Linsanity or Linderella Man? - Jeremy Lin's story

In most sports, there is a star who is a known throughout the world. In soccer, you have Lionel Messi, in golf, Tiger Woods, in American Football, Tim Tebow and in rugby Jonah Lomu was a name once synonymous with the game. Basketball had Michael Jordan, now it has Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Could Jeremy Lin be the next person to join this list? His heroics of the last few weeks have certainly cause quite a stir in New York. In many ways, he is overshadowing the New York Giants, who recently won the Super Bowl.

Written By Conor Philpott

So who is Jeremy Lin? He is a point guard for the New York Knicks basketball team. It is his second season as a professional basketballer, he was with the Golden Warriors franchise last season, but was never in the starting line up. Lin played College basketball at Harvard, many of the Ivy-League schools in America aren't known for their sports programmes and this led to Lin not being drafted. While American football, and ice hockey have large drafts with over 250 and 150 players are selected respectively, basketball has only two rounds where a total of 60 players are selected, this makes it incredibly difficult to gain a spot on a team. NBA teams can also pick players from other countries. Yao Ming, the former Houston Rocket, had never played basketball in America when he was selected number one overall in the 2002 NBA Draft. Eventually Lin was picked up by his local team from San Francisco, the Golden Warriors. Lin became something of a cult hero in the bay area. San Francisco has a large Asian population and his arrival was celebrated by the locals. By joining the Warriors and subsequently playing for the team, Lin became the first American of Chinese descent to play in the NBA. Lin had a decent season considering the glare put on him by some in the media, he didn't start any game but in his limited time on the court, he amassed around 3 points per game.

The NBA lockout hampered Lin's preparations for the new season, under the rules of the lockout, players and coaches could have no contact. Lin had spent time playing in the NBA development leagues during the 2011 season, but the new Warriors coach decided to release after the lockout was lifted. Lin was claimed by the Houston Rockets and despite playing two pre-season games, they decided to release Lin due to having 3 other point guards on their roster. New York was Lin's next destination, and he would serve as a backup while also playing in the NBA D-league (a development league, similar to a reserves side in soccer or an "A" team in rugby).

After an injury to a fellow Point Guard, Lin received his chance, after what head coach Mike D'Antoni described as a dismal run of form for his team. Lin recorded 25 points in the game against local rivals New Jersey Nets, as well as 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Lin continued his great play by recording 28 points and 8 rebounds against Utah Jazz. It was Lin's first career start, and if he continues his recent good work, it won't be his last. 2 days later, the Washington Wizards arrived in New York, and Lin was superb, notching 20 points as well as 10 assists for his first double-double. (a double-double is where a player receives double digits in two out of five categories. The categories are: points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocked shots)

The New York Knicks now faced the challenge of the LA Lakers, containing illustrious names like Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. The Knicks continued their good February form, and Lin was also beginning to show his performance were no fluke. The Knicks won by 7 points, Lin reaching another career high with 38 points, outscoring Kobe Bryant and earning praise from the Bryant who said: "Players playing that well don't usually come out of nowhere. It seems like they come out of nowhere, but if you can go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning. It probably just went unnoticed." Lin continued his hot streak by being the top scorer during the next two Knicks games, scoring the winning three pointer with less than a second to go. The Knicks were down by 17 points at one stage in the 2nd quarter. His comeback and ability to perform when his team needed him the most led to many comparisons with Tim Tebow and his last ditch comebacks with the Denver Broncos. He also led in the assists table. The Knicks have not lost since Lin first saw significant playing time, against the New Jersey Nets.


Lin is now the NBA's most marketable star. The traffic for the New York Knicks online store has increased 3000% over the last few weeks. Lin has now recorded 20 points,7 assists, and a steal in 6 consecutive games. He is only the 15th player to have done this in the last 27 years. Lin joins this list that includes such greats as Michael Jordan, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Isiah Thomas and Allen Iverson as well as current NBA stars like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Lin has overcome a lot of racism during his career, in College, he was told to "Go back to China" and other things of that nature. There is a stereotype in America that Asians are not the greatest at sport and care only for classical music and Mathematics. Hopefully Lin will help get rid of these stereotypes.

It could be said that Jeremy Lin is a lot like another man based in the state of New York, Victor Cruz. Cruz, a wide receiver with the New York Giants, won the Super Bowl this season and set a New York Giants record for most receiving yards in a season and is tied for the league record for the longest Touchdown reception at 99 yards. Both players were not drafted and have been outstanding in their second seasons as professionals. Cruz faced adversity of a different kind, growing up in Patterson, New Jersey, a well known drug hub in New Jersey. Cruz, of Puerto Rican descent, is one of a select few Puerto Ricans to achieve great success in American Football.

One thing is for sure, with a guy like Jeremy, the Knicks could keep on Linning.

niner wrote:I follow college basketball more than the nba but any guy that can get a team six wins on the bounce is a good player in my eyes. He did most of it without carmelo and stoudemire aswell. I read they are getting Jr Smith and If he keeps spreading the ball about the way he is, he will be great