With the 2014-15 NBA regular season coming to an end in the next couple of weeks, ESPN The Magazine has ranked the 30 best point guards in the league. Although nowhere near the top, Jeremy Lin is among the 30 ranked.
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According to ESPN The Magazine, Lin is 28th on the list ahead of Isaiah Canaan of the Philadelphia 76ers (29) and the Utah Jazz’s Daunte Exum (30):
And when we tapped our ESPN Forecast panel to rank them 1 to 30 — from ruthless No. 1 Chris Paul to mercurial No. 19 Rajon Rondo to the cautionary tale known as No. 28 Jeremy Lin — everyone in the top 10 appears playoff-bound.
ESPN based the ratings on the following criteria:
ESPN’s NBA Forecast panel graded all 30 starting point guards in four weighted categories-leadership, defense, shooting/scoring and passing/playmaking. Each player’s scores were then calculated to determine his overall point guard rating.
Despite an impressive rookie season with the Lakers, Jordan Clarkson didn’t make the list. Clarkson may not be among the top 30, but a few other rookies were in the bottom half of the rankings along with Lin:
It appears that Lin’s best attribute in these rankings is his scoring ability. Lin comes in at 22 overall in that category which is behind of Darren Collison (21), George Hill (20) and Jose Calderon (19) and ahead of Isaiah Canaan (23), Michael Carter-Williams (24) and Marcus Smart (25).
Chris Paul (1), Stephen Curry (2) and Russell Westbrook (3) are at the top of the list followed by John Wall (4) and Mike Conley (5) to round out the top five.
As for Lin, the first half of the season was forgettable to say the least for the veteran point guard. Lin struggled to adapt to his new surrounding after signing with the Lakers, but has come on strong since the All-Star break convincing many that he’s turned the corner.
In 18 games after the All-Star break, Lin is averaging 14.8 points, 5.1 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game. Lin is also shooting 45.3 percent from the floor and 37.0 from beyond the arc. All of these numbers, outside of his three-point shooting, is much improved from the first half of the season.
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