Toronto Raptors: End Of Year Report Cards

Jeremy Lin

After being bought out by the Atlanta Hawks, Jeremy Lin signed with the Raptors on February 13th. Lin’s arrival came at just the right time for Toronto. Kyle Lowry was banged up and Fred VanVleet had just injured his thumb.

Everyone remembers when “Linsanity” in 2012. Seven years later and everyone was hoping Lin had a little more of that in the tank. However, the hype surrounding Lin’s arrival quickly turned to negativity.

The 30-year old has built an extensive injury list. He missed the entire 2017-2018 season with a knee injury. Lin also missed a significant amount of time with a hamstring injury earlier this year.

The Raptors brought in Lin to serve as a patch in their offense. Fred VanVleet was injured and the team needed a short term fix. While the Raptors managed to stay afloat Lin began to slump.

It took the former Atlanta Hawk eight games before he finally made a three-point field goal. Lin shot 0-8 from the field in Toronto’s overtime loss to Detroit on March 3rd. However, the struggling point guard refused to let his shooting woes define him.

While Lin did not “bounce back” per se, he did re-tool his game. Rather than play aggressive and continue to force his shot he let the game come to him. What the Raptors needed from him was not “Linsanity.” They needed Jeremy Lin, the smart veteran point guard.

It took a while for both sides to realize this. However, Lin helped the Raptors stay afloat and continue to win. At the end of the day, Lin’s individual statistics were not going to make or break the Toronto Raptors.

Looking back Lin’s time with the Raptors will be interesting. On one hand, it was not anything special but on the other, it was not a total failure. The Raptors used Lin when needed and in the postseason he served as a leader and hype man playing mostly in garbage time situations.

Satisfying expectations: 6.5/10 

Production relative to contract: 6/10 

Overall output: 7/10 

Total score: 19.5/30 

Letter grade: C+