Despite his draw at the ticket counter, Golden State cut Lin this year during the pre-season. The Houston Rockets, bereft of Yao Ming's Chinese-y presence, scooped up Lin before the season started but they too cut him, right around Christmas and before the NBA's opening day. For a devout Christian family like the Lins, that must have confusing. I'm also thinking Lin got a few talks/interrogations from his parents about what his future plans were. "Will you look for a real job now? Where is your suit and tie?" Luckily the New York Knicks signed Lin a few weeks ago and sent him to dominate the D-League before calling him up.
Last week I saw Lin play in a short stint versus the Celtics and he looked pretty respectable. The scouting report on Lin is that he doesn't have much range on his jumper, that he favors his right hand, and that he's a bit slow defensively. To offset that he's got great court sense, surprising quickness and burst, is sometimes called "a genius" at pick and rolls, possesses decent size and deceptive strength, has a knack for getting to the basket, and seems to always be around the ball, causing steals and grabbing rebounds. He's also good at passing and getting teammates involved. Keep in mind the Knicks' season has been going down the tubes because they lack a point guard that can give their craptastic offense some direction. Many Knicks fans, and even some teammates, openly petitioned coach Mike D'Antoni to give Lin more playing time.
As of three days ago, Lin was sleeping on his teammate's couch because his brother's place in the city was booked up with weekend guests -- and Lin didn't have his own spot yet because he was wary of getting cut again and his minimum contract was unguaranteed. Then on Saturday he came off the bench to put up 25 PTS, 7 AST, 5 REB, 2 STL (video) versus the Nets, leading the Knicks to a thrilling victory. Last night Jeremy got his first start and played 45 out of a possible 48 minutes, throwing together a 28 PTS, 8 AST, 2 STL (video) effort and led his team to victory again, this time without Carmelo Anthony or Amare Stoudemire, the two stars of the Knicks.
The Garden was chanting "M-V-P" at Lin all night, and the majority of the crowd stayed after the game to continue cheering wildly while Lin was being interviewed. You don't see that very often. It's safe to say that the tough to please New York sports fans have embraced Lin and he'll be receiving a guaranteed contract, if not a permanent job in the starting rotation. If Jeremy has a third game like this in a row, he's going to own the city and inspire millions of Asian parents to cut back on piano and academic tutoring to push their kids outdoors with basketballs in hand. Aaah, utopia.
While Lin isn't the first Asian American to play in the NBA, he's the first one people (we?) are flocking to. One reason is that the five or so other Asian Americans to grace the NBA hardcourt haven't exactly "looked Asian." Well, aside from Wataru Misaka, who played three games for the Knicks in 1947. Everyone else has been either half or a quarter Asian. Not to discount their Asian-ness, but you know what I mean. Sidenote: Misaka technically broke the NBA's color line, as the league didn't integrate with other minorities until 1950.And sure, the NBA has had Asian looking players before, but they were mostly of the giant behemoth variety, imported from China or Korea to man the middle. Or in most cases, cheer from the far end of the bench. Lin is an exciting slashing player that has not only held his own, but has been storming Sportscenter. Actually I can't overlook Yuta Tabuse and Sun Yue, a Japanese and Chinese guard, who had short stints in the NBA. It's safe to say that few knew who they were and they never made any highlights.
Now on the discussion of what nicknames are appropriate for Lin. I've seen some pretty horrid ones, many of them borderline or outright racist/ignorant. I mean, I don't even know how I feel about the comments about Lin scoring just as well on his college entrance exams as he does on the court. There's nothing outright offensive there, as he is the first Harvard player to make it into the NBA since the Fifties, but taken together with the general stereotypes of Asian Americans, it's a little off-putting. But I'll concede I'm possibly oversensitive here.
Right now people are calling him "Lin-sanity." I don't like that because it's too much like Vince Carter's "Vinsanity," and Carter was a highlight reel and not much else. Unless people want to start going with "All Man, All Asian," a play off of Carter's other nickname, "Half Man Half Amazing." I'm alright with that. Actually I could almost roll with "Amasian!" too. With the mandatory exclamation mark of course. Maybe even the "z" for the "s." Okay maybe not.
I fear Lin getting stuck with something like "Dragon's Breath," which would be a little funny but not really. I also cringe about anything Shaolin-related. Or a play on any Chinese food ("Panda Express, General Tso, The Wok"). I'm almost hoping someone starts calling him "Rice Rocket" just so I can get riled up. Same thoughts on "Bamboo Baller." Although I could talk myself into "2 Fast, 2 Furious." Don't roll your eyes!
Right after Saturday's victory, Spike Lee blurted out some Lin inspired nicknames via his Twitter. "Grasshopper, Kung Fu Hustle, Hidden Dragon, Fist of Fury, 10 Fingers of Death, Kato, Enter the Dragon." Since then he's been going back and forth with people about whether or not they were insensitive. Spike's main defense is that acknowledging someone's heritage isn't racist. When black people get pulled out of the car by police for driving while black, that's racist. True and true. But nobody is going to be happy with a martial arts themed nickname here. Move along Mars Blackmon, nothing for you to do here except sit in your front row seat and cheer along.
So far Amare calls Lin "Sun Tzu." Carmelo gives him a head nod and hand bow (3m41s) which I can totally get behind. And although this is all sorts of wrong, my favorite nickname suggestion so far is Jeremy "Abacus" Lin, which reflects his calculated and intelligent old school game. Or maybe we just call it a day and name him "Model Minority" or "2400" for his likely SAT score. Or go nostalgic and call him "Data." Lost in all this is that Lin is actually Taiwanese, but whatever. "R.O.C.-A-Fella" probably wouldn't fly anyway. Jeremy "Formosa Rising" Lin?
I've never been so invested in a nickname. Well, not since Blake Griffin's anyway.
Edited: My friend Vivek suggested "Better Luck Tomorrow" because "that's what [Lin] should say to players when he scores on them." I will heartily co-sign on that!
No comments:
Post a Comment