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?
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!
