Jeremy Lin Trade Rumors Squashed, GM Confirms the Point Guard is Staying
After initial reports of the Houston Rockets looking to trading point guard Jeremy Lin and center Omer Asik, the team's general manager confirmed they will be staying in Houston.
"The reality is James (Harden) and Dwight (Howard) want to play with Jeremy and Omer," Daryl Morey, the Rockets GM told The Houston Chronicle. "I've been kicked down to assistant GM. They're going to be here."
Asik was looking to leave the Rockets upon them signing center Dwight Howard, according to NBC Sports. Howard is a big star and a franchise player, and with him in the lineup, Asik is worried his minutes and impact will be relegated to the bench. Hearing about this, Howard told the Houston Chronicle otherwise.
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"Omer might not really see the total big picture right now, and I totally understand. He's a young guy and he wants to really be respected. I would tell him when I see him, 'You've done a great job on this team. I'm going to help you and this team get better.' He's a big piece to us winning a championship if we're going to make that run," he said.
Howard has embraced his new home of Houston and is trying to be a positive influence and leader to the Rockets as they are an up and coming young team.
"I'm going to do whatever I can to make those guys' lives better," Howard said to the paper. "I realize how much they mean to this team."
The initial report before the acquisition of Howard was that Lin and Omer Asik were on the trading block in order to make room for the big man. Once getting the former Los Angeles Lakers center, the talk was concerning Asik's role, and whether Lin was the right point guard for the job.
Lin was overmatched many times throughout the season to supposedly "lesser" point guards, but was a no-show in the playoffs. Yahoo! Sports said with the amount of talent Lin had around him, he was sure to see a numbers explosion, but that simply was not the case.
With a player like Howard commanding the ball down low and shooting guard James Harden scoring at will, the Rockets need a team-minded point guard who can create shots, which is usually not Lin's game. Lin is a slasher to the basket and a streaky spot-up shooter.
He finished the season with 13.4 points per game and 6.1 assists and only ranked in the top 10 in point guards in two categories. He was as low as 46th in field goal percentage, according to Bleacher Report.
However, Morey has continually praised his two players.
"Both with Omer and Jeremy, we feel like they're good fits for Dwight," Morey told The Houston Chronicle. "Omer and Dwight would give us the best (centers) in the league in combination. Jeremy is an attacking guard, great in pick-and-roll, a great fit for Dwight. Dwight works great with shooting and attacking guards."
