Jeremy Lin - Superstar or Flash in the pan

[whomario]

A/TO don´t really translate from College to the NBA as far as i know, it´s not like with rebounds that there is a strong correlation because of the difference in offensive and defensive schemes.

As for his TOs, his Turnover ratio actually isn´t that bad.
His TOR in his heavy-minute games has been : 4.3 / 27.6 / 10.7 / 17.3 / 18.1 / 24.4

Some benchmark season averages : Nash 24.4 / Rubio 22.7 / Rondo 22.4 / D.Williams 17.7 / Calderon 16.9 / Paul 11.9

He simply had the ball a shitload with the lack of other ballhandlers/good players next to him, his Usage was in Kobe Bryant territory every game.

His Ast ratio is fairly low, as other said he´s a scorer that also passes the ball a bit, not the other way around like Nash.

[Young Drachma]

That fucking crowd.

[Young Drachma]

Why Knicks Jeremy Lin is much better story than Tim Tebow - Michael Rosenberg - SI.com

People just don't do what Lin has done unless they're really good. Watch him and you see uncanny court vision, very good length for a point guard and the ability to score in a variety of ways, even though he is not a great pure shooter. The league will start taking away his strengths and he'll have to adapt. But he is clearly a starting point guard in that league.

Now, imagine if Tebow went to Harvard, and was undrafted, and played a year in the Canadian Football League, then signed with an NFL team as a third-string quarterback, and suddenly played like a Pro Bowler. In other words: Imagine he had a career path like Kurt Warner, who went from bagging groceries to NFL MVP.

If you want to compare Warner to Lin, you're onto something. But if Lin keeps this up, he can become a more amazing story than Warner. Why? Because it's much harder to shock us in the NBA than in the NFL.
Tom Brady was the 199th pick in the 1999 draft. Joe Montana went 82nd in 1979. Warren Moon went undrafted. (Racial stereotypes of the era surely played a part in that one.)

They were exceptions, of course -- plenty of top quarterbacks, like the Manning brothers, Elway and Troy Aikman, were No. 1 overall picks. Still, good starting quarterbacks do come out of nowhere sometimes.
Compare that to the NBA. Of the 24 players picked for this year's NBA All-Star Game, 18 were top-10 picks and five of the other six went in the first round. (The only exception: Marc Gasol.)

Jeremy Lin came from nowhere in a league where nobody comes from nowhere. He is a better story than Tim Tebow, and that's not a shot at Tebow. At the moment, Lin is a better story than anybody else in pro sports.

[BishopMVP]

He can't really go left, and his outside shot is inconsistent. He may be able to work on these weaknesses and become a quality NBA starter in a year or two, but I think he'll have a hard crash this season as teams start watching film on him, focus on forcing him left/sink off him, and his shot goes cold for a few games. Brandon Jennings' rookie season might be a very good comp for how his year will go imo.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Flash in the pan.

Very disappointed that no one has called him a flash in the wok.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Very disappointed that no one has called him a flash in the wok.

Sorry, my racist sayings mechanism is broken. I'll have to get it fixed.

[Ksyrup]

Oh come on, that's just funny. There's no racism intended.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Oh come on, that's just funny. There's no racism intended.

I was mostly trolling, not being especially serious that time.

[spleen1015]

ESPN had a little montage of Lin on SC yesterday. It showed all of his great plays and then it showed a bunch of Knicks fans etc. The last guy they showed was clearly of Oriental descent and he said "We rove Jemery Rin!!"

I was surprised ESPN included the guy at the end.

[Ksyrup]

Personally, I find cooking with a wok superior to the average pan, so I think it was actually a compliment.

[stevew]

I don't think it becomes racist until someone starts talking about the Rinsanity.

Anyways, with the China voting, i can see him being an all star starter next season. Assuming he puts up 15ppg and like 8 assists.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Oh come on, that's just funny. There's no racism intended.

"I have a lot of asian friends!"

:shurg:

I thought it was a bit racist fwiw.

