HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – It’s awful quiet on the Linsanity front these days.

That might have something to do with the fact the fact that Houston Rockets’ point guard Jeremy Lin isn’t generating the sort of attention most folks are used to from a player who became the global toast of the game last season while starring in New York.

There’s a reason for that, though. Lin, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, is still trying to work his way back from the knee injury that ended his season prematurely:

Though he has not had any setbacks or missed practice time, Jeremy Lin acknowledged on Tuesday that he is still working his way back from last season’s knee injury.

Lin had always maintained that he was 100 percent healthy, though Rockets coach Kevin McHale had often spoke about Lin’s comeback. On Tuesday, Lin said he expected to be at full speed in time for the Oct. 31 opener, but was not there yet and does not expect to play extensively in the preseason opener.

“My speed and my explosiveness and my agility (are not) there yet,” Lin said. “I’m still trying to recover from knee surgery and get to where I was pre-surgery. I probably won’t get to play too much. Hopefully, as the preseason goes on I’ll get to play more and more to build that endurance.”

The Rockets have to have Lin in “pre-surgery” form by Halloween. With the amount of responsibility they have placed on his shoulders and the fact that he is the unquestioned face of the franchise, Lin has to be ready to go.

But it makes the conspiracy theorists among us wonder, did the Knicks know something the Rockets didn’t about Lin and his knee injury when they allowed him to walk in free agency?