11.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists. That’s what Jeremy Lin averaged for the Charlotte Hornets during the 2015-16 season. As Lin enters unrestricted free agency and looks for a spot on a winner, he’ll also be looking for minutes. Lin put up those Hornets numbers while playing 26.3 minutes per game.
Lin’s agent will be extrapolating from those figures to produce a different representation of Lin’s actual value. At 27, Lin is in the sweet spot of his career physically. He can conceivably play as many minutes as he can get. If Lin performs at his Hornets level and efficiency and gets, say, James Harden-level minutes, Lin’s stats look different. At 38.1 mpg, Harden got nearly 50% more court time than Lin did this year — or put another way Lin got 69% of Harden’s court time. This is just math — team circumstances will obviously be different — but Lin’s stats with Harden’s minutes look like this:
— Lin’s 2015-16 stats with Harden’s minutes: 11.7 points per game becomes 16.9 ppg; 3.2 rebounds becomes 4.6 rpg; 3.0 assists becomes 4.3 apg.
— And interestingly, Harden 2015-16 stats with Lin’s minutes: 29 points become 20.1 ppg ; 6.1 rebounds become 4.2 rpg; 7.5 assists become 5.2 apg.
