Jeremy Lin-Sanity: The NBA's Version Of Tim Tebow?!?

To be perfectly honest, with my Wizards enjoying yet another turrible season, I haven't paid too much attention to the NBA this year. The reasons are many, but obviously begin with the fact that I'm still a fan of a bottom-dweller, and doing so tends to sap some of your enjoyment for the sport as a whole after awhile. That said, a couple of weeks ago, I was in NYC and got to attend my first ever Knicks (home) game. And that's when I was introduced to Lin-Sanity.

Anyone with a brain knows the NBA has a litany of public relations issues. The league's returning from a lockout. Players are still considered overpaid and underachieving by the public as a whole, although I suspect that outdated notion is based far more on perception than reality. So, imagine the league's glee at the veritable rags-to-riches story taking place in it's biggest market.

Two weeks ago when I saw him come off the bench to play garbage time, Jeremy Lin was still just an end-of-the-bench fan favorite with his 3rd team this season, playing on a non-guaranteed contract. Two weeks later, he is an international cult sensation who has single handedly turned around the Knicks' season and just might be positioned as the NBA's version of Tim Tebow.[1]



I'm sure I will come across as a hater here, but there's no way Lin maintains this run. Sorry, but NBA coaching staffs (except for those in DC and Detroit) are smart, and eventually there will be enough game tape for opposing teams to start preparing for this guy.[2] He is still somewhat of an unknown entity, after all. The league's history is littered with "suddenly hot, suddenly not" guys like Adrian Griffin, Jamario Moon, Harold Ellis, and Aaron Brooks whose games suffered once opposing defenses inevitably discovered their weaknesses. And yeah, this Knicks team currently crippled by injuries to its two best (and highest paid) primadonnas. Once Melo' and Stat return, this squad's chemistry is undoubtedly going to be out of whack. So, this journey will definitely!!! might be short lived.

Still, Lin's proven he's an NBA caliber player, possibly even a fulltime day-to-day starter somewhere.[3] Coming from Harvard, undrafted, riding the bench in Golden State last year, getting cut twice, toiling in the D-League, and finally becoming a phenom in the Big Apple is about as good a Cinderella story as they come. And of course, for a league that just lost Yao Ming, the Bay Area-reared devoutly religious child of Taiwanese immigrants helps extend the league's growth and popularity in the Far East.

The sound you just heard was "chi-ching".

Question: Can Jeremy Lin keep up this pace?

[1] Hey, wasn't Jimmer supposed to be the NBA's version of Tim Tebow?!?

[2] You could argue this already happened the other night in Minnesota when Lin shot horribly.

[3] If he even proves himself to be a passable starter, that somewhere will most certainly not be the capped-out-on-three-players New York Knicks.