Born in Los Angeles, California, Jeremy Lin was an Asian-American boy whose parents emigrated from Taiwan to the United States. His father taught Jeremy and his two brothers, Josh and Joseph, to play basketball by taking them to the local YMCA. Lin grew very close to the game and hoped to someday become an NBA star. Most of his friends and family told him he was crazy and reminded him of how many kids shared the same dream and were never successful. Lin ignored all of the doubts and set his mind on his goal.
Lin attended Palo Alto High School, where he played basketball and even captained the team in his senior season in 2005-2006. After leading his team to a 32-1 record, Lin’s team upset nationally ranked Mater Dei High School to win the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II state title. Lin was named first-team All-State and Northern California Division II Player of the Year, averaging 15.1 points, 7.1 assists, 6.2 rebounds and 5.0 steals per game.
After dreaming of attending either Stanford or UCLA, Lin failed to receive any athletic scholarships to play basketball in college. Many of the Pac-10 schools wanted him to attend their school as a walk-on, but Jeremy Lin wanted a guaranteed spot on the team. The only teams with such an offer were Harvard and Brown, and eventually Lin found himself starting at point guard, wearing Harvard’s crimson and white uniform.
At Harvard, Lin had a tremendous amount of success. He was unanimously named to the All-Ivy League First Team twice. In his junior season, he was the only NCAA Division I men’s basketball player who ranked in the top ten in his conference for scoring (17.8), rebounding (5.5), assists (4.3), steals (2.4), blocked shots (0.6), field goal percentage (0.50), free throw percentage (0.74), and 3 point shot percentage (0.40).
In the following season, Lin led Harvard to a record-setting seaso
n. He helped the school set multiple program records, including wins (21), non-conference wins (11), home wins (11) and road/neutral wins (10). In addition, he set records on his own, becoming the first player in Ivy League history to record at least 1,450 points (1,483), 450 rebounds (487), 400 assists (406) and 200 steals (225). After graduating in 2010 with a degree in Economics and a GPA of 3.1, Lin entered the NBA draft.
Lin went undrafted, but he was later signed to play for the Dallas Mavericks’ summer league team, where he made a name for himself by shutting down the number one overall pick, John Wall, of the Washington Wizards.
He received offers from the Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, an unnamed Eastern Conference team, and the Golden State Warriors shortly after. It wasn’t long before he signed a two-year deal to play for the Warriors, his hometown team. He didn’t play much and was assigned to play for the Reno Bighorns of the NBA’s Developmental League (D-League) three different times throughout the season.
At the start of this season, Lin was waived by the Wa
rriors and picked up by the Houston Rockets. Soon after, the Rockets waived him again. The New York Knicks claimed him this time and Lin started the season on the Knicks’ roster. He was then re-assigned to the D-League to play for the Erie Bayhawks, but he was recalled only three days later after recording a triple double in a D-League game.
On February 4th, Lin was put in early in the first half in a matchup with the New Jersey Nets. Lin wound up playing the majority of the game, leading the Knicks to a 99-92 victory, and scoring a career-high 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. He went on to start the next four games, scoring 28, 23, 38, and 20 points, and sparking a five game win streak for the Knicks. Lin was awarded Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of February 5th-11th.
Jeremy Lin has become one of the biggest stories in all of sports. His popularity has been compared to Tim Tebow of the NFL’s Denver Broncos. A few days ago, Modell’s Sporting Goods put Lin jerseys on sale. Within the first two hours, they had already sold close to 200 jerseys! Lin’s jersey is currently the top selling jersey on the NBA Store website.
Lin’s talents have been recognized by many of the most famous people in the sports world. He has given Knicks fans a sense of hope. Also, he has set an example for kids all over the world who dream of making it to the NBA someday. He overcame a ton of adversity and never let his goal get out of reach. His story proves that anything is possible and if you want something, don’t stop until you get it.
How long will Jeremy Lin’s success last? No one knows. But, for now, New York and the rest of the sports world are loving the hype and cherishing it, not knowing how much longer it will be around.
