On December 12, 2011, Jeremy Lin was claimed off waivers by the Houston Rockets. At the time, the Rockets also had Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragić enlisted as point guards. On December 24th before the start of the season, in need of more frontcourt personnel, the Rockets waived Jeremy Lin in an effort to clear payroll and signed center Samuel Dalembert to a two-year deal.
Who knew that Daryl Morey and the Rockets would end up releasing the single biggest phenomenon in the 2011-12 NBA season?
Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle noted that Morey and Rockets brass are continually lauded and praised for their ability to assess talent. However, in the case of Jeremy Lin, even the Rockets are capable of missing the proverbial "diamond in the rough." Per Solomon:
It would have been nice if was he doing this for the Rockets, but as Daryl Morey tweeted, "Linsanity was not happening here this year."
Morey admits that the Rockets should have kept Lin, but also points out that while the Rockets didn’t know he was this good, no one did. So much for the local spin that the Rockets know more about evaluating talent than everyone else. They hit and miss too.
Its probably selfish to think about the "what if" of Lin wearing the red and white Rockets uniform, especially when you consider the emergence of Kyle Lowry and the All-Star caliber performance he's had this season. Lin may have never received enough playing time to truly show how good he is behind Lowry and Dragic, and as is the case with these types of things....they have a way of working themselves out for the better.
At least Houston can say Lin played for them at some point, 28 teams in the Association have yet to have that honor.