BEIJING (Reuters) – Jeremy Lin will have a “profound” impact on basketball in China and encourage future generations of Chinese players to chase their NBA dreams, commissioner David Stern has predicted. Lin, a Taiwanese-American whose roots make him highly marketable in Asia, burst onto the scene last season as an undrafted and overlooked Ivy League student, briefly igniting the flagging New York Knicks with his explosive play. …
BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Jeremy Lin will have a “profound” impact on basketball in China and encourage future generations of Chinese players to chase their NBA dreams, commissioner David Stern has predicted. Lin, a Taiwanese-American whose roots make him highly marketable in Asia, burst onto the scene last season as an undrafted and overlooked Ivy League student, briefly igniting the flagging New York Knicks with his explosive play. …
The Los Angeles Lakers are apparently going to think about implemented the Princeton Offense, or some version of the scheme that was made famous by the Ivy League. Apparently, Kobe Bryant is excited about this possibility, though it will be interesting to see how it transitions from paper to the court. Having a plan is one thing, but making it work with existing personnel is quite another. As intriguing as this offense is, should the Lakers try to implement it?
Mike Lupica knows the game of basketball as well as any writer in the country. He’s written books about it, books from the soul and personal experience, and was once a fixture court side at the Garden.
Today he offers interesting, and fair thoughts on Jeremy Lin. Would Lin be better off in Houston? To me, the answer is yes, but as we’ve said for so long the Knicks have no choice but to match. So it’s a moot point for a Sunday read. Lin can’t force the Knicks NOT to match and the Knicks can’t just let more potential Linsanity to leave without compensation.
A Knicks fan I know, one who loves basketball, both Lin and Kidd, sent me the following email on Friday:
“You may think I’m crazy but Lin might be better off in Houston from a career perspective although he can stand to make more money in endorsements in NY. Imagine trying to deal with Carmelo and Woodson.
‘Iso’ ball is street ball and that’s not Lin’s game. Kidd will find this to be a problem, too. He knows that you can’t just pass the ball to one guy. If I were Lin I’d seriously consider going to Houston, as much as I would love to have him here.”
So would I. Everybody knows what it was like around here when Lin exploded the way he did and people wanted to watch the Knicks again, and not because of Amar’e Stoudemire and not because of Carmelo Anthony, because of a Harvard guy off the end of the bench who hadn’t been able to keep a job in the NBA.
You know what happened after that, how D’Antoni walked away and how things changed for Carmelo and the Knicks when Woodson moved up the bench. Then Lin got hurt, here we are.
Everybody expects the Knicks to match the Rockets’ offer. But you look at the whole thing sometimes, and not just from the team’s perspective, and ask yourself one last question about Jeremy Lin and the unselfish way he clearly likes to play basketball:
I’ve lived the development life of basketball as a player and as a coach. My sole purpose was to improve myself and my teammates as a player and advance young players’ talents when I coached. It’s ridiculously competitive. With that said, let’s get one thing straight and it is an egregious error on Lupica’s part.
“Street ball” as he refers to it, isn’t Melo “iso” ball unless you’re playing with people 30 years old and up who have lost most all of their athleticism and need to use other skills to score. Street ball is guard dominated, not post dominated. Street ball at the younger level is the AAU game which is completely guard dominated. It’s why most bigs take forever to develop and the post game of yesteryear is fading fast. AAU is spread the floor and go to work aka a sloppier and less refined Mike D’Antoni system.
Lin wanted to play at Stanford but they were too athletic for him at the time so he went to play in the Ivy League. How many NBA players come from there? The Ivy game historically is a physical test of wits and discipline it just doesn’t produce NBA pros. Lin broke through because he was allowed to dominate the ball in a pick and roll system where he made all the decisions. That’s far more “street ball” than Woodson’s idea for Melo.
Secondly, it’s not a point guard league. The past two finals will tell you that.
If the Harvard man could make his own decision about the business of basketball, not his own marketing, what does he think the smartest play is for him?
To me, Lin’s smartest play is to take ownership of the team right away. He can’t be passive. He has to tell Mike Woodson that this is his team when he’s on the floor and that Melo, Amar’e et all need to follow suit. Rajon Rondo butted heads with his teammates but they should have two championships if Kendrick Perkins doesn’t blow his knee out. Rondo is a floor general in every sense of the word. Linsanity is yet to be defined over 82 games.
If you ask me there is far too many opportunities for distractions this season. The roster is clumsy. But the point guard’s job is to lead and have others follow. That trust comes through playing great, playing through pain and earning the respect of your teammates. That’s a big ask, but if the Knicks are going to be successful, Lin is going to have live up to the hype.
And to Lupica’s point, the hype here is far greater than in Houston.
