Linsanity, Lin-Time, whatever nickname or hash tag you want to assign New York Knicks PG Jeremy Lin is acceptable. Especially since he has been quite the talk of the town of late around the “Big Apple.”
Jeremy Lin, a 6ft 3in undrafted free agent out of Harvard University, has made quite the splash over the last week in NYC, scoring 109 points over his last four games in the NBA. Respectively, this is the most points ever scored by an NBA player in their first four starts.
So the question is, who is this Lin? Where did he come from and how did no other team pick up on his talent?
First things first. Jeremy Lin is a 2010 graduate of Harvard University, with a degree in economics. Coming out of high school, he did not receive any athletic scholarships. In fact, Lin was only guaranteed a spot on the bench by two schools, being Brown University and Harvard University. All of the other dream and hometown schools Lin wished to play for, UCLA and Stanford, at most offered him a walk on opportunity.
Coming out of college, Lin again received little to no attention among NBA teams. Of course being a native of Oakland, California, he did spark some interest post-draft time by his hometown Golden State Warriors.
In the summer 2010, Jeremy Lin inked a 2-year deal with his hometown Warriors, securing his first job in the NBA. But his time in Oakland would not last long, as Lin would eventually be waived by his first team prior to the 2011 NBA lockout.
So in professional sports terms, the Warriors front office felt Lin could not compete for a roster spot, and therefore cut him from the team.
But just shortly after his release, the Houston Rockets claimed him off of waivers only to later let him go, once again sending him to his second free agent stint within the NBA in less than a week.
Now with the NBA season opening on Christmas Day following the 2011 lockout, the New York Knicks locked up Lin on December 27th as a third option at point guard. Realistically, this would push Lin back to the fourth string point guard position, once rookie Iman Shumpert came back to full health.
The opening game for the Knicks saw Toney Douglas take the reigns as starting point guard, with veteran Mike Bibby as his backup. However, after too many turnovers and not enough intelligence at this position, the Knicks turned to Bibby as their full-time point guard.
But the issue here was that Bibby, being the 14-year veteran that he is, can only play ex-amount of minutes per game.
Enter Jeremy Lin. Who was called up from the Knicks D-League team in late January, earning a roster spot on the squad.
In his first game as a Knick, Lin tallied 25pts, 7ast, and 5reb in a win over the New Jersey Nets. Next game he made his first career start in yet another win vs. the Utah Jazz, recording 28pts and 8ast.
Since then, Lin has not looked back, assuming the role as floor general for the storied New York Knicks franchise. But one question remains, how will Lin fair when NBA superstars Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony return to the team?
Yes, it is important to keep in mind that “Linsanity” has taken place all within the absence period of both of the Knicks stud scorers, and clearly Lin is a scorer in his own right.
But can he coexist with these two upon their return? Only time will tell, but the Eastern Conference better take notice quicker than the teams that cut him did, if Lin, Melo, and Amare come together to build one big scoring machine.
