The second most basketball jersey to ever sell next to Michael Jordan is that of Jeremy Lin! The Jeremy Lin
phenomenon hit New York when he was traded to the New York Knicks from the Houston Rockets. After he played rookie for a year, he led a winning streak in the New York Knicks in February of 2012. But has the Jeremy Lin hype gone too far? There are plenty of rookies who have brought their teams out of losing streaks. Does anyone even know how the Lin-sanity started?
Jeremy Lin graduated from his California high school and matriculated to Harvard. He did not receive any scholarships, sponsorships, or interest from any NBA team, in contrast to Lebron James, one of the top NBA players of our decade, who was drafted from high school to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jeremy Lin was not recognized as a prodigy. Throughout his years in Harvard University, one of the top Ivy-League universities of America, he did not win any championships with his Harvard team, although he did become the first player in the Ivy League to record 1,450 points, 450 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals. This contrasts to Michael Jordan, one of the most famous NBA players of all-time, who won a championship in his college years at University of North Carolina (UNC) before getting drafted to the NBA. In the 2010 NBA draft, Jeremy Lin, now a graduate of Harvard, was not drafted. The last Ivy-League player to ever get drafted to the NBA was Chris Dudley, in 2003, from Yale and the last Harvard player was Ed Smith in 1954. Meanwhile, he played summer leagues with the Dallas Mavericks, beating top NBA player John Wall in points. After his win, he received contracts from top teams like the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, and others, but it was Golden State Warriors, in 2010, grabbed him up.
Before he even played his first game in the NBA, his jersey was for sale and he had his own fan club. His fan club was dominated by Asian Americans due to his making of history. Jeremy Lin is the first American born citizen of Chinese and Taiwanese descent to ever play in the NBA.
After his time in the Golden State Warriors, Lin was traded to the Huston Rockets. It took until December 27 of 2011 for the New York Knicks to sign Jeremy Lin after the NBA lockout. Now, that was one of the best decisions they ever made.
It almost seems like a fairytale for Jeremy Lin. His popularity was not only gained due to the amount of points he made in a game, but to this fairytale story. A Chinese-Taiwanese American was able to become one of the top players in the league is less than two years when all odds were against him. He is able to make history by being the first American born of Asian descent to play in the NBA, the first graduate of Harvard to get drafted since 1954, and one of the first players to ever be so popularized in his rookie years. Even to this day, he is still excelling in the New York Knicks. Yes, he may lose a game or two, but his impact on the NBA, currently, is tremendous. The Lin-sanity hype will not die down in New York – he represents what this country stands for: opportunities.
Here is a youtube video of The Rise of Jeremy Lin:
Great article! As someone who doesn’t know much about sports, it was interesting to read about the comparisons between Lin and other NBA players. I also really like how the reporter offered her thoughts on the symbolism of Jeremy Lin’s popularity!
I love the comparison of a seasoned NBA athlete and a star newcomer. I think Linsanity is such an exciting sport story to follow.
I like how you compared him to other NBA stars. It was very interesting.
I really enjoyed this reading this article. It gave me a great idea of Jeremy Lin’s past and what it took him to get to where he is. It was interesting to hear that the Lin-Sanity might not last because as of right now he is injured. Overall I thought this was a great article and I really liked reading it.