What a story this Asian American kid from Harvard is making in the NBA. From being a player that had no scholarship offers, to being undrafted, to being buried on the bench and on the verge of being cut again by the Knicks, to averaging over 30 points and 8 assists in his first three starts.
I also don't think it's any coincidence that the Knicks haven't needed Amare or Carmelo. Amare has never exerted effort on D besides trying to rack up blocks and steals on the stat sheet, and Carmelo is just not a team player plain and simple.
It is a great story just based on the production, leading the Knicks to a few wins in a row, and reenergizing the Knicks franchise and fan base. Then you add in his personal story of his heritage which is historic for the NBA, his draft status, and the college he attended, and you get probably one of the best stories of the year.
He is sort of one of those good news-bad news stories for the Rockets. Lin had been cut by his hometown team and no one had signed him. So Houston gave him a chance. He had looked pretty good with the limited chances he had (for example, Lin ripped the Las Vegas Revue types). However, with KLow loocked in as the starter at PG, and Goran Dragic the first PG off the bench -- it was clear he was not going to get alot of minutes if he made the team. And both those guys have indeed played very well with Houston currently the No. 4 seed in the West. Their third PG is Johny Flynn who they acquired in a draft night deal. Flynn was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2009 draft and showed some promise in his first season but then got hurt and could not ever get his minutes back with the TWolves (and once Rubio signed it was clear he never would). So the Rockets kept Flynn and cut Lin, who was eventually signed by New York where he was buried on the bench only a week or so ago. Now here is the kick in the nuts for Houston. The Rockets have the Knicks' first round pick for 2012 (top 5 protected). Until the Linsanity, it looked like this was going to be a terrific pick as the Knicks were playing themselves into the lottery (but were probably not going to be bottom-5 bad). Then D'Antoni decided to give Lin a chance to run his guard-oriented offense, and now NY can beat anyone, including the Lakers. So this guy who was the last cut by the Rockets has come out of nowhere to quickly decrease the value of that 2012 pick. The Rockets have a pretty clever GM (MIT Sloan School grad) but you know his gets the tightened sphincter with every new Linsanity moment. It's a funny world sometimes. Here is a short clip of Lin giving Landry Fields a nerd handshake -- Stanford greets Harvard
The fact that Lin went to Palo Alto High, led them to a state title (while grabbing 30+ wins and 1 loss), had insane numbers during HS and still was not recruited by Stanford is mind boggling.
And the real story is...Donnie Nelson was the first to sign him to a Professional contract for the Mavs Vegas Summer League 2 years ago. I was smitten by him at that time and hoped he'd make Mavs Roster. Lo and behold Donnie thought the same thing and offered him a 1-year Contract, but hometown Warriors offered him 2 years and of course he accepted. I've always though there was a little bit of a Nelson conspircacy here. As in, "we found him, so it's going to cost you to get him." But, as Mavs fan...wouldn't want to change Karma from last 2 years so I will gladly let the lowly Knicks have him. And, of course, the Rockets wouldn't know talent if it walked up and smacked them in the face. Hook'em!!!
If Lin keeps this up, he could end up costing me my fantasy basketball championship. The guy that picked him up is currently in third place, while I am sitting in first. Only the top 3 teams make the playoffs in my league, and top seed gets a first round bye. More than likely I'll face this guy in the championship round. If he wins because of Lin, I'll go ******* linsane.
Most fantasy sports are won in free agency. IMO if your league is decided by draft order then you have too many spots on the bench to hoard players. I picked up Cruz this year in fantasy football for example off the waiver wire b/c our league didn't allow many bench players. He helped me win a title. Of course I had Gronk and Brees too so that helped. But in my other league we had a huge bench and started 2 QBs, etc each week so there just wasn't anything available on the waiver. ******* gave me last pick in the draft and suprisingly I lost big time. If that guy picked up Lin then I say great move by him.
I think he is really Robbie Benson in makeup!!!!! Great story, I hope Lin's legend continues to grow!!!!
He looks pretty solid, not gimmicky--he should be able to keep playing this type of game, even if not at those averages. Good for him.
Crazy story.....damn near as big as Tiger dominating golf at a young age or the Williams sisters coming straight out of Compton to dominate Tennis. What Lin is doing is rather incredible. Stories like these dont happen in the NBA too often because to be able to play at that level requires a tremendous amount of talent....and most people wouldnt overlook someone as talented as Lin.
I just wonder how long is his level of play going to remain at such a high level. Is he a one month wonder, or will he play like this for a number of years?
What a player. He looks like at the very least...the very least, like a very good starting PG in the NBA. I actually think he's actually closer to the game of a perennial all-star. Here's the crazy thing though, he's playing even above that, at an MVP level, without showing any signs of slowing down. He's playing like a Steve Nash circa his MVP years or Isiah Thomas. Crazy how he was just in the D-leauge.
No question he's on a nice run and all but, with the possible exception of 1 or 2 games, he's not been doing this against very stiff competition. Let's see if he can keep it up against some of the better teams.
Sick of hearing about it now, sure, but two weeks ago when the thread started, no one ever heard of this guy. Life comes at you fast!
And now that Stoudemire and Anthony are back in the regular rotation the Knicks have started losing again...
D'Antonio just resigned. As of yet I haven't seen any indication he was forced out, but it'd be odd if he just quit in the middle of the season.
It's always hard to tell from cherrypicked videos - for example that foul by Harden at 3:07 shouldn't have been a flagrant as he was trying to get the ball and the contact was incidental. But overall at the very least it's a pretty accurate picture of the overall sad state of NBA officiating. Stars have different rules, home teams have different rules, there's rarely any consistency, and defenders are constantly whistled for minor contact that the offensive player jumped / dribbled into for the sole purpose of creating contact.
The increased attention given refs in the playoffs appear to be helping Lin He has the best plus/minus for the Hornets in the playoffs.