If you haven’t noticed how NBA stars such as Russell Westbrook and Dwyane Wade have been dressing lately, you have been under a rock.
To press conferences, interview segments or even entering the arenas, these athletes have made guys like Craig Sager look good. If you haven’t seen how the TNT star Sager has dressed in the past, you may want to check out some of his pictures on Google.
Sager has even been told to burn his suit by Kevin Garnett.
Is it the new fashion or do these guys just want a new look? I’m often shaking my head when seeing these guys with millions of dollars dress like they are in the circus.
It’s funny, but would I do it? Not in a million years.
The wardrobes of choice have definitely went a bit south and to the extreme nerd level. From the glasses without lens to pink pants, these guys are pulling out all the tricks.
Are these NBA stars channeling out their inner geek/child? It’s safe to say that some haven’t looked in a mirror lately.
Is it a mockery of the NBA and its dress code? Perhaps, but I think a corporate image would look better than this. Hell, almost anything could look better than this.
It’s all in good fun, though. It’s nice to see some players having fun with their attire and enjoying getting dressed up for work. Perhaps the casual suit or shirt and tie is too played out.
Let’s just hope that these guys are making more headlines for their play on the court than the attire they wear before and after games. Still, I wonder how these guys feel wearing all this attire.
Their closets must be filled with different colored pants, tacky shirts and a couple pairs of glasses.
According to Westbrook, these guys have copied his swag with the glasses. According to King James, fashion comes and goes.
The risk seems to be higher than the reward if you ask me.
Some of these guys may seem to be looking for the Ivy League look rather than a professional athlete.It’s all in good humor, but how long can the nerd swag play out in the NBA? Time will tell.
‘Rise of the Nerds’ will be out to a theater near you soon. It will star the likes of Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and LeBron James.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
It almost doesn’t seem fair.
Without playing in either a preseason, or regular season game, without so much as a practice, there are NBA draft prospects deemed “busts” before they’re even selected.
Coming off a season in which Jeremy Lin became one of the NBA’s top stories, one might think Lin’s path to the NBA as an undrafted point guard from the Ivy League would help to change the traditional techniques used to evaluate talent.
Think again.
Even with the NBA draft one month away, there are already players who are seeing their stock fall. Falling draft stock doesn’t have to curtail one’s career. As Jeremy Lin showed this past season, even a player who goes undrafted can eventually make a huge impact in the NBA.
Falling draft stock will without question impact the money that player makes in his initial contract. There’s a big difference between the top of the lottery and the middle of the first round. Same goes for the second round, where guaranteed deals are in no way assured.
Which players are dropping right now? Who is being saddled with the dreaded “bust” label, and more importantly, can that label be shed?
During the Connecticut Huskies’ improbable run to the 2011 NCAA Championship, then-freshman Jeremy Lamb emerged as legitimate second option to All-American Kemba Walker. After his breakout postseason performance, NBA scouts and analysts agreed that Lamb had become a future lottery pick.
Lamb’s 2011-12 season was as inconsistent as the Huskies. His 18 points and five rebounds per game were solid, but many times Lamb left UConn fans wondering why he didn’t assert himself more.
As the NBA draft nears, Lamb is projected to go anywhere from 7th to 17th overall. That broad range is indicative who Lamb is as a player. At times he looks unstoppable, hitting pull up threes as easily as he dunks over hapless, over-matched Ivy League centers.
Other times though, Lamb drifts through long stretches of games, seemingly disinterested in utilizing his formidable skills.
In projecting Lamb’s NBA potential, here are some strengths and weaknesses that stand out:
The electric atmosphere of Linsanity may feel like a distant memory now, but the folks at Time magazine haven’t forgotten the impact of Jeremy Lin’s emergence. In their estimation, the New York Knicks point guard is still one of the 100 most influential people in the world .
Lin came off the end of the bench to man the point for a desperate Knicks team, averaging 14.6 points and 6.1 assists per game and authoring a number of thrilling highlights during a stretch that all but saved New York’s season. His singular, remarkable story — undrafted out of the Ivy League, bounced by his hometown Golden State Warriors, claimed and waived by the Houston Rockets, down to the D-League, buried on the bench, and then a sensation — captured the attention of the general public. His brash, infectious style, pell-mell play at the point, and knack for taking and making big shots inflamed basketball fans’ hearts. As the National Post’s Bruce Arthur put it, for a minute there, Lin offered “true magic” to anyone who cared to look.
In a letter introducing this year’s list , Time Managing Editor Rick Stengel wrote that the magazine tried “to choose those people whose influence is both lasting and, with a few notable exceptions , laudable.” Stengel also wrote that the Time team looked to create their list with an eye toward “how individuals can start a chain reaction of virtue, shaping events in ways that can become both viral and enduring.”
