The troubled franchise known as the Golden State Warriors may finally be headed in the right direction. With one playoff appearance in the past 16 seasons, things look to be turning around.
The Warriors signed free agent point guard Jeremy Lin this week.
Not to go all Bill Walton here, but this might be the greatest transaction in the history of the franchise because the Warriors literally stole a lottery pick off of another team's summer league roster.
Jeremy Lin should have been the second point guard taken in the 2010 NBA Draft, maybe the first.
He went toe-to-toe with No. 1 overall pick John Wall in summer league in Las Vegas and at the very least held his own. Lin is a better defender and has a much higher basketball IQ than Wall does at this point.
I never heard of Jeremy Lin before summer league, but looking at his incredible highlights and statistics from Harvard, there is no way he should have fallen past pick number 20, much less gone undrafted.
And pick number 20 is being conservative.
Here is video from the fourth quarter of Lin's game against John Wall, and this is video of Lin against Sacramento.
Two plays should be pointed out here: In the college highlights Lin steals a pass from and scores over Georgetown center Greg Monroe (2:37); and in the Sacramento highlights Lin gets a steal and scores over Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins (1:59).
Cousins and Monroe were the 5th and 7th picks in the draft.
Jeremy Lin also stole the ball from and scored over No. 15 pick Larry Sanders of the Milwaukee Bucks (:26), who averaged 3.2 blocks per game in summer league. He later takes the ball away from Sanders again (1:22).
In short, Lin makes play after play on four of the top 15 picks in the draft and three of the top seven.
There is no doubt that Jeremy Lin is NBA-ready.
He has everything a team should look for in a basketball player, and with Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis, he gives the Warriors one of the best guard rotations in the NBA.
To play with franchise players Curry and Ellis, the Warriors acquired power forward David Lee from the New York Knicks and signed free-agent small forward Dorell Wright from the Miami Heat.
Wright had some big moments for the Heat in the playoffs last year against the Celtics, particularly in Game 3.
Signing Wright might not be the same as Orlando plucking Tracy McGrady from the Toronto Raptors, but it could come close. And David Lee is one of the most underrated players in the league.
Golden State looks to be headed in the right direction and might make the playoffs this season.
This is video of a news story about Lin by a local TV station and his interview for the team website.
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