1. How ironic is it that the Warriors drafted 2006 New York City Player of the Year (Student-Athletes) Charles Jenkins to take the place of the Bay Area's 2006 California DII POY, Jeremy Lin, now in NYC? I think before they did, they should have checked out the list of top point guards who've come out of Cali: Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Baron Davis, and Russell Westbrook just to name a few off the top of my head. We know how to grow point guards here on the West Coast.
2. I'm going on record to say that the waiving of Jeremy Lin will go down as one of the worst moves in NBA history. It'll be right up there with Portland taking Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan.
3. Jeremy Lin an NBA MVP candidate? or should I say LinVP? Sound crazy? Well, not in Vegas. They have him at #10. Also, JLin ranks #11 in PER at 23.49. Steve Nash won his 2005-2006 MVP at PER rank of #14 at 23.29 and in 2004-2005 with a PER rank of #18 at 22.04. If the Knicks keep winning, JLin will be in the MVP conversation with LeBron and Durant.
4. What we are seeing now with the racial junk from the media is nothing compared to what Jeremy has had to deal with for years. He not only had to deal with "I got this guy" from all the opposing players wanting to guard him because he didn't look like a baller, to "you got the wrong day, tomorrow is open gym for volleyball" or "are you the trainer?", not to mention ever single asian racial slur in the book, straight to his face from players and fans alike. However, all of these obstacles have made him who he is today, a mentally tough minded player who plays like an assassin. He has also modeled the way to deal with this. He never brings it up to condemn or to us as an excuse, but doesn't hide it either. His play as well as the way he gets along with all of his teammates, opposing players, and coaches will do tons of good for race relations in regards to the way Asians are viewed and treated.
5. Jeremy's mom is an Engineer but she spent most of her time while the boys were growing up, driving them from practice to practice to practice.
6. Check out the highlights against the Hornets below. The stroke starting to look sweet.
7. The Mavs are playing well in their last few, especially Dirk. He will be a tough matchup for the Knicks. Also, can't wait to see the match up of the old guard and the new guard. JKidd vs JLin.
anybody got links to this afternoon's game??
ReplyDeleteThe Bowie Jordan thing is already swept away compared to Linsanity.
ReplyDeleteBowie was a #2 overall pick on a team that already had superstar Clyde Drexler at SG. He was a 7'1" center for a team that needed a 7'1" center. A hobbled Bowie did play solidly for the NJ Nets and helped them get to the playoffs. So there was some value in Bowie.
Lim, on the other hand, is probably the best young NBA player to enter the league since Kevin Durant. I already consider him a better player than even 2011 MVP Derrick Rose who puts up big numbers on a team that is a championship contender WITHOUT him. Switch Rose or Westbrook or any other young pg with Lin and I don't think they would do as much for the Knicks as Lin has.
I think Lin has a superb chance of winning MVP. I'll go so far to say that all he has to do is reduce his turnovers to about 4 a game. The Knicks do need to make the playoffs and win the majority of their games. Lin will score his 20, and that's all it'll take for him to be voted the NBA's best player.
Unlike Jason Kidd who will always be a suspect shooter, I have always felt that Lin was a solid jump shooter. I liked his jumper before he got coaching from that girl's high school coach, as he has always been able to shoot from outside. The criticism of Lin's jump shot is as unwarranted as the knocks on his size and athleticism are.
I certainly believe that Lin will earn a few awards by season's end. Certainly he is the runaway winner of "Most Improved Player". I also believe that he should be All NBA 3rd team right now, and he likely will vault to 1st team by season's end. I personally place more value on All NBA voting than All Star voting because All NBA is about who can play, not who's popular.
I forgot to mention that Mark Jackson was approached in a Starbucks about Lin.
DeleteJackson asked the interviewer who was.better, Curry or Lin. When the interviewer paused, Jackson said "Enjoy your coffee" and walked off.
