Jeremy Lin and the New Knicks

Before you left work on Friday, you may have never even heard of Jeremy Lin. Maybe you picked up on a few whispers around the office, rumblings on SportsCenter, and mentions here and there around the Internet. After all, although he had put up noteworthy numbers in three games, and pulled the Knicks out of a deep slump, he had yet to truly convince the NBA nation that he was indeed worthy of his new roll as starting point guard for New York. With three straight wins against middle-of-the-road teams, the Knick’s Friday appointment with the LA Lakers would truly test the validity of this Cinderella story. But today, after taking down both the Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves over the weekend, gracing the front page of ESPN.com, ruling SportsCenter, and gaining hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter almost overnight, it’s hard to avoid Jeremy Lin.

Jeremy Lin and Kobe BryantLin, a 23-year old Taiwanese-American Harvard graduate, was a last ditch effort for the Knicks after Carmelo Anthony was benched due to groin injury, and Amar’e Stoudemire took time off following his brother’s death. Before entering a game late against the NJ Nets, where he would score 25 points, and start a (as of today) 5 game winning streak, (where he’d put up numbers never before seen, even by Michael Jordan), Jeremy Lin had been passed around the NBA from the Golden State Warriors, to the Houston Rockets, and finally to the bench of the New York Knicks.  Lin hadn’t even been drafted out of college!

Yet it’s not like he’s a flash in the pan scorer! Not only can he drive and finish shots, but he’s making plays, passing and feeding the ball to previously underutilized players around Jeremy Lin Harvardthe court. And he certainly put up impressive, NBA-worthy numbers while at Harvard (a division one school mind you). So my question, and the question that’s on everyone else’s mind today, is how did Jeremy Lin get looked over? Why are we just now seeing his basketball genius and talent? Some blame the racial skews that still exist in the NBA, while others believe it’s his perfect fit in the system Mike D’Antoni has established with the Knicks. I don’t mean to regurgitate the same blogs and articles you’ve been reading. I’d just like to see what our readers and customers think of this new and rising NBA star that has captured the national spotlight, seemingly out of nowhere, and brought New York basketball back to life. What do Sports Unlimited‘s customers think of these new Knicks under Lin? Can he and Anthony co-exist when he returns to the court? Is “Linsanity” here to stay? Can we please come up with other sweet “Lin-icknames?” And finally, are we ready to spend the next normally devoid stretch of sports time watching “Linstant replays?”

By Brandon Porter.

Brandon is a product specialist at Sports Unlimited.