Jeremy Lin affecting change in New York, around entire NBA

It took only five games, but Jeremy Lin is changing things. He’s about to cause even more things to change, not only in New York, but perhaps at the All-Star game and on your television, too.

Start with the Knicks, who are getting back power forward Amare Stoudemire for tonight’s game in Toronto. Both Stoudemire and All-Star small forward Carmelo Anthony have missed the entirety of the Lin phenomenon, and one of the pressing problems facing coach Mike D’Antoni is how to transition the two stars back into the lineup without disrupting the magic that has propelled the Knicks to a five-game win streak.

One idea floated on Tuesday by NBA TV analyst Steve Smith: Change the lineup. Put Anthony at power forward, shift Stoudemire to center and bring Tyson Chandler off the bench. Or, at least, if Chandler starts, get Anthony and Stoudemire into a power forward-center combo as much as possible. “If you look at Jeremy Lin’s run, they’re kind of back to Mike D’Antoni basketball, with Jared Jeffries at the 4, and the spacing of Steve Novak,” Smith said on a conference call for TNT's and NBA TV's All-Star coverage “Maybe there are some times you can play Carmelo Anthony at the 4 with Amare at the 5.”

TNT analyst Steve Kerr—general manager of the Suns when D’Antoni was in Phoenix—seconded that motion, pointing out Lin’s ability to run the staple of D’Antoni’s offense, the pick-and-roll, has been a big part of the team’s resurgence. And Lin has been running it with Chandler, who is averaging 14.6 points on 65.9 percent shooting in the last five games. Now, the Knicks will have Stoudemire on the floor, too.

“It’s a great point about the lineups, maybe have Carmelo at the 4 and Amare at the 5 because, what’s happened, along with Jeremy Lin’s play, is that Tyson Chandler has been a monster because he is the one rolling to the rim and scoring big,” Kerr said. “Now with Amare, you have two guys who want to roll and play that position. Can the Knicks space the floor with Chandler and Amare playing?”


Another issue raised on today’s conference call was the possibility of finding some role for Lin at this year’s All-Star festivities in Orlando. Obviously, he can’t be added to the All-Star roster, and even if there’s an injury, he hasn’t played enough to warrant a spot. But he could be worthy of the Rising Stars game, held the Friday night before Sunday’s main event and consists of rookies and second-year players. The pool of players is already set, and the rosters will be decided by a draft conducted by Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley on Thursday.

O’Neal is hopeful the league will find a way to get Lin involved.

“Business-wise, it would be good,” O’Neal said. “He has taken New York by storm. He is an NBA sensation. It is one of those great 'Rocky' style stories, this guy you never heard of becoming a star. It’s not like people would be upset. I think people will want to see what the guy can do.”

Even if he is not in Orlando, he will almost certainly be making more appearances on national television. The Knicks have 14 national television appearances lined up for the rest of the season. Four are on ABC on Sundays, four are on TNT and six are on ESPN, with a total of eight of those appearances coming in April.

Turner Sports executive producer Jeff Behnke said today, though, that there could be alterations coming to that schedule. “Those discussions will be taking place, certainly after All-Star weekend, and certainly as we get closer to the playoffs,” Behke said. “We do have flexibility on certain nights. But no decisions have been made at this point on any scheduling changes.”

Ten days ago, few people had even heard of Jeremy Lin. Now, five games later, he is changing everything.