Lin's Play Time To Be Reduced?

Along with other young players of the New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin stands to be one of the biggest losers in the transition from Mike D'Antoni's offence to Woodson's. After Woodson's first full practice in charge on, he made it crystal clear that he was bringing the veterans back to play and start, specifically Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire. 

I find it quite unfortunate that this may be the reality for Lin as he just started his career in the limelight and has done quite well for his team despite the outcome of the last 12 games. All it took was for one team to believe in his abilities and for a few players to be injured in order for his God-given talent to shine through. What will be the outcome of the games be now? Its kind of hard to forget that last second 3-pointer that Lin scored in attempts to win against the Raptors last month. 

According to Woodson: "I want everyone to know that when it comes to [crunch time] and I have to get a big shot, I'm going to go to Melo and Amar'e and guys who have done it. Not these guys who are young and are still trying to feel their way out." 

I find it quite unfortunate that according to Woodson, other young players and Lin will be benched in place of the 'veteran' players. I understand to the full extent why Woodson would make such a move, but at the same time if you don't give any player time to play on the court, they will never develop into players that "have already done it" because they never got the chance to even try. Lin, who became a starter at the beginning of February and flourished in D'Antoni's pick-and-roll, run-and-gun system, certainly will not play the same kind of starring role in Woodson's defensive-minded game. Unfortunate for such a great player that has developed so quickly. 

Trade Deadline!

As most of you basketball fans know, today was the trade deadline. Hours before the deadline passed, the Los Angeles Lakers traded away five-time NBA champion Derek Fisher and two first-round draft picks. The Lakers used the deals to acquire a trio of players as the team looks to return to the NBA Finals for the eighth time in the last 13 seasons. Was this a mistake to trade Derek Fisher?

The Lakers sent a first-round draft pick and Derek Fisher, a guard who is the president of the NBA Players Association and won five NBA titles with the Lakers, to the Houston Rockets in return for Jordan Hill. According to the sports world, Lakers owner Jerry Buss said on a statement on the team's website, "I want to express my deepest gratitude to Derek for everything he has meant to this organization over the years... Few who have worn the Lakers uniform have done so with as much class as Derek, both on the court and in the community." With this being said, it leaves a million questions in my mind... why would you trade a player who's been with the team through five NBA titles and who's given back so much to both the team and the community? In my head, it just makes no sense especially with the Lakers hoping to return to the NBA Finals this season. 


The Lakers also dealt forward Luke Walton, guard Jason Kapono and its 2012 first-round pick to Cleveland for guard Ramon Sessions and forward Christian Eyenga, the Cavaliers said in an e-mailed release. However, amidst all this madness of trades before the 3 p.m New York deadline, perhaps the more serious news was focused on a player who stayed put on his team... Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard (three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year) announced this afternoon that he would be waiving a clause within his contract that would have allowed him to become a free agent after this season. Simply to say that, it kept him off the trading block and under contract with Orlando through the 2012-13 season. 

24 Points and 25 Rebounds!

Click the link: Heat vs. Magic || Highlights 

Although Dwight Howard might have played his last game for the Orlando Magic, he definitely made it memorable! Howard scored 24 points and grabbed 25 rebounds and Jameer Nelson scored two clutch baskets in overtime to give the Orlando Magic a 104-98 win over Miami Heat. 

With this being said, Howard's performance represented only the 29th time a player since the 1985-86 season has scored 24 or more points with 25 or more rebounds. Tonight's game marked the fourth time in those 29 that Howard has made that mark! Insane!

Watching this game was absolutely amazing and super intense... going into overtime in any game is always exciting especially when its between two great teams and fantastic players!

It's March... Do You Know What That Means?

It's officially the beginning of March! I thought this month and time of year would never come with the constant stress from school and its hustle and bustle environment, but here we are in March and I'm only weeks away from completing my 4 years of undergrad! Besides this month representing the home stretch for me, it's also one of my favourite, and most exciting times of year because it's the home of NCAA March Madness!

For those of you who don't know, March Madness is a single-elimination college basketball tournament which is held every Spring in the United States and is absolutely huge in both size and hype! For the NCAA, March Madness is the number one source of revenue which equates to 90% of all revenues generated by the NCAA in a fiscal year. With that being said, you can definitely see why this event is SO big both amongst the nation and within the media. 

March Madness consists of 67 games and in light of that, Sunday, March 11th is Selection Sunday. Who are you choosing to be in your bracket?

Check out President Obama's bracket for this year!

Hard Court Kitchen Convos

Tune into my video starring 3 of my friends who are HUGE basketball heads discussing some of the most debatable topics in basketball! The two topics that are discussed in length within this video are:

1. Dennis Rodman and his amazing ability as arguably the best rebounding forward in NBA history 
2. Who is the best player in the NBA - Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant?

Tune in to the video to watch these topics being discussed, facts being thrown out and opinions being slashed! Enjoy!

NBA All-Star Game 2012: Are there flaws in the voting process?

With the NBA All-Star Weekend fast approaching, its hard to believe that we're already halfway through the season! But, I guess the NBA lockout had a lot to do with that. The NBA All-Star weekend is one of the most viewed events during the NBA season - displaying the skills, abilities and talents of the "best players in the league." But, with such high scoring games, and up and coming stars within the league, you can't help but ask yourself if every player is given a fair chance to make it to the All-Star team in their respective conference. And, is the voting process in getting the "star" players there, flawed?

Tune in to find out the final verdict!

Click the link below to tune into my podcast!

NBA All-Star Game 2012: Are there flaws in the voting process? (PODCAST)    

From His Brother's Couch to the Trump Tower, to Manhattan's Financial District

One of this year's biggest NBA phenomenons... Jeremy Lin a.k.a LINSANITY!!!

New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin has been blessed with God-given talent and it has definitely been displayed ever since he outplayed All-Star guard Deron Williams, and had 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists - all career-highs on February 4th. Ever since, Lin has become the face of America!

Lin attended Harvard University where he started off in his freshman year as the "physically weakest guy on the team" according to his Harvard coach. But, by his sophomore season (2008-07), Lin was averaging 12.6 points and was named All-Ivy League Second Team. By the following season, he was only NCAA Division I men's basketball player who ranked in the top ten in his conference for scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, blocked shots, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, and three-point shot percentage, and ended up being a consensus selection for All-Ivy League First Team. Again, in his senior year of playing, Lin was up for another unanimous selection for All-Ivy League First Team averaging 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks. During this time, Lin was one of 30 midseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award and one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award. In addition, he was also invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. 

At the Portsmouth Invitational, Lin went undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft. However, he did not give up. Lin joined a mini-camp and the NBA Summer League in which it resulted in offers to sign with the Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Golden State Warriors based on his stellar performances  and abilities displayed during the Summer League games. 

On July 21, 2010, Lin signed a 2 year contract with his favourite team growing up, the Golden State Warriors, however he received very little playing time despite having chosen his favourite team out of the other four offers he received. Despite the troubles that panned out during the 2011 off season, Jeremy Lin was claimed off waivers by the New York Knicks to be backup behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby after guard Iman Shumpart suffered from injury. However, it was the injuries of his teammates and their inability to play that gave Lin the opportunity to start and display his stellar capabilities. This is where his name LINSANITY came about. Watch out America!

And of course the stellar performance against the Toronto Raptors that was at the focus of news highlights after the game, and even the next day, and was even trending on Twitter!

This kid definitely makes me feel proud to be Asian!