According to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan — the author of the list’s entry on Lin, a former pro basketball player himself and, like Lin, a Harvard alum — the Knicks point guard fits the bill because his story “debunks and defangs so many of the prejudices and stereotypes that unfairly hold children back.”
[Lin has] dispelled the idea that Asian-American guards somehow couldn’t hack it in the NBA — and that being a world-class athlete on the court is somehow at odds with being an excellent student off the court. [...] I don’t care whether you are an Asian-American kid, white, black or Hispanic, Jeremy’s story tells you that if you show grit, discipline and integrity, you too can get an opportunity to overcome the odds.
New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin was the NBA’s latest craze for the month of February, due to his outstanding play that made the “Big Apple” relevant in the Eastern Conference—better yet—in the league.
Other than carrying the burden of dealing with bias and racist stereotypes as a 6’3”, 200-pound Asian-American who is performing well in a sport dominated by athletic African-Americans, Lin is hauling another prejudice as a Harvard graduate being a good professional athlete. So, let’s keep this Harvard thing going; Who will be the next Crimson to star in professional sports?
When individuals think of Harvard, such words like intelligence, commitment to excellence in education, genius, nerd (to name a few) comes to mind (no disrespect, but true). Some individuals believe it is nearly impossible to be accepted into Harvard due to the institution’s academic requirements.
Great educated and non-graduated minds can come from anywhere. However, Harvard, along with other Ivy League institutions, specializes in brilliance, as they produce giants in occupations that require intelligence.
In terms of sports and professional athletes, stereotypically, Harvard is out of its league, and their student athletes are normally passed over because, physically, they are no match for the giants of physical brilliance.
Is Lin a sign of change? Not in personal bias and stereotypes because, unfortunately, those things will always be. Nonetheless, he may signal a change in how Harvard student athletes are viewed.
To Watch Out For
Alex Gideon was a 6’2” 230-pound senior linebacker for Harvard last season and was the team captain, voted by his teammates. The Ohio native led his team (second is the Ivy League) with 92 tackles and forced five turnovers: three interceptions, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Gedeon received several awards for his play at Harvard, as he was named a first team selection for All-Ivy League and a part of the All-New England Team, selected by the New England Football Writer’s Association. Gedoen capped his final defensive snap for Harvard with an 32-yard interception for a touchdown.
Cornerback Matthew Hanson has been a solid contributor for Harvard since day one for the institution, as he earned an honorable mention for Rookie of the Year in 2008. The 6’1” 185-pound defensive back was selected by the New England Football Writer’s Association for the All-New England team and was unanimously selected for first team All-Ivy League.
Hanson led the Ivy League with 10 pass breakups for the 2011 season and was a field and track captain in high school.
Neither Gedeon nor Hanson is on any NFL team’s radar, but if given an opportunity, both players could be a diamond in the rough.
Harvard basketball has made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 66 years. Could senior forward Keith Wright be the institution’s next headliner in the NBA?
Wright was named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List.
Harvard has experienced great success on the professional playing field through their former student athletes.
Who Made It Happen
-Buffalo Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick fought hard throughout his NFL career to finally get the opportunity to be a full-time starting signal caller. In 2011, Fitzpatrick signed a six-year extension with the Bills worth $59 million, including $24 million guaranteed, as he has registered 10,936 passing yards.
-Baltimore Ravens center Matt Birk is a six-time Pro Bowler and won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in 2012.
-Tennis player James Blake was ranked as high as number four in the world.
-Most notably, golf legend Bobby Jones was the only golfer to win every major in a single year.
Since the NFL and the NBA had players in their headlines that represents Harvard University this past year, will Major League Baseball (MLB) be next? Harvard has one player in the Majors, and that’s pitcher Frank Herrmann, 27, of the Cleveland Indians. Could Herrmann make waves for the 2012 MLB season? Stay tuned!
The Coming
In about four years from now, keep an eye out for a four-star recruit who committed to Harvard to play for their men’s basketball team in Zena Edosomwan. The 6’9,” 225-pound forward from California turned down scholarship offers from USC, Texas, Washington, UCLA, and UC Berkeley.
There is no surprise that Harvard’s own professional athletes excel in positions on the field and on the court, as sports require great decision-making.
Harvard will continue to be a powerhouse institution for the world of business, law and medicine. Hopefully, the bias and stereotypes of their student athletes will change as they look to have major success on the field in professional sports.
So, who is next, Harvard?
Read more New York Knicks news on BleacherReport.com
There was never anyone quite like Rajon Rondo in the Ivy League when Jeremy Lin played at Harvard. Boston All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo records a triple double in the Celtics’ 115-111 overtime win over the Knicks.
