. Turnover. It kind of goes in sync with his ending up too deep a couple times.
He needs to try to keep dribbling that far low. I’m sure you can picture Steve Nash or Chris Paul doing this. Keep your options available.
As far as the mini-in-team competition with Nic Wise, point-guard and assist-wise, Jeremy won that battle. But Wise is a solid player. He’s just too short for the next level and not explosive. I remain unconvinced. He has two more games to change my mind, but unless he starts going beyond the output of Sherron Collins, why waste a draft pick for someone under 6′0″?
Today, Jeremy’s team, which lost, goes up against the other team that lost last night. That would be Patrick Christopher’s team, which lost by 34 points to a marginally impressive team. Whereas, Jeremy’s team was victimized by 15-for-27 from beyond the arc, led by Thompson, AJ Slaughter of Western Kentucky, and Tweety Carter of Baylor.
Without Da’Sean Butler and with Omar Samhan dropping out of the PIT, Christopher’s team sucked. They are devoid of next-level talent at all five positions. It should be an opportunity for Jeremy, Nic Wise, and (gulp) Aubrey Coleman to shine. We’ll see how many scouts show up to the local-economy-unfriendly afternoon tip – before people get off work – between the two big losers.
You might also like:
- Portsmouth prospecting: Hey Aubrey Coleman, no ballhogs allowed (NBA)
- Portsmouth prospecting: Just draft Ryan Thompson already!
- Status check on the “Megatron” star, Jeremy Lin
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- DraftExpress’s Portsmouth notes on Jeremy Lin
- Jeremy Lin’s stats plunge
- Scout’s Honor: Jeremy Lin vs Georgetown
- Carmelo Anthony pointing fingers while claiming he’s not