[Ksyrup]

Really? Doesn't it have to be derogatory to be racist? It's just a play on words. I guess I come from the perspective that racism involves a conscious effort to demean or hurt someone, and that a joke based on a play on words involving a cultural reference to a cooking utensil doesn't really qualify.

Things like this always remind me that maybe I need to be a little more sensitive about my heritage. But I guess it's precisely that I don't give a shit or take it personally that makes it hard for me to understand how something like that could upset someone.

This one is hardly an original - I've already heard it 2-3 times in the past several days. But it's certainly not as popular as the one that's burning up peoples' FB statuses about driving. And I've yet to see a flame war break out on FB about it, but maybe I've just missed the outrage.

Learn something every day, I guess...

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Really? Doesn't it have to be derogatory to be racist? It's just a play on words. I guess I come from the perspective that racism involves a conscious effort to demean or hurt someone, and that a joke based on a play on words involving a cultural reference to a cooking utensil doesn't really qualify.

Things like this always remind me that maybe I need to be a little more sensitive about my heritage. But I guess it's precisely that I don't give a shit or take it personally that makes it hard for me to understand how something like that could upset someone.

This one is hardly an original - I've already heard it 2-3 times in the past several days. But it's certainly not as popular as the one that's burning up peoples' FB statuses about driving. And I've yet to see a flame war break out on FB about it, but maybe I've just missed the outrage.

Learn something every day, I guess...

For some your intent doesn't matter. It is all about how what you've said impacts them. The fact that they can or want to interpret what you said as racist makes it racist. Why should you have to censor yourself for them? That's what I think.

[Ksyrup]

I didn't mean to derail the thread or anything. We've had this discussion around here before. Nothing to see here.

[Groundhog]

My own call on Lin from what I've seen (3 of his super games) is that at this stage there are three things I know he can do well at an NBA level - #1 get to the basket and finish, #2 hit open jumpers, and #3 defend the perimeter fairly well (although needs to work at getting over screens).

The biggest issue I have with him is his carelessness with the ball and his erratic passing, which at this stage I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt considering he's only played a handful of games with meaningful minutes. The Knicks lousy floor spacing doesn't help with his passing, either.

There's no way he keeps up this current Prime Tebow Pace but really, I don't see why he can't be a 15ppg on this squad with Carmelo back, and I don't see Baron replacing him unless he really falls off.

[rjolley]

I think they're crazy to even consider going with Davis unless Lin turns into...hell, I think they'd be crazy to go with Davis under any circumstance.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Really? Doesn't it have to be derogatory to be racist? It's just a play on words. I guess I come from the perspective that racism involves a conscious effort to demean or hurt someone, and that a joke based on a play on words involving a cultural reference to a cooking utensil doesn't really qualify.

Things like this always remind me that maybe I need to be a little more sensitive about my heritage. But I guess it's precisely that I don't give a shit or take it personally that makes it hard for me to understand how something like that could upset someone.

This one is hardly an original - I've already heard it 2-3 times in the past several days. But it's certainly not as popular as the one that's burning up peoples' FB statuses about driving. And I've yet to see a flame war break out on FB about it, but maybe I've just missed the outrage.

Learn something every day, I guess...

Ask this guy if you want to be sure

Yo, Is This Racist?

I'd be willing to bet that Asian people probably wouldn't find it particularly funny, if you want the sniff test.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

He also wasn't a five star recruit coming out of high school who was being recruited by every major college, wasn't on two college national championship teams and wasn't a first round draft pick.

Wasn't he California's high school hoops player of the year? He certainly produced and led in his high school years. The guy has be a very, very productive player at each level he has played at, and seems to play his best in the biggest moments.

Originally Posted by whomario

I also need to say that the crowd reaction in Toronto was both awesome and terrifying, i sounded like a knicks homegame at the end.

Toronto has a very, very large Asian, and particularly Chinese (biggest in North America I believe), population. Not surprised at the reaction at all.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Wasn't he California's high school hoops player of the year? He certainly produce and led in his high school years?

