My perspective is that talent wins games. We are more talented with him than without him?
The other players you mentioned:
STAT was horrible last year. What if injuries have taken their toll and he's never the same again? Looks like LJ all over again. Good/decent but not great.
Melo struggled with his weight. Kind of a bad sign for a superstar player. Him getting in the best shape of his life is imperative. BUT, what if he cant? Another thing. when Melo is shooting 5-20 at the start of the 4th quarter (like he did plenty of last year) Wouldnt it be nice to have some one capable of taking over a game? Like Lin? Is Felton going to do this? Kidd?
You're right, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just asking a question...how do you know that the Lin we saw in MDAs system, will be the same Lin we see this year outside of that system that gives PGs free reign, plus with the other 29 teams having advanced scouting reports to pour over all throughout the off-season, preseason, and then next season? Scouting reports that didn't exist last year.
How are we certain it'll be the same Lin. There's no way to know.
I'm not operating on the assumption that he will be as good or better, or even that he'll be worse. I just don't know. Nobody knows. Because the circumstances are vastly different.
You ask me "wouldn't I like to have a player that could take over in case Melo is having an off night." My answer is yes. Now my question is: How do you know that player is Lin now that teams will have had 4-5+ months to compile all sorts of analytical data that didn't exist when Linsanity was happening...the time period you're basing everything on...
It's not the same, and we don't know. So based on that, I'm not broken up about it.
Now if Lin comes out balling next season, I'll have been wrong, and I can deal with that. I'm just being painfully objective.