Had that been me answering, I definitely would have said "Lin over Curry" or "Lin over Ellis" without hesitating. I tend not to be impressed by guys like Ellis and Curry who are erratic high volume shooters who don't do anything other than shoot the basketball inconsistently. I actually.consider Lin a better field shooter than either Curry or Ellis, plus Lin is so much better than both of them in all other aspects of the game.
I understand that Jackson has to side with his own player. But if I were choosing teams, I'd pick Lin before Ellis and Curry.
Yeah, I wouldn't say that Sam Bowie pick before MJ would be that terrible. I forgot that GM/coach's name of that Portland team, which already had Drexler, said if he had to do it again, he'd still pick Sam ahead of MJ. You can say the same about Detroit Pistons picking Darko (OMG) over Melo, because they had already had Prince and that perfect chemistry going. Draft wise, I'd say ATL's pick of Marvin Williams over Chris Paul would be a much bigger mistake than others, because at that time the Hawks didn't have a top tier starting PG. By my memory, two of the worst GM moves in the NBA history would be Seattle trading Olden Polynice to Chicago for a lengthy forward named Scottie Pippen, and when Robert "Tractor" Traylor was traded for a German dude named Dirk Nowitzki.
DeleteI could actually understand why most of the teams passed Jeremy in the 2010 draft, because if we go back to his playing in the D-league with Reno, he was still a prospect learning how to be a PG. The game was flawed, and despite the superior basketball IQ, his D was the better half of his game. He did improve over the course of the season and showed the skills and potential to be that "at the very least a back-up PG" according to Musselman.
Of course, Jeremy worked his ass-off over the summer, and it was certainly unwise for the warriors to waive him before even taking a look at his development.
Great post of mark jacksons remarks. I was actually thinking of all the guards in the nba and see where jeremy ranks and I thought of stephen curry. Curry has nice game and can develop into a pretty capable point guard when he focuses on it. Before the lakers game, I ranked Lin on par with stephen. Now stephen is not even in the same universe or conversation with Jeremy Lin. Jeremy continues to improve by leaps and bound. He is like his own coach. I think he'll be a great coach one day but even a greater assistant coach at player development.
DeleteI have never thought highly of Pippen's game, even when he was All Everything.
DeleteOlden Polynice wasn't the greatest player,.but Pippen wasn't either. I think of Pippen like Rajon Rondo - a guy who makes the most out of being the secondary option. Without Michael Jordan, Pippen would not be as good as he was.
Ok, Pippen had that one good season as a Bull without Jordan. He also had that championship team of role players with him. Then Pippen faltered so badly next season that Jordan had to come back out of retirement.
Pippen had a good set shot, could drive in straight lines to the rim, and had that one hook shot going right. Apart from that, he was average at best in all aspects without Jordan covering up his errors. Pippen did.his damage strictly as a weak side unilinear slashing attacker who would attack the yawning gaps created by Michael Jordan drawing defenses to his side of the court the way Lin draws defenses today.
I'll say this though. If there ever was an "All Role Player" team, Pippen would be on it alongside Robert Parish, Maurice Cheeks, Robert Horry, and Derek Fisher.
KHuang - Lol, I love Lin like the rest of us, but please take off the Blue and Orange tinted glasses.
DeleteBest young player since Durant?! Kevin Love is already the best power forward in league--playing without a veteran supporting cast. I say he's 2nd.
Don't discount Curry either, put him on a team with a system that fits him and see his numbers jump. Playing for Golden State doesn't show his true ceiling--just ask Lin. He has the same fearlessness that Lin has, but better handles, FT%, and 3PT%. He's another that came from a small college that showed up big against top schools.
On a purely talent level, I wouldn't trade Westbrook for Lin straight up if I were OKC. Westbrook has been a beast this season, matching Lin's player of the week. Dropped 40 last night in a OT win over Denver. If Durant was hurt for the season, OKC would still be a playoff team because of Westbrook.
I like the rawness I see in Lin, but he's still a year or two away from becoming an elite player, but he's shown great progress from last year.
