It’s a good thing Kobe Bryant doesn’t own the Warriors or Rockets. He would be looking to fire the front office for giving up on Jeremy Lin after their close-up looks.  The Lakers star, one of the early victims of Linsanity, said the fairy tale is as much about the ineptitude of some league executives as it is Lin’s meteoric rise to an All-Star caliber point guard.  Read more after the jump.
“The biggest thing to me is how everybody missed it,’’ Bryant said yesterday before the All-Star Game’s practice session. “They all would be fired if I was owning a team. I hear this stuff, ‘It came out of nowhere.’ I think it’s a load of [garbage]. You can’t play that well and just come out of nowhere. There has to be something there and everybody missed it. So heads would roll [if I was owner].’’
Before facing Lin at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 10, Kobe admitted he had “no idea’’ what Linsanity was, then it smacked him across the face when Lin dropped 38 points and 10 assists on the Lakers.
Many of the All-Stars have been barraged with questions about Lin during All-Star Weekend, much to their chagrin. Andre Iguodola responded to a Lin query: “Who?’’
Steve Nash, to whom Lin has been compared to most often because of how they expertly run coach Mike D’Antoni’s speedball offense, remembers facing the former Harvard point guard last season when Lin was a Warriors rookie. Nash said he is much improved.
“I don’t think anyone saw it,’’ Nash said. “He’s improved a lot. Last year I thought he had potential to be a good player but was still learning, still developing. He’s improved his skills as a good playmaker on pick-and-rolls and getting to the foul line, finishing, finding openings for shots but also making his teammates better. He’s a good fit [for D’Antoni], but he could be a good fit whoever needs him.’’
Last week, Nash cracked he is “the Canadian Jeremy Lin’’ — a nickname he may have first read in The Post on Feb. 9, a joking reference that isn’t so absurd anymore.