BOYS PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jeremy Lin / A knack for the big play

Northern California D2 player of the year and First-team all-state.

[Young Drachma]

From some guy in the ESPN comments:

24, 22, 24, 24, 29, 20, 16, 26, 31, 26, 21

Those are Flip Murray's scoring numbers in his first 11 starts. He was a 2nd round draft pick from a DII college who barely played his rookie season. When Ray Allen went down he got the surprise start and exploded, leading the Sonics to a 7-4 start. Then teams figured him out, he got demoted back to the bench, and faded to a 12.4 ppg average. He never managed to match that again the rest of his career and never became an NBA starter

[Uncle Briggs]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

I'd be willing to bet that Asian people probably wouldn't find it particularly funny, if you want the sniff test.

My wife is asian. I asked for an authoritative opinion. She says if he is from somewhere that they cook with woks instead of pans, it's funny. If not, it's racist but still funny.

[Groundhog]

Re: Flip Murray, yeah, that happens, and that's what seperates the good players and the fringe players. People are going to start gameplanning Lin, and I saw the Lakers and the Raptors doing exactly that, trying to take him out of what's been working for him. So far so good. What separates him from Murray and Dajuan Wagner (as another example of a guy that blew up for a short period of games as a rookie) is that the rest of his game appears like it could be better rounded than any of those guys.

What I'm most interested in is what happens when he doesn't shoot the ball well or has a bad game. How is he going to bounce back from that? If he has a 2-12 shooting night with more turnovers and assists, how is he going to perform the next night and, more importantly, how are Carmelo and Stoudamire going to react when it happens?

[Groundhog]

6 points on 2-4 shooting to go with 9 assists and just 1 turnover at the half. Sure, it's against the Kings, but still, the kid is showing he can do more than score the ball.

[BillyNYC]

Lin has led the team in scoring since the streak due to necessity. With Melo and Amare (until last night) out, there were limited options to score points. Someone like Novak picked up the slack, but Lin has shown the ability to create his own shot and/or get to the FT line, so he has.

He's also been the ballhandler due to necessity. Toney Douglas was mainly the primary PG pre-Lin and was averaging 2.3/1.8 (assists/turnovers): Toney Douglas Game By Game Stats and Performance - New York Knicks - ESPN Lin is turning the ball over a bunch, but obviously runs the offense better and has led to many easy baskets for his teammates.

Fatigue has to play a role, regardless of how well-conditioned he may be. Someone mostly riding the bench suddenly has to play 35+ minutes every night, almost all of it being the ballhandler AND primary scoring option on every possession. Some of the turnovers and bad shooting spells relate to that.

Long-term, I think the first half tonight is a bit more representative of what he'll contribute: 6 points, 9 assists, 1 TO in 17 minutes. He won't have 15+ assists/game, nor a 9:1 A/TO ratio, but he'll be more of a distributor than a scorer. Especially when Melo comes back, he won't have to score 25 points. He can focus more on creating, which will lead to less turnovers, more assists, and less scoring. As a Knicks fan, that's fine by me.

(And as a Cornell alum, I should note that Lin was 1-5 against Cornell as a starter for the Crimson.)

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

6 points on 2-4 shooting to go with 9 assists and just 1 turnover at the half. Sure, it's against the Kings, but still, the kid is showing he can do more than score the ball.

I was going to make a comment about the lack of TOs, but he ended up with 6.

[JS19]

Has anyone in sports ever had a more malleable name? The play on words, or his name in this case, doesn't seem to end. Linsanity, Linbelievable, Linderalla Story, Super Lintendo, Linception, Linsational, Linning, All he does is Lin Lin Lin.. it goes on and on.

Haven't been much of a basketball fan in years but this kid has got me watching quite a bit lately. Not sure what he'll end up being, but it's been a fun ride so far.

[Ramzavail]

Really? Taking Credit?

