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Jeremy Lin: Asian American, Harvard Grad... NBA great?

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DY_nasty said:
Amare is fucking done.


Collison was playing out of his mind when Paul went down. Again, not counting the whole underdog asian thing, he had people thinking that Paul may have been a system point guard for a month.

Solid is a hell of an understatement.
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I think you're confusing the 2nd time Cp3 went down with the 1st.

Collison took over at first for a stretch of like 10 games in November-December. He was solid, but nothing special. Then was mediocre off the bench. When Cp3 went down again in mid-season is when Collison blew up.
 
Black Mamba said:
I think you're confusing the 2nd time Cp3 went down with the 1st.

Collison took over at first for a stretch of like 10 games in November-December. He was solid, but nothing special. Then was mediocre off the bench. When Cp3 went down again in mid-season is when Collison blew up.
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I didn't specify.

Either way, had that scenario occurred in a bigger spotlight than podunk New Orleans then there would've been more attention thrown his way.
 
Amir0x said:
It's the love of the underdog story. I bet it has little to do with sports for most of the people who are suddenly turning in, at least not in the "I love basketball and am suddenly realizing thanks to Lin" form. It's more of a "this guy came out of nowhere and is just doing amazingly well, what a fascinating story."

If he keeps going, the story just keeps getting better and better.
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This is pretty much it for me.

I want the guy to win just because of his backstory.
 
DY_nasty said:
I didn't specify.

Either way, had that scenario occurred in a bigger spotlight than podunk New Orleans then there would've been more attention thrown his way.
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Goes without saying. NY, LA, Chicago. These markets matter more. Throw in the underdog aspect, asian-american guard aspect, and how easy it is to pun his name, you have what you have.
 
New Orleans has a surprisingly large Asian population.

Vietnamese fishermen.
 
The Economist: China's new sports problem
Stop the Linsanity?

EARLY this morning—for viewers in China—the New York Knicks of the new Taiwanese-American hero Jeremy Lin played against the Dallas Mavericks and with them China’s current standard-bearer in the NBA: the 7-foot-tall Yi Jianlian, a high draft pick who has proven a disappointment in America. Mr Yi's Mavericks lost the game, 104-97, but the bigger loser was Chinese soft power.

Mr Lin has quickly amassed a huge following among Chinese basketball fans (and this country does love basketball). This poses a bit of a conundrum for Chinese authorities for a number of reasons. The most obvious is that Mr Lin is an American who is proudly of Taiwanese descent, which would seem to complicate China’s efforts to claim him (and oh how they have tried already—on which, more below).

But there are three other reasons Mr Lin’s stardom could fluster the authorities. First, he is very openly Christian, and the Communist Party is deeply wary of the deeply religious (notably on those within its own ranks). Second, he is not a big centre or forward, the varietals which are the chief mainland Chinese export to the NBA, including the Mavericks’ Mr Yi; and of course he came out of nowhere to become a star, having been educated at the most prestigious university in America, Harvard.

Mr Lin is, put plainly, precisely everything that China’s state sport system cannot possibly produce. If Mr Lin were to have been born and raised in China, his height alone might have denied him entry into China’s sport machine, as Time’s Hannah Beech points out: “Firstly, at a mere 6’3”—relatively short by basketball standards—Lin might not have registered with Chinese basketball scouts, who in their quest for suitable kids to funnel into the state sport system are obsessed with height over any individual passion for hoops.” Even when Mr Lin was still a young boy, one look at his parents, each of unremarkable stature, would have made evaluators sceptical. Ms Beech’s other half happens to be Brook Larmer, the author of the fascinating book “Operation Yao Ming”, which details how Chinese authorities contrived to create China’s most successful basketball star, Mr Yao, the product of tall parents who were themselves Chinese national basketball team players. The machine excels at identifying, processing and churning out physical specimens—and it does so exceedingly well for individual sports, as it will again prove in London this year. But it happens to lack the nuance and creativity necessary for team sport.

What of Mr Lin’s faith? If by chance Mr Lin were to have gained entry into the sport system, he would not have emerged a Christian, at least not openly so. China has tens of millions of Christians, and officially tolerates Christianity; but the Communist Party bars religion from its membership and institutions, and religion has no place in its sport model. One does not see Chinese athletes thanking God for their gifts; their coach and Communist Party leaders, yes, but Jesus Christ the Saviour? No.
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In America, meanwhile, athletic excellence actually can open doors to an elite education, through scholarships and recruitment. Harvard does not provide athletic scholarships, but it does recruit players who also happen to be academic stars. There is no real equivalent in China.