He still needs to work on his dribble--averaging 6+ turnovers as a starter is way too much. That doesn't include how many shaky moments where he was fortunate not to turn the ball over, but broke the flow of the play where the Knicks couldn't score.
His FT% needs to be at least 80%. Especially for someone who gets fouled hard a lot, he needs to make teams pay at the line.
Winning streak and late game theatrics aside these Knicks barely beat the Wolves and Raptors, while losing to a bad NO team.
The great thing is LINsanity is a now worldwide brand, he's going to attract the best trainers, coaches, etc...to make sure he becomes that elite player that I can't wait to see.
I don't wear glasses, and I am NOT a Knicks fan.
DeleteAmong Kevin Love, Stephen Curry, and Russell Westbrook, I would not trade even two of them for Jeremy Lin. Here's why:
Kevin Love has never played on a winning team. He's been losing like crazy over there in MN, though it is admittedly not all his fault. Until that MN team starts winning (and there are ample signs they might), Love as a player cannot be compared to Lin who has singlehandedly turned the lowly Knicks completely around. Besides, I wonder out loud if Kevin Love is more interested in padding his stats than actually winning the game.
Curry might perform marginally better in certain offensive categories than Lin, but he doesn't compare to Lin in clutch play, teamwork, defense, rebounding, or leadership. Curry is just as likely to shoot GS out of a game as he is capable of shooting GS into won. And undrafted Lin had it much harder from nonscholarship Harvard than Curry did at D1 Davidson where he was the 7th overall pick. Most importantly, GS isn't winning with Curry and Ellis in charge.
Russell Westbrook is the modern day Scottie Pippen - a weakside cherrypicker who doesn't draw primary defensive attention with a great scorer like Kevin Durant on the court. Unlike Lin who plays with just Amare Stoudemire as a proving scoring threat, OKC is stacked with young lottery talent that has at least 6 players that can get 20 on any given night. Lin is playing with a bunch of NBA castoffs (including JR Smith who looked good next to Lin), unlike Westbrook. Thus Westbrook has never experienced the kind of defensive pressure that Lin and Durant face every minute on the court. And if Durant AND Westbrook were injured for the season, OKC would simply start James Harden and their team of young lottery stars would still make the playoffs.
The turnovers are Lin's only blemish, but I'll take them for the 8-1 record. No player in NBA history has ever been a perfect basketball player, not even Michael Jordan who enraged his teammates just as much as he enraged opponents. Lin is playing like an MVP would, and no MVP has ever played perfectly.
People don't realize that Lin actually gets fatigued from battling the double and triple teams on every possession. Once Carmelo Anthony comes back to siphon some of that defensive pressure away from Lin, Lin's FT% will increase and his TOs will decrease.
Barely beating Toronto and losing to NO is expected. Amare Stoudemire had just come back from an extended layoff and is still rusty. The Knicks had a poor shooting game against NO which has suddenly become very tough with All Star Chris Kaman in the middle. In the NBA, any team can lose on any given night. Let's.not forget that the Knicks have won 89% of their games since Lin came aboard. Only the Spurs at 10-0 are doing better, and they have had their full team during this run. Lin doesn't have his full team yet.
Lin ALREADY is an elite player, as far as winning basketball games goes.
Lol, where should I begin.
DeleteI can understand not trading Lin from a business/PR perspective, but if someone offered Love AND Westbrook for Lin based on pure talen, giving you the best chance to win an NBA championship you'd be a fool not to take it.
Love is def a gamer, not interested in padding stats. Minn is just a bad franchise. Before Love, KG put many good years in there but couldn't make it happen. No great players can do it on their own, you need at least another elite. Kobe, Shaq, Bird, Magic, Jordan, Wade, Robinson all needed help....the list go on.
To discount Love's value because Minn isn't "winning" is laughable. Maybe the Celtics shouldn't have traded for KG or the Lakers for Pau because their teams weren't "winning". Yea, you can't win rings with those guys.
