Is Jeremy Lin For Real?

By Matt McLear February 10th 2012




A big talk of the NBA right now is Jeremy Lin. If you go on any sports website there is an article about him. So let me ask the beernutsworld community, do you think Jeremy Lin is for real?

For those of you who live under a rock and have no clue who Jeremy Lin is here is a quick who is Jeremy Lin update for you.

Jeremy Lin is a six foot three 23 year old point guard with the New York Knicks. Lin is the first American player in the NBA to be of Chinese or Taiwanese descent. He played college ball at Harvard. He is also the first player to play in the NBA from Harvard. He was not drafted by anyone and had a brief stint in Golden State.

Before Lin's two weeks of out of nowhere great play for the Knicks he was kind of a nobody. Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni can remember exactly how he felt the first time Lin had meaningful minutes with the Knicks. "kinda neutral," "I wasn't excited." D'Antoni said.

It's kind of hard to imagine that image of Lin now seeing how Lin is now drawing comparisons to Victor Cruz and Tim Tebow. There is also now Linsanity in the NBA. The guy went from a nobody to one of the main attractions, just as Knicks fans were getting antsy and praying for Baron Davis's herniated disk to heal ASAP.

After D'Antoni claimed he wasn't excited with Lin's play, he then played in two of the next three games sparingly. There was no Linsanity, there were no Lin T-Shirts filling the stands, there were no comparisons to Tebow or Cruz. Just another bench guy filling minutes and stats.

Then came three straight games of at least 20 points and 7 assists, a three game winning streak for the Knicks, a highlight reel dunk and Linsanity. It was almost a miracle or an answered prayer from Lin (who is very religious and looks up to Tebow), for him to get the chance to play and start the Linsanity.

With a compressed NBA season caused by the lock out there are fewer practice and even fewer chances for a new guy to get their chance to shine. The chances were even more slim for Lin because of the guards the Knicks had invested time and money in already. Tony Douglas who showed a lot of promise last year, Mike Bibby a well known veteran in the league, and Knicks rookie Imam Shumpert were all a head of Lin in the depth chart.

Douglas has not been able to keep the progress he showed last year. Shumpert started off playing well but has become a non factor, and Mike Bibby is showing that he isn't the player he used to be. In a desperation move to either get the other guards to work harder for their playing time or even just a last resort move D'Antoni turned to Lin in their February 4th game and Linsanity was born.

But is Jeremy Lin actually for real? Or will he fade just as fast as he became a star? He has put up great numbers against some poor teams in New Jersey, Utah, and Washington. If you have watched any of his games his jump spot is not great and ugly at times. Once team's start to adapt to knowing what Lin is capable of and add him into their game plan I think his success will quickly burn out and his numbers will come back to what they should be. With Carmelo and Stoudemire returning to the line up he will then lose touches and shots and if he wants to keep his numbers up he will have to be a lot more efficient.

It's hard to take away the hope and buzz around the league with his great three game performance though. He did put up those great numbers against Deron Williams and John Wall, two pretty elite guards. The offense also looked more fluid and efficient even without their two stars. The other guards like rookie Shumpert and Landry Fields are even playing better.

So even if his numbers decline, what he can bring to the team in court vision and intelligence will not go away. Maybe he is what the Knicks need to get back on track and get this team to gel. Maybe with him now in a game plan it can open up easier looks for Anthony and Stoudemire.

If Linsanity is a fluke or not is yet to be determined. Either way Lin the undrafted NBA point guard from Harvard has not only done more then everyone thought he would, he has created a buzz that many players will never be able to do in their career. So is Jeremy Lin for real? Only time will tell.