Doesn’t it feel like last week was when Linsanity was unfolding before our young eyes? It does to me at least. Jeremy Lin is an American basketball icon. He broke countless stereotypes surrounding basketball and fought his way onto a roster every year. The only schools to guarantee Lin a spot on their basketball team was Harvard and Brown. However, since Ivy League colleges were not allowed to actively grant high school athletes collegiate scholarships, Lin had to get into university on his own. He just did that. He was described as one of the physically weakest players in the team his freshman year at Harvard, but continually drove to the basket with killer instincts fearing no defender. Previously, Harvard was scared that the school Lin grew up living next to, Stanford University, would offer Lin a scholarship. They did not, and neither did any Pac 10 (now Pac 12) school.
But hey, Harvard isn’t the worst place to end up am I right? I think as supporters of the beautiful game of basketball, we should all unanimously agree on one thing, first and foremost. Regardless of the physical shape or insane genetics or vertical, the best player who produces the most on the court should always have precedence in having the ability to be on the court. Maybe if that was the case all the time Kendrick Nunn and Shamorie Ponds wouldn’t have gone un-drafted in 2019, but hey it’s all good.
Lin’s superior play on the ball and his ability to move swiftly and fluently without it as well caused him to get a number of looks from NBA teams as his collegiate career began to wrap up. However, only one team offered Jeremy Lin the opportunity to participate in their training camp and summer league – the Dallas Mavericks under general manager Donnie Nelson. Imagine if Nelson hadn’t discovered Lin at the time, would Linsanity still have happened? Maybe I’m thinking a bit too far down the road.
After a stellar play in the summer league, Lin received offers from the Lakers, Mavericks, Warriors and a still unnamed Eastern Conference team. He ultimately joined the Warriors in 2010, a move that was made due to the Warriors lack of depth at the guard position which would give Jeremy Lin the best opportunity to make a squad in the NBA. Lin had ups and downs with the Warriors before the famous NBA lockout in 2011. He worked exceedingly hard during the lockout to improve his physical abilities. Doubling the weight he could squat, tripling the amount of maximum pull-ups he could previously do, added a handful of inches to his vertical – yet never got the chance to display his improvements for the Warriors. After being waived, the Houston Rockets claimed Lin off of waivers, yet already had three solid guard options – including future NBA champion Kyle Lowry. Lin was waived once again to be claimed by the New York Knicks, who were weak with depth at the guard position after an injury to the prominent Baron Davis. The rest is history. Until next time guys.
