Atlanta Hawks: 4 Takeaways From Close Loss To Raptors in Toronto

Jeremy Lin’s trade value has peaked for the 2018-19 season

This season, Jeremy Lin has played much better than even we here at Soaring Down South expected. He is shooting a career-best 50 % from the field in his 6th man role for the Hawks, in which he is playing 19.1 minutes per game, the second-lowest of his career. In Tuesday’s loss to the Raptors, Lin was one of the main reasons this game was so tight throughout.

Lin started off incredibly hot against a stout Toronto D, going 4/4 from the field for 10 points in just under 10 minutes. He was efficient getting to his spots in the  midrange, showing that he can be a microwave scorer off the bench, even in instances where his 3-point shot—which is at a tidy 38% this season—isn’t falling. Against teams that play conventional pick-and-roll D, Lin can punish bigs with his midrange jumper and floater game. And against teams that like to switch on D, he can still make defenses scramble and take advantage of certain match-ups with his quickness.

He finished the game with 20 points on 80% shooting but have 4 costly turnovers, 3 of them coming in the 4th quarter. But again, there are questions if Lin should be on the floor in crunch-time, though he is obviously one of the best options for the Hawks. Either way, Lin turned in a big-time, efficient scoring performance against the team with the best winning percentage in the NBA.