Jeremy Lin vs. Raymond Felton: Did the Knicks or Rockets Make the Better Decision on Their Starting Point Guard?

By the stats, they’re not so different.

The Houston Rockets’ Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks’ Raymond Felton.

Two athletic point guards. Two guards that thrive off the pick-and-roll. Two players that, while having never played together, were bound together by the same common factor-being point guards for one of the most rabid fan bases in one of the most demanding cities in the world, New York.

Felton, acquired in free agency by the Knicks, was part of the rebuilding process to bring New York back to prominence in the summer of 2010. By that time, Lin, fresh out of Harvard, was vying for an NBA roster spot in the 2010 NBA Draft, but when unchosen, though he secured a job with the Golden State Warriors in late July of that year.

While Felton was becoming a mainstay in New York, helping Amar’e Stoudemire have an MVP-caliber season, that all changed in the trade that brought Carmelo Anthony from Denver to the Knicks during the February 2011 trade deadline. Felton was shipped out to Denver, then bounced back to Portland for an unimpressive 2011-12 season.
Meanwhile, Lin, who bounced around from Golden State to Houston, was nearing the end of his NBA rope before the Knicks picked him up off waivers in December. Then injuries to Anthony and Stoudemire forced then-coach Mike D’Antoni’s hand to put Lin into a Feb. 4 game against the then-New Jersey Nets, and…well, everyone remembers what happened next.
Yet, despite the eruption of “Linsanity” that took New York–and the world–by storm, the Knicks decided, amid some criticism–and some praise–to let Lin walk in free agency when Houston outbid New York for Lin’s services with a three-year, $25 million deal. The Rockets, spurred on by owner Leslie Alexander and a lot of cap space to burn, were hoping Lin was part of a huge overhaul that the franchise needed to exorcise the playoff-less times of the last three seasons.
The Knicks, meanwhile, opted instead to bring back Felton in a multi-player trade with Portland…which brings us to where we stand as of the end of February.
The Knicks have thrived under Felton’s veteran savvy and re-galvanized play for the first half of the season, taking the lead in the Atlantic Division with a 34-20 win-loss record.
And the Rockets?
They’ve only emerged as one of the most exciting offensive young teams in the NBA, rattling off 106.4 points per night, the second-highest team scoring average in the NBA behind OKC. And with only 23 games to go in their regular season, Lin–who has provided streaky scoring, but a team-first, playmaking strategy–and the Rockets have control of the eighth and final playoff seed, ahead of the barely-functioning L.A. Lakers.
All in all, by the win-loss column, things seem to have worked out fine for both teams. And yet still, the question remains-which team got the better end of the bargain? Who has been the better point guard, Lin or Felton?
Lin’s 2012-13 Season Past the Halfway Mark
Last season, Lin was having the time of his career–maybe even his life–with the Knicks, but just could not make it work once Anthony returned to the starting lineup. Lin was averaging 24.6 points and 9.2 assists in his first 10 games of “Linsanity” last season, but that production began dropping as Anthony began, understandably, taking his superstar’s share of the shots again. In his last nine games before his season-ending left meniscus injury, Lin produced only 13.6 points and 5.9 assists.
Lin also seemed to struggle when the Rockets, his new team, acquired James Harden, who has emerged as a dominating scorer and superstar-caliber player. He was especially floundering in November, when he was shooting a dreadful 37.3 percent from the field, hitting only 3.8 of his 10.1 shot attempts-which is about five shots less than the 15.1 shots–7.3 of them which he hit on 47.2 percent shooting-that he hit wearing a Knicks uniform in February last season. His production has gotten a little steadier with time, even showing flashes of greatness–his 38 points against San Antonio on Dec. 12, 28 points against Golden State on Feb. 5 and a few hot streaks scattered along the way are proof of that. For any other point guard, averaging 12.6 points and 6.2 assists on 43.3 percent shooting after 59 games would be a nice season. However, after the bar Lin set for himself last season, Lin has set expectations for himself that, in the eyes of his critics, he has fallen way short of.
And yet, while he hasn’t brought “Linsanity-Part II” to Houston this season-although if the team never acquired Harden, who knows if that would have still been the case? Or if the Rockets would even be in playoff contention now?-Lin has started to show signs of becoming a more mature, complete point guard.
He is learning how to move and think in the Rockets’ up-tempo offense, when to cut and when not to cut, how to play without the ball in his possession. For the most part, he has been getting better learning how to defer control of the offense to Harden when he gets hot–which is a lot in his All-Star season that has netted him 26.4 points per night, fifth highest in the NBA–and how to keep the Rockets’ red-hot offense going when Harden gets cold.
Plus, as a nice bonus, Lin has developed some quick hands on defense, his 1.92 steals ranked fourth-best in the league.
Oh, he can still improve on things. Lin has to become a better jump shot shooter to make sure more than 4.6 of his 10.7 shot attempts this season-a 43.3 season field goal percentage-go in. And he has to cut down a few of those 2.9 turnovers he’s coughed up.
But all in all, Lin has been growing as a player. As long as he works at his flaws, once he gets more comfortable in learning how to run Houston’s lightning-quick offense and how to do the little things a point guard has to do, he’ll soon be able to mesh more of his own skills into the offense, giving us a look at a more complete version of Lin.
Felton’s 2012-13 Season Past the Halfway Mark
Contrary to Lin’s slow start in Houston, Felton started out red-hot back in the Big Apple.
His first regular season game back as a Knick, Felton put up…

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