Maybe the Knicks shouldn't have picked up Lin because GS didn't win last year or he couldn't crack their starting lineup. But hey, one man's trash is another's gold.
Curry "marginally better"?
45% over 32% 3PT is marginal?
3 vs 6+ TOs is marginal?
Career 90% over 75% FT is marginal?
Improving any one of those is the difference between a 1 possession game against NO in the final minute with a chance to tie or win, than a two possession game with no chance of coming back. Against bad teams like the Raptors, Nets, or Minn you can get away with, but in 7 game playoff series....
Lol, on your excuses with the NO lost. They out-knick'd the knicks by having three key players out with injuries including their leading scorer, Gordon.
Lin is easily my favorite NBA player of all time. Being asian-am from the Bay Area, playing 4 years of high-school bball, I've followed Lin's story since Harvard. I definitely feel a sense of pride, but I feel devaluing other great players is on par with the scouts that didn't properly evaluate Lin. A sort of reverse discrimination now that Lin is the darling of the league.
If you think Lin is elite NOW, I can't wait to hear what you think in two to three years when he hits his prime.
You are a guy that values stats over WINNING. And there is nothing wrong with that.
DeleteThere is a lot that happens in basketball that does not show up on stats. It does show up in WINNING, though. And Jeremy Lin is more of a winner than any of the guys you named. It shows in the win loss column, and it would definitely show on OKC if Durant went down.
Even though you are a Lin fan, you fail to recognize the thing that Donnie Nelson correctly pointed out: Guys like Nash and Lin may not look like much to people like you, but they seem to WIN wherever they go. That's because basketball is not an individual sport and a guy like Lin can make his teammates better even if he makes turnovers or can't hit free throws.
What you need to do is stop looking at Lin just as a statistical failure for the sole purpose of flaming me. Look at the ESPN team stats for what Lin has done for the Knicks. The most telling stat was +/- in that it was something like 99+ to like 55- after and before Lin. I seriously doubt that the other players can boast that kind of statistic, even Westbrook.
Guys like you can nitpick Lin's individual game all you want. However, basketball is a 5 on 5 game in which a guy who isn't producing great individual stats can often be contributing to the win. I'd rather have a player like Lin have "bad" stats while his team wins than to have a guy like Love have great stats while his team loses. I am not entirely convinced Kevin Love is a winning player, though I accept that his team is bad.
Lin is the kind of great player that contributes mightily to winning whether or not his stats are great. And that is why he is one of the 5 best players in basketball.
By the way, Lin is in his prime NOW.
By the way, congratulations on being a 4 year HS player. I've coached a bit myself at the k-12 level, though I am no basketball expert.
DeleteLin is interesting to me because he has so many of the "intangibles" that guys who aren't big stat players do. Yet he also does get good stats to go along with his seemingly atrocious stats (high turnovers, low ft%, increasing tendency of opposing pgs to score against him, etc).
The way I see it, having bad stats doesn't mean one had a bad game. Similarly, having great stats doesn't mean one has a great game either.
My guess is that Lin will always "lead" the NBA in turnovers. I expect him to have wildly fluctuating accuracy from the perimeter too. But I do also feel that Lin does so much to help his team win that in the end it doesn't matter.
I am of the mindset that basketball value is subjective, not objective. So there's room for wildly varying opinions.
Ancient Kid vs. Asian Kid, I got Linsanity
ReplyDeleteNice game for Jeremy. Still with too many turnovers as we all know, but understanding that almost every play runs through him -it's somewhat expected. He will continue to grow and hopefully reduce the TOs.
ReplyDeleteI figured he would be successful, but honestly not at this level. It's a remarkable story and great for the Asian American community.
It's weird though, I've been following this site from the beginning. It was more "exclusive" when there were just a few comments after a d-league game or "another DNP"
Now that he has been "discovered", it's almost like some of the club-like atmosphere is gone.
