Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott wasn't contented with what he saw from Jeremy Lin in his New York return last Sunday, so much that he thinks the former Harvard standout will never reach the level of basketball he once showed with the Knicks three years ago.
Lin visited the Madison Square Garden, the site where Linsanity all started, for the third time since leaving the Knickerbockers in the summer of 2012. And while his past two games with the visiting team in the Mecca of Basketball were superb, Sunday's go-around against the Knicks showed how tough his life has been with the Lakers this season.
Averaging 17.5 points, 6.0 assists and 5.5 rebounds in 37 minutes per game against the Knicks last season, Lin only managed to put up seven assists and four points on 1-for-3 shooting in just 24 minutes this time around.
Pressed to evaluate Lin's performance in his MSG comeback, Scott wasn't impressed at all about his point guard's showing. In fact, he thinks Lin's play this season is so inconsistent that he believes the playmaker's best basketball days might be over.
Byron Scott on Jeremy Lin's "Linsanity" w/ Knicks: "A lot of people expect him to play at that level again. That might not be realistic." — Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) February 1, 2015
After two decent seasons with the Houston Rockets, Lin's career took a sharp fall this year mainly because of his struggle to fit in with Scott's Princeton-based offense and the lack of playing time he's receiving from the Lakers coach, even if he's clearly the team's best offensive option outside Kobe Bryant - who will now miss the remainder of the season with a torn rotator cuff.
Lin, averaging 10.4 points and 4.7 assists in 25 minutes per game this season, got the starting job during training camp following a season-ending injury to Steve Nash. However, he was relegated back to the bench 20 games into his Lakers career as Scott decided to insert a tough but offensively-challenged veteran in Ronnie Price into the starting five.
Aside from openly criticizing Lin's development all-year round, Scott has shown as of late that he's no longer interested in giving Lin extended minutes despite playing without Bryant. Instead, the Lakers head coach has pumped in more playing time for rookie point guard Jordan Clarkson, who is responding well to the challenge by averaging 18.5 points in his last three starts.
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