NBA

Will Jeremy Lin Come Back For Game 5 Of The Knicks-Heat Series?

As the Knicks try to climb out of a 3-1 hole against the speedy and agile juggernaut that is the Miami Heat, they’ll do so with a backcourt that’s been decimated by injury.

Iman Shumpert? Out for the season with an ACL tear. Baron Davis? Done, due to a gruesome patella dislocation. Toney Douglas? Apparently kidnapped at some point in early December, and replaced with a stand-in who doesn’t know how to play basketball. This leaves 75-year-old Mike Bibby as the only active point guard on the roster.

This means…

It’s time to bring back Jeremy Lin before he’s ready! And risk his future! In a playoff series the Knicks are going to lose!

The point guard/momentary global phenom has been sidelined with a meniscus tear in his knee since March 24th, but the Daily News is reporting that a Game 5 return might be on the table.

It’s unclear if Lin would start or back up Bibby. It’s not even clear if he will return, but intermin coach Mike Woodson didn’t rule it out.

“I mean, I really can’t answer that,” Woodson said. “We’ll get back to the gym tomorrow and talk to doctors and see where everybody, where they are physically. And we’ll make some decisions before we get on the plane to head to Miami.”

Bringing Lin back early would be monumentally stupid. Set aside the fact that he’s dressed like Clark Kent in that photo for a second: he won’t be saving anyone’s day, he’d only be risking his future.

Lin would be returning against a team that gives him trouble, and in a series that the Knicks are going to lose. Why would you risk the next 5-10 years of a career — a career that’s going to be good — on a likely outcome as bleak as that?

Sure, meniscus tears aren’t as bad as torn ACLs, but they can lead to more serious injuries if you try to come back prematurely — this is what happened to Gilbert Arenas, and it’s the reason he’s a shell of his former self.

As Yahoo’s Kelly Dwyer notes, only the Knicks training staff truly knows how far along Lin has come in his recovery. But to bring him back before he’s anywhere close to, say, 90%, seems like a reactionary and short-sighted solution. And it’s one that could possibly put a young point guard’s future in jeopardy.

Then again, these are the Knicks. They love reactionary, short-sighted solutions.

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