In a interview with Rick Quan, Rex Walters responded to the question of feeling that he was a pioneer for Asian-Americans. He responded - "I consider myself Japanese-American. I just don't look it. People are always surprised. Now we got a guy like Jeremy Lin breaking barriers, I'd like to think I played a small part in that". He later added, "People ask me who I am? what I am? I am a Japanese-American, I take great pride in that."[4]

[Groundhog]

Only reason I remember Rex Walters is that I had a basketball card of his from what must've been around 94 or 95 with the Nets, which I remember because it was an early example of a terrible photoshop, which showed him dunking on a backdrop that he'd clearly been pasted on to.

[Ramzavail]

Well I'm a Net fan and vividly remember him sucking and never thinking he was Japanese let alone thinking he played a small part in breaking down barriers for future Asian basketball players like Jeremy Lin.

Drazen Petrovic and Detlef Schrempf broke down barriers for European basketball players like Dirk Nowitzki. Rex Walters didn't do shit.

[stevew]

I thought Rex Walters was actually Rex Chapman for a second. I guess we had 2 Non-grossman Rex's.

[Neon_Chaos]

Speaking of puns... My friend is already preparing "Lindenburg", in case Lin has a string of bad games.

[Galaxy]

Jeremy Lin and the Guy Who Saw Linsanity Coming - WSJ.com

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by BillyNYC

(And as a Cornell alum, I should note that Lin was 1-5 against Cornell as a starter for the Crimson.)

Speaking of Cornell basketball (and adding to the "scouts vs statheads" player evaluaton debate, as sort of a counterpoint to Galaxy's post)...

The Cornell Basketball Blog: “When I played against Jeremy Lin”

[Logan]

The All-Linsanity Mailbag - Grantland

Simmons' analysis of his game, where it could go, and some of the racial stuff down towards the bottom.

[Logan]

Forgot to mention that I thought the LeBron angle was one of the better aspects of that column.

[Easy Mac]

Was anyone else hoping for a "Lin Ten Ten" headline after his first double-double?

Also, I don't really think Linbelievable works. It needs to be words that start with "in". Lindescribable works better.

[Young Drachma]

Lin Vs. Tebow : NPR

[Julio Riddols]

Linconceivable?

[Logan]

Are New York’s Most Exclusive Restaurants More Eager To Seat Jeremy Lin Or Eli Manning? Deadspin Investigates

[mckerney]

[RomaGoth]

Poor Jean-Luc....like he doesn't have enough to worry about running a top-of-the-line spacecraft.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Logan

Are New York’s Most Exclusive Restaurants More Eager To Seat Jeremy Lin Or Eli Manning? Deadspin Investigates

This was great.

[whomario]

Knicks are close to signing JR Smith.

If Lin manages to still produce and keep the team functioning with not just Anthony but also Davis and JR Smith joining him the i´ll be very impressed

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

This was great.

I like how Lin would go from sleeping on his brother's couch to having an assistant, and eating out at the most exclusive ($$$!) restaurants in NYC within a matter of basically hours.

[stevew]

Yeah, that gives them like 8 or 9 players. Chandler/Amare/Melo/Fields/Lin. Plus Smith, Davis, Jeffries

[stevew]

Still need another big though.

[Groundhog]

You know, watching all these Knicks games, I've gained an appreciation for Jared Jeffries. He should never ever ever ever take a shot from more than 2 inches away from the rim, but I'm starting to see how the Big Blank Boxscore has stuck in the league for so long.

[Young Drachma]

Knicks’ Jeremy Lin added to roster of players for Rising Stars Challenge in All-Star weekend - The Washington Post

[whomario]

Yao(mania) commenting on Lin :

Yao among many Chinese fans rooting on Lin's success story | NBA.com

"What I see from Jeremy and what I hear in his interviews is he appreciates everything. He pursues his dream. His attitude is so peaceful, but there is strength to him. It is not a violent strength like fire or something aggressive. It is like the ocean, very peaceful, very quiet when you look at it. But you can never underestimate the power that is in there."

Bill Walton couldn´t have said it any better (btw, is he still doing commentary for the Kings sometimes ? We need him on ESPN or sth for a Lin game asap, that´s propably the last thing missing in this story)