It seems like the Raptors always have somebody on their roster who’s underperforming. Way back when, it was Andrea Bargnani and Rudy Gay. Two seasons ago it was DeMarre Carroll. And maybe Jared Sullinger too (I don’t feel like looking up the timing of that big fat disaster). Last season it was our man Norman “Normal Powenn” Powell. This season it’s Jeremy Lin.
That sucks for Lin, but it’s good news for Powell, who was such booty cheeks last season that his contract was already gaining “albatross” status just a month into the season. Now he’s returned to the quality of play that earned him that contract in the first place. Raptors fans have shifted their deeply internalized angst from Powell to Lin. Their angst fuels me like oxygen fuels a flame. If they ever had a season where things were mostly going according to plan and there was no drama, I would wither up and die. The pain of Raptors fans sustains me.
That last point is why I sort of secretly hope that Kawhi leaves and Powell is forced to become the Kawhi replacement. I feel like he would be kind of okay in that role, and I feel like Raptors fans would be crying enough tears to permanently alter the lacustrine geology of the immediate Toronto region. Win-win.