Cheers to Jeremy, his family, and the die-hards on this forum. What an amazing ride and hopefully it continues for a long time!
ESPN did the right thing by firing the stupid jerk who put up the racist headline.
ReplyDelete"The ESPN employee responsible for our Mobile headline has been dismissed.
The ESPNEWS anchor has been suspended for 30 days."
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7591778/espn-statement-offensive-jeremy-lin-comments
suspending the sportscaster was for show...he had nothing to do with it. he doesn't write it and just reads it. if they had fired him, he would have just cause for wrongful termination lawsuit. the 30 suspension was to pacify the audience who wanted heads to roll. they got one head, and the correct head too.
ReplyDeleteIf we're talking about the interview with Walt Frazier, I would presume the sportscaster has some say in the line of questioning.
DeleteBut for sure it's for show. If JLin was in the D-League still, no one would care about whether Asians Americans were slighted or not. But now he's the savior of the Knicks. Great news for Asian Americans.
Jeremy Lin HAS been a bit more vocal recently. I think Rachel Nichols' ESPN interview with Jeremy CUT OUT a lot of what he had to say. He should go on 60 minutes where they do less cutting of the actual interview.
ReplyDeleteIn Nichols' ESPN interview Jeremy says "I hear people still saying I am 'deceptively quick or athletic, I have no idea what the is even supposed to mean, do I look slow?'. In response to stereotypes he says he can't just have one good game, he has to do it over, and over, and over, and over, until people will say it's for real. He even said that the most frustrating thing for him last year was he KNEW he had the ability, but... and then ESPN CUT OFF the rest of his sentence.
It's clear Jeremy Lin isn't your typical Asian model minority who accepts all racism as normal and just shrugs it off, he seems more in the mold of a Jackie Robinson or Mohammed Ali who definitely has a chip on his shoulder about it and isn't afraid to call out racism or discrimination.
Rachel Nichols is HELLA annoying...
Deletethat's great. the problems with asian americans is they are not vocal sometimes and it leaves idiots like witlock and maywhether taking cheap shots at asians. lin should be vocal but NOT to vocal where the media can take his quotes, twist it and make headlines out of it. he should just let his game speaks for itself and be humble.
DeleteAnon, I am glad you pointed that interview out. I thought Lin was about to unleash the dragon when he said those lines like "deceptive quick," when the reporters probably meant it in a positive way. Lin definitely took it in with a grain of salt. I don't know what ESPN cut off, but the point was well taken.
DeleteUntil now I feel Lin's handle the situation very well, almost better than his handling on the ball! His image helps conveying the message much better than some overly vocal opinions.
NO!!!!
ReplyDeletejeremy should not be vocal at all...... yet.
THE WORLD IS NOT READY yet.
Its not like african-americans shut out racism in 1 year.
its best if jeremy just keeps on winning, until more asians come to back him up. Otherwise, he is out numbered( like he isnt already).
The world isnt ready yet
He doesn't have to be. Jackie Robinson did the most by keeping it simple and on the field. The rest will take care of itself. He needs to just do "tunnel vision". If he doesn't play well, nothing else will advance for the Asian-American. Let the other sportswriter and people who are Asian American advocates do their job.
ReplyDelete"5. Jeremy's mom is an Engineer but she spent most of her time (while the boys were growing up) driving them from practice to practice to practice."
ReplyDeleteSee that is key. Thank you Jeremy's mom for supporting your family all these years!
The answer is "NO". Lin is already fighting discrimination by being so good at basketball they can't ignore him--ala Jackie Robinson.
ReplyDeleteWas watching Shark Tank the other night and Daymond John had some great advise for an entrepreneur who wanted to provide jobs to his hometown despite it being an ill advise move.
John said, "First you have to make it, then master it, then you can matter"
Right now Jeremy Lin has made it, he's in the process of mastering it (to avoid being flavor of the moment), then once he commands that respect his influence will be further reaching than if started whistle blowing today.
People need to stop attaching their political agendas to this kid and let him play ball.