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Jeremy Lin vs. Raymond Felton vs. Deron Williams

Posted By Howard Megdal On October 29, 2012 @ 11:47 am In Around the NBA | Comments Disabled

[1]So continuing the atypical way NBA players are comfortably dismissing fellow NBA player Jeremy Lin, Deron Williams this weekend described Raymond Felton as a better player than Lin.

Williams said this: [2]

“I would say Raymond Felton is a better point guard than Jeremy Lin, in my opinion,” Williams said. “Well, he’s just proven. I can’t go out and say that … [Lin] had a heck of a run.

“The numbers he was putting up were All-Star type numbers, when he was starting. We’ll see how he does this year. But going off of track record? I’m going to go with Raymond Felton.

 “And Ray probably had his best year [with the Knicks] … that half year he was there, he was averaging like 17 and nine. He definitely likes the bright lights, and they’re a good team with him.”


Now, some context. The track record Williams described is a 54-game stretch when Felton put up a Player Efficiency Rating of 17.3 for the Knicks back in 2010-11. Lin, you may remember, checked in at 19.9 over 35 games (26, really). Why Lin’s vastly superior stretch in 2011-12 counts as less real than Felton’s 54-game stretch the year before has never been clear to me. And that Lin has no track record beyond that isn’t necessarily a disadvantage when projecting 2012-13 and beyond, since Felton’s track record, beyond that 2010-11 stretch with the Knicks (running a different offense with different teammates and centered around a guy, Amar’e Stoudemire, who isn’t going to play for a while) has been underwhelming.


But even if we isolate on how Lin and Felton performed against Williams himself, Lin has the advantage. Lin’s famous coming out game took place against Williams on February 4, with 25 points and seven assists. Though Williams, admittedly motivated and irked by Linsanity, had his revenge with 38 points against Lin and the Knicks on February 20, Lin did not wilt, with 21 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals in the rematch.


Felton, in his game against the Nets last season, had 14 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. But he didn’t post those numbers against Williams, who was out with an injury. Back in 2010-11, the two played to a draw in a Utah Jazz 131-125 win over the Knicks with Felton checking in with 23 points and 11 assists, Williams at 24 points and 12 assists.


So exactly where does Williams get this argument? Well, the two have known each other since high school [3]. Williams has no relationship with Lin.


If dismissing Lin because he hasn’t been on Williams’ radar sounds familiar, that’s probably because it’s exactly how many NBA scouts managed to dismiss Lin’s performance last year [4], too.

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URL to article: http://knicks.lohudblogs.com/2012/10/29/jeremy-lin-vs-raymond-felton-vs-deron-williams/

URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://knicks.lohudblogs.com/files/2012/10/Wizards-Nets-Basketba_Megd.jpg

[2] Williams said this:: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/nets/deron_felton_better_than_lin_6ee4FbEooviMOsqOvLt9UM?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Nets

[3] known each other since high school: http://online.wsj.com/article/APcc70dd78498141269495194ebf63cd5c.html

[4] NBA scouts managed to dismiss Lin’s performance last year: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/judging_jeremy_never_ending_journey_jZAyjokqa5fMPDovPtrhoM