Oregon guard Wei Lin brings the flair — and the fans

Wei Lin is far from a finished product.

Though he’s 21, with three years of professional experience in China, Oregon coach Dana Altman is quick to give the new guard the same cautious early evaluation he gives every first-year ball handler in his system.

“He’s still trying to get all the sets,” Altman said after Lin’s debut Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena.

The Ducks beat Utah 73-53 in an exhibition game that had far more juice to it than anyone expected. Oregon is coming off its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, has notable stars returning — such as Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad — and tickets were cheap.

But this is also a program that doesn’t exactly fill the stadium during the regular season, and Friday night featured plenty of surprise at the turnout — from Altman to reporters to staff on hand.

“I was really shocked,” Altman said. “The students really showed up and had a little atmosphere today.”

Part of that was undoubtedly attributed to Lin.

There’s been intrigue around the 6-foot-4 guard ever since he became one of the more unexpected additions of Altman’s tenure a month ago. Lin was born in Xiamen, a city of more than 5 million in China’s Fujian province. For the last three years, he’s played for the Nanjing Monkey Kings in the Chinese Basketball Association — the same team former Duck Joe Young played for from 2018 to 2020 after leaving the NBA.

Lin is a two-time CBA All-Star and is coming off a season in which he averaged 21 points, 5 assists and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 41% from the field and 35% from three. His highlight reel features an artistic array of pump fakes, floaters, fingertip passes and finishes that spark the thought: If that translates in the States …

Friday was the fan base’s first chance to get a read — and it was a long one thanks to a Shelstad hand injury suffered earlier this month that will likely keep the junior out to start the season. Lin started at point guard, received the loudest ovation outside of Bittle during introductions and wasted little time showing his potential.

In 25 minutes, Lin finished with 10 points, four assists, two steals and no turnovers. His first bucket came on a pump-fake floater. He later drove into the paint, froze a defender with another fake and dished to Bittle for a dunk for his first assist.

Then came the flair — an alley-oop to Bittle and a no-look behind-the-head pass to Ege Demir for a bucket while drawing contact.

“It’s a little different. He has a really high IQ of driving and when to hit people,” Bittle said. “Some of the passes he made today were great.”

It wasn’t a perfect night — Lin missed some open looks and went 1 of 3 from beyond the arc — but for a Matthew Knight Arena debut, the listed sophomore looked comfortable running the point, wasn’t a defensive liability and appeared to have earned the trust of his teammates despite the language barrier.

Bittle said there’s a lot of pointing and gesturing but also a universal language spoken on the court: basketball.

“When we say five passes, move the ball — he understands what it means. On ball screens, when we’re yelling ‘Go under,’ he understands all that,” Bittle said. “His English has gotten a lot better so we’re able to communicate a little more. He’s always understanding and asking questions.”

So here’s the bigger question: While Lin looks ready to take on point guard duties until Shelstad returns, what happens when the preseason All-Big Ten selection comes back?

“We’ll figure it out then,” Altman said. “Wei can make some shots for Jackson. Wei’s a pretty good shooter. Jackson can make some shots for him. A lot of it will be dictated defensively by how well these guys get after some people. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. A lot of that will depend on how Wei comes along here.”

For now, consider Altman impressed. He said Lin played better defensively on Friday than he had in practice, and he’s not about to rein in his new could-be star on the other end.

“You don’t want to take his aggressiveness away because he can score buckets,” Altman said. “It’s kind of like with Jackson. There’s a fine line there. You got to let them learn. They’re good scorers. They can create shots. So you kind of got to let them go.”