If you’ve been living under a rock for the past two weeks, you’ve probably never heard of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, or the newest phenomenon gripping the nation - Linsanity. He has been underestimated his entire life, at Palo Alto High School, at Harvard, and especially in the NBA, where he’s now on his third team in less than two full years.
He never gave up on himself though. When no college offered him a scholarship out of high school, he went to Harvard and continued to find success, helping a dormant basketball program gain national recognition. After graduating, he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Golden State Warriors, but was cut.
He signed with the Houston Rockets, but was again cut to free up cap space. Finally, Lin’s circuitous route to worldwide fame took a step in the right direction when he signed with the New York Knicks. Expected to be a backup point guard, Lin spent the beginning of the season on the Knicks’ D-league team.
Lin joined the Knicks only because New York had been decimated by injuries, especially to their backcourt players. That one chance was all he needed. Lin immediately injected life into the listless Knicks, leading them to seven straight wins and totaling 136 points in his first five NBA starts, the most since the NBA-ABA merger.
What began as simply a nice story about a Rudy-like underdog who finally found his niche on an NBA team has become a full-blown international phenomenon. Lin jerseys have become the best-selling unis online and he now has over 380,000 followers on Twitter (jlin7).
But what about Lin has made him such a worldwide sensation? It would be easy to say his Asian-American heritage has much to do with the curiosity among American fans, but it’s more than that. The fact that he’s the only Asian-American point guard in the NBA is one reason, but it’s certainly not the only reason.
The main reason Lin is so beloved is because of his truly remarkable story. Americans love an underdog story, especially in professional sports and particularly in a league like the NBA where under-the-radar players like Lin rarely get a chance at superstardom. After his 38-point performance against superstar Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, Lin’s popularity skyrocketed, and has only continued to rise in the week since.
Despite his meteoric rise to fame, Lin has continued to stay unbelievably humble. He often deflects questions about his play by heaping praise on his teammates and on God, who he often credits with his amazing play.
People are attracted to this kid because they want him to succeed, they want to see his hard work pay off. American’s like the rags-to-riches story, the athlete who has to earn his stripes in the development league before he’s given a shot in the NBA. Jeremy Lin isn’t Washington Wizards' guard John Wall or the Cleveland Cavaliers' rookie sensation Kyrie Irving, two highly rated guards out of high school who played at Duke and Kentucky before being the first pick in the NBA draft.
Jeremy Lin doesn’t have the talent of a Derrick Rose, Wall or Irving, which is why they were guaranteed lottery picks in the draft and Lin wasn't. What he does have is the heart of a lion, a never give up attitude that carried him through his years in the D-league, his brief stint with the Warriors and Rockets, and now his revitalization of the New York Knicks.
Jeremy Lin has been underestimated his entire life, which is exactly the way he likes it.