Los Angeles Lakers point guard Jeremy Lin has made it in the top-100 of ESPN Players rankings for the 2014-15 NBA season, making it his second stint inside the 'circle of 100' in the yearly pre-season players ranking by the major sports media outfit.
The 26-year old Lin is so far having a wonderful offseason with the purple-and-gold after he was shipped by the Houston Rockets to Hollywood last July. Entering his fifth season in the league, the former Harvard standout has made a return in the ESPN top-100 players ranking after dropping to 106 a year ago.
Lin checked in at no.78 in the same ranking two years ago following his breakout season with the New York Knicks during the 2012-13 campaign.
The Rockets signed him to a three-year, $25 million contract that summer, hoping he would be a key piece to their championship puzzle. But after two up-and-down seasons, the Rockets let go of Lin by trading him along with a first round pick to the Lakers in exchange for some cap relief this offseason.
With the Lakers, Lin is expected to have a major role either as a backup to Steve Nash or a starter. Lakers head coach Byron Scott has always been giving positive comments about Lin because of his all-out approach on both ends of the court.
"I like him a lot. I really do," Scott told the Los Angeles Times last week. "On defense he really knows where to be. He's gritty, just like I knew he would be.
"He's going to guard you to the best of his ability, and he never gives up on a play. Offensively he runs the team. He gets to the basket. I love the way he pushes the ball in the open floor."
Even Nash also took notice of Lin's immense impact for the Lakers, especially when he's taking the ball hard into the rack to draw fouls or create shots for teammates.
Right now, Lin is in the middle of a very intense training camp under Scott with majority of drills are focused on improving endurance and team defense. Unsurprisingly, Lin is all ready to take the challenges.
"The running comes with the territory, it's kind of what you have to do at the beginning," Lin said. "After a while, we'll get into more playing and less running, after we establish our defensive principles."
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