NY Knicks' Jeremy Lin: Tim Tebow's Version of the NBA?
There's a new kid in town that's making a lot of noise in the NBA arena recently and he's name is Jeremy Lin. What makes him a crowd favorite and the newest darling of the NBA?
For one thing, he's the first American NBA player with Taiwanese-Chinese descent. He's also highly educated and funny. He came from an Ivy school like Harvard not known as a hot basketball recruiting school by NBA scouts and NBA executives. Well, that may all change now because of Lin.
It's not uncommon to find rags-to-riches stories in the NBA but Jeremy Lin is the total opposite. The Bay Area native graduated from Palo Alto High School, in the heart of affluent Silicon Valley. Lin attended Harvard University and graduated with an Economics degree in 2010. He was named All-Ivy First Team twice and All-Ivy Second Team once during his stay. In his senior year, Harvard achieved some of its best records.
Lin failed to get drafted in the 2010 NBA draft, but was invited by the Dallas Mavericks to join their NBA Summer League team. It was in one of the Summer League games where Lin gained notoriety after out-playing then number one pick John Wall. The Mavs and the Lakers offered Lin contracts after his solid Summer League performance, but the 6-foot-3 point guard opted to play for his home team instead. The Golden State Warriors signed Lin in 2010.
But in the off-season following the NBA lockout, Lin was cut by the Warriors to make cap space for an offer to center DeAndre Jordan. After the lockout, Lin was again waived by the Houston Rockets, before finally being signed by the New York Knicks.
As you can see, this guy makes a roller coaster journey in the NBA, but wait, those days may now be over for this unlikely NBA rising hero dubbed by a huge number of basketball fans as the "Tim Tebow" version of NBA.
Anchored on his stellar performances last week on the basketball court, Lin was just guaranteed $800,000 by the New York Knicks. His new contract hopes to bring stability in the rookie's life, as he was reported to have no permanent home at the Big Apple. Lin, in fact, disclosed that he had been living with his brother who studies in NYU.
They say that good luck comes to those who patiently wait and is kind. Jeremy Lin certainly is humble and waited long enough and now he's blooming and shining as the NBA's newest Cinderella story.
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