Not of this World

Today is May 4th, and as some of you know May 4th is celebrated as Star Wars day. In all honesty, right now I am watching the sequel trilogy in preparation for “The Rise of Skywalker” which just came out on Disney+ today. So this really got me to think about players who were not believed to be all human. Like for instance people once believed Jordan was a superhuman or some sort of alien because of his leaping ability. I want to talk about a player that has been around the league for some time, but his burst onto the scene was close to an alien UFO landing on the White House lawn. This is the story of “Linsanity” and his amazing resurgence of a dying franchise and the subsequent and sort of quiet disappearance in the NBA.

Jeremy Lin is an Asian American basketball player who just happened to become a sensation for the 2011-2012 New York Knicks. Coming out of high school Lin was not heavily sought out as a basketball player and received no athletic scholarship offer. Instead, he went to Harvard, yeah Harvard where he became a three-time all-conference player for the Ivy League. Even though Lin was a good player he still wasn’t looked like the next superstar for the NBA. Instead of being drafted Lin was signed by the Golden State Warriors back in his hometown of San Francisco. Even though Lin found himself finally on an NBA team he was playing in the D-League (the NBA’s G-League now). Eventually, he was waved by the Warriors and the picked up by the Rockets and then waived again. For Lin the rode to the NBA and especially to a decent role on a team was a rough and almost unforeseeable one. Luckily for him, the Knicks were about to come calling and Linsanity was about to answer the call.

Early in the 2011-2012 season, Jeremy Lin signed with the New York Knicks. Although Lin played sparingly he put in tremendous work every day, showing up early and leaving after everyone else had already gone home. Whether it was putting in extra work with his coaches or putting more time into studying game films Lin was constantly working on his craft. So after a little time in the D-League and some choice injuries to some of the Knicks guards, Lin was now able to showcase some of his skills. Early in the 2012 year, February 3rd to be exact, the New York Knicks squandered a fourth-quarter lead in a Boston Celtics win. Apparently, in desperation, the coach Mike D’Antoni put Lin in the rotation for the Knicks against the Brooklyn Nets and All-Star point guard Deron Williams. Lin finished that game with 25 points five rebounds, and seven assists—all career highs—in a 99–92 Knicks victory, and thus Linsanity was born. Let me just start by saying this man was about to take the league by storm. Lin led the Knicks to a seven-game winning streak in his first seven starts. Probably his most famous game is when he faced Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Lin went off in this game scoring a new career-high 38 points and had seven assists, leading the Knicks in their 92–85 victory over the Lakes. He outscored the Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant who had 34 points. After the game, the New York Times were starting to become fans of Lin even stating that he was “the Knicks’ grandest stroke of fortune” since drafting Patrick Ewing in the 1985 NBA Draft. Linsanity had become a worldwide sensation especially in China where this was the first Asian or Asian American basketball superstar since the Chinese monster Yao Ming. The culmination of his efforts was rewarded however with Lin being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week averaging a stellar 27.3 points, 8.3 assists, and 2.0 steals in four starts. Lin came from nowhere and was suddenly the face of one of the biggest franchises in the NBA. At the end of this year, Lin had brought the Knicks back into the playoffs, but he suffered from a small meniscus tear and opted for surgery that ended his season. At the end of the 2012 season, Lin became a restricted free agent and eventually signed with the Houston Rockets. This did not prove to be as fruitful as his great 26 game start in New York.

Lin started at Houston and the team had high hopes for their new point guard next to Superstar James Harden. He struggled to play alongside Harden but finished third in All-Star voting but did not play in the All-Star Game. After this, he began losing playing time to other players and eventually fell into a good role player coming off the bench. After Houston Lin bounced around from team to team ultimately playing for the Lakers, Hornets, Nets, Hawks, and Raptors. Some good games are scattered around in his career, but nothing compared to his 2-3 months of stardom for the Knicks. Linsanity had the world by storm for a while, and it was a fun time to be a basketball fan during that time. Lin did a lot for Chinese American players who might not have gotten the recognition the so rightfully deserved. Now Lin plays for the Bejing Ducks in China where he is beginning to advocate for basketball programs for kids in China. Even though Lin was in terms of just a good player, not a star, not terrible most people remember him with his time with the Knicks. I think he is okay with that. It is better to be loved and lose it, than to never be loved at all, and trust me Linsanity was beloved at one time.

Hey, guys, I hope you enjoyed this story, and thanks so much for listening to me praise another player. If you have a player that just burst onto the scene please leave a comment. As for me, I guess I’ll see y’all next time, James.