So China almost certainly has its own potential Jeremy Lin out there, but there is no path for him to follow. This also helps explain, as we have noted, why China fails at another sport it loves, football. Granted, Mr Lin’s own path to stardom is in itself unprecedented, but in America, the unprecedented is possible. Chinese basketball fans have taken note of this. Mr Lin’s story may be a great and inspiring proof of athleticism to the Chinese people, but it is also unavoidably a story of American soft power.

Some authorities in China have responded, as might be expected, by trying to appropriate Mr Lin. The Chinese city of Pinghu, in coastal Zhejiang Province, sent a missive to its recently remembered former resident, Mr Lin’s grandmother on his mother’s side; officials crowed that she was pleased by the attention her hometown is paying to her grandson’s success. Xinhua, China’s official news service, published a fanciful article urging Mr Lin to take Chinese citizenship and join the national team of the People’s Republic.

Mr Lin’s Taiwanese family background seems to pose a special problem. China Central Television (CCTV), the national monopoly that broadcasts NBA games, has not joined in Linsanity. A game featuring Mr Lin a week ago, against the Minnesota Timberwolves, was broadcast on Beijing TV’s sport channel, but the broadcast included the forbidden image of the Taiwanese national flag, held proudly by fans in the stands. (The flag is typically blurred in China if it must appear in news footage). Chinese netizens noticed, and wondered if that would bring a punishment, or a tape delay. CCTV, for its part, told Netease, a Chinese internet portal, that most Knicks games couldn’t be shown due to the “time difference”, “but if time allows, games of the Knicks will definitely be broadcasted preferentially.”

That remains to be seen. Fortunately for Chinese sport fans, the internet provides a ready-made alternative to the state television system. Most of Mr Lin’s games are being made available by live stream on the portal Sina.com. This morning’s game against Mr Yi’s Mavericks was a rather interesting exception, a mysterious little black hole on Sina.com’s NBA schedule. Frustrated Chinese fans had to go looking for dodgier streams elsewhere online. What they found was a closely fought game between the two teams, with Mr Lin again starring and leading the Knicks to victory. More poignantly, they found their countryman, Mr Yi, remain on the bench for the entire game, reduced to the role of spectator. It was a glimpse of the Chinese sport system versus American soft power. Perhaps it was not fit for viewing.
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ChiTownBuffalo said:
As if the retardedness of mainland China trying to claim J. Lin over Taiwan isn't bad enough. Some Korean paper chimed in and said his mom is ethnically Korean.

WTF.

I really hate Asia sometimes.
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My friend from HK who objects to being Chinese, during the World Cup where Korea did well said some shit about if you go back far enough the Koreans were part of China. I was like are you kidding me?
 
I hate lebron, loathe him to the core.

But Melo is NOT better than lebron.

I never knew people existed who thought such nonsense.

Lebrons complete offensive game trumps Melo's. Add defense to the equation and it's not even a contest.
 
Bleepey said:
My friend from HK who objects to being Chinese, during the World Cup where Korea did well said some shit about if you go back far enough the Koreans were part of China. I was like are you kidding me?
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None near as bad as Communist China's revisionist history that THEY stopped the Japanese during the Japan-China war before and during WWII - when democratic China then were the ones fighting Japan. Then after that war, democratic China didn't have anything left to fight off the civil war that sent the exiled democratic government into Taiwan.

Always the great thing about Communism. There's no one inside the country to dare challenge what facts they claim occurred. Surprised they haven't made a claim on more popular stars in some way.
 
Heavy said:
Yao Ming on Lin, a must read quote:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...459445.html;_ylt=Amv0ivifXYLiTmNT8pTi3rbTjdIF
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tumblr_lf6mj9JoOh1qdf5lco1_500.gif


WOW, Yao nailed it.
 
That Economist quote:
Even when Mr Lin was still a young boy, one look at his parents, each of unremarkable stature, would have made evaluators sceptical
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His parents are both 5'7". I think that makes his dad about average height for Chinese/Taiwanese but his mom fairly tall. Not nearly as tall as Yao Ming's mom, but still.

I think the underlying problem with China's underperforming in international team sports is that kids don't grow up playing basketball or soccer there.

As for Lin, I wonder if he might have had more of a look from universities if he'd lifted weights in HS. Some news stories said he didn't even start lifting till Harvard.
 
TheNatural said:
None near as bad as Communist China's revisionist history that THEY stopped the Japanese during the Japan-China war before and during WWII - when democratic China then were the ones fighting Japan. Then after that war, democratic China didn't have anything left to fight off the civil war that sent the exiled democratic government into Taiwan.

