Lin ranks as one of the luckiest players in the NBA. He gets to play with Howard and Harden and no longer has to live up to the role the Rockets originally brought him to Houston to fill as the team's franchise player.
Andrew Theodorakis/New York Daily NewsJeremy Lin thrives in his new role off the bench with the Rockets.
PHILADELPHIA -- Jeremy Lin is back in the Garden Thursday night, but this time he knows that 'Linsanity'' is definitely over.
He's now a full-time bench player for Kevin McHale's Rockets and no better than third in the team's pecking order, with Dwight Howard the new superstar in town and James Harden playing in his second season in Houston.
So Lin, who set the NBA on its ear two seasons ago when he had a couple of miracle weeks winning games for Mike D'Antoni's Knicks, doesn't expect nearly the commotion he saw last season in his first return to New York.
'People have been asking, 'You think it will be a big deal?'' he said after the Rockets' shootaround Wednesday in the Wells Fargo Center. 'I don't really think so. I think people are going to be more excited, or there's going to be a lot of attention around Dwight and James. They are the face of the franchise. I'm hoping I will be a subplot.''
As a subplot, Lin ranks as one of the luckiest players in the NBA. He gets to play with Howard and Harden and no longer has to live up to the role the Rockets originally brought him to Houston to fill.
RELATED: 'LINSANITY' NOW A BENCH ACT IN HOUSTON
When James Dolan decided not to match the Rockets' $25-million offer-sheet in the summer of 2012, sending Lin on his way, he arrived in Houston as the player the Rockets wanted to build around.
That was a new kind of Linsanity, since he doesn't have near the talent or game to warrant being cast as a leading man. But the Rockets put up billboards around Houston and had signs on busses with his smiling face.
What a mistake that would have been, to try to make Lin the man, given that he was still developing after his arrival in the NBA as an undrafted player out of Harvard in 2010.
Now as the team's sixth man, he's found a more suitable role.
'It's different and definitely an adjustment,'' he said. 'But I'm so thankful, every day. Every day I still get to play and two years ago I was just trying to make it, hoping I would be on the team. The 15th man didn't matter to me. Just as long as I'm on the team. So I always try to take a step back and remember the journey and the bigger picture.''
RELATED: JEREMY WAS OBSESSED WITH LIVING UP TO 'LINSANITY' REPHe still has a legion of fans that spend a good amount of time on Twitter bemoaning the presence of Harden, because they have this absurd notion that it hurts the team by taking the ball out of Lin's hands. But they fail to recognize that as Patrick Beverley's backup, Lin is thriving. Going into the game against the Sixers, he was averaging 16 points on 55% shooting, while still turning the ball over at a high rate (3.5 per game).
'I think he's playing better right now than he did at any point for us last season,'' McHale said. 'He's confident. His leg is healthy. He's really been great for us all year long. He put in a big summer of work. His shot is better. We just need for him to do what he does: Attack, make plays and defensively be solid.''
As Lin has produced, the Rockets have seen their rebuilding campaign come together in less than a year. They're contenders to win the West.
Again, Lin was lucky.
'I didn't sign with Houston expecting that we would have Dwight and James today,'' he admitted. 'But I do believe God has a perfect plan and I think for me, I'm just going with the flow.''
RELATED: LIN SAYS HIS ETHNICITY WAS A HOOPS 'BARRIER'
The way the Rockets were able to rebuild so quickly, a higher power might have been at work. Acting very much like a small-market team with limited resources, the Oklahoma City Thunder decided it could not afford to give Harden an $80-million extension when it was already paying Kevin Durant top dollar, and would soon have to do the same for Russell Westbrook. The tax bill was beyond the Thunder's means, so it traded Harden to Houston at the start of last season.
Lucky Break No. 2: Howard decided last summer that being asked to win championships involved too much pressure in Laker-crazed Los Angeles. So one of the game's top divas and defenders opted to play in a more mellow market, becoming the first Laker superstar to leave the team as a free agent.
Ask Lin how he likes throwing lobs to Howard and he breaks into a wide smile.
'He definitely changes a game,'' he said. 'Completely.''
Just as Jeremy Lin once did as a Knick, back when Linsanity was all the rage.
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