Always the great thing about Communism. There's no one inside the country to dare challenge what facts they claim occurred. Surprised they haven't made a claim on more popular stars in some way.
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Perhaps it might be my poor understanding of Mandarin, but I recall seeing some WWII dramas (they appear to be the rage) this past winter in the mainland, and they make no effort to hide the fact that the then KMT at least had some level of involvement against the Japanese incursion. That's improvement, I guess.

Some might say the KMT only reaped what they sowed, given the incredible corruption within the party itself, even if the communists eventually proved themselves no better.
 
TheNatural said:
None near as bad as Communist China's revisionist history that THEY stopped the Japanese during the Japan-China war before and during WWII - when democratic China then were the ones fighting Japan. Then after that war, democratic China didn't have anything left to fight off the civil war that sent the exiled democratic government into Taiwan.

Always the great thing about Communism. There's no one inside the country to dare challenge what facts they claim occurred. Surprised they haven't made a claim on more popular stars in some way.
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Talk about revisionist history...

I don't know where they don't acknowledge the KMT's efforts in the war with Japan. Maybe sometime when there was still a civil war. Nowadays the KMT and CCP are practically friends, they go to many efforts to emphasize that the KMT are "patriotic Chinese" that helped fight off Japan in all their WWII movies.

It was the KMT's corruption that doomed them. The Communists would not have popular support if not for KMT corruption.

As for claiming stars, you only need look at most Taiwanese celebrities and misicians to see that they don't need to try to claim them, the Taiwanese stars do it themselves. They'll spare no effort to emphasize they are "Chinese" just to get a piece of the Chinese market. Jeremy Lin has done the same.
 
tumblr_lnoic6nspS1qcq9ifo1_500.gif


These guys are great in some ways and in other ways they are a fucking horrible team. I still think Lin and the Knicks will probably get it together though, they are playing too much like they just expect everything to fall into place.
 
Wow what a terrible game for Amare and Melo. Knicks fans, that's that almost 37 million a year gets you.

Amare continuing to settle for that terrible shot at the elbow.
Melo with 6 TOs
How can the starting forwards get outrebounded by the guards 7 to 18? Just terrible.
Missing Shump and Chandler (to foul trouble) was definitely evident as their defense was terrible.
Lin deferring too much to the superstars.

Hard to stop when the other team is raining 3s at over 50% (even more so in the first half.)
 
DrMungo said:
Wow what a terrible game for Amare and Melo. Knicks fans, that's that almost 37 million a year gets you.

Amare continuing to settle for that terrible shot at the elbow.
Melo with 6 TOs
How can the starting forwards get outrebounded by the guards 7 to 18? Just terrible.
Missing Shump and Chandler (to foul trouble) was definitely evident as their defense was terrible.
Lin deferring too much to the superstars.

Hard to stop when the other team is raining 3s at over 50% (even more so in the first half.)
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Yeah, terrible effort from Amar'e and Melo.
 
TheNatural said:
None near as bad as Communist China's revisionist history that THEY stopped the Japanese during the Japan-China war before and during WWII - when democratic China then were the ones fighting Japan. Then after that war, democratic China didn't have anything left to fight off the civil war that sent the exiled democratic government into Taiwan.

Always the great thing about Communism. There's no one inside the country to dare challenge what facts they claim occurred. Surprised they haven't made a claim on more popular stars in some way.
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I have no idea where you got this from, but I hope you at least do a bit more reading in the future...

....revisionist history indeed.
 
Shump is out until after the ASG...No more perimeter defense.
Expect the Melo backlash to start in full force when they get throttle by Miami, who is on a roll.
 
Basketball Reasons said:
deron williams utterly destroyed lin.
not even in the same level.
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Despite one playing his 6th start and the other going on 7yrs there is one thing to note with regard to comparing point guards when they go head to head - their point totals almost never reflect their match-up. Point guards and, to a lesser extent, shooting guards are almost entirely playing against the defense that is behind their assigned defender. The man on them really isn't of much consequence because pretty much any point guard can get around another point guard pretty easily unless they are giving them a crap-ton of room to shoot.

Thats why saying stuff like "OH CRAP CURRY JUST DEMOLISHED ROSE!!!!!" earlier this year (and I'm a big Steph fan) is just stupid because what really matters is how the defense behind the point guard is playing (who the defenders are and how they are spaced on the floor).

Thought this was pretty common knowledge?
 
offtopic said:
Point guards and, to a lesser extent, shooting guards are almost entirely playing against the defense that is behind their assigned defender. [...]

Thought this was pretty common knowledge?
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For what it's worth, I didn't know that till earlier today, when I read an interview with Gilbert Arenas on SI.
 
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