Home > Trying to understand the Jeremy Lin phenomena

Not even Disney would have touched that one. (They will now.)

Beyond the sheer enjoyment of this truly unbelievable story, there lingers one burning question: How did Jeremy Lin go unnoticed until now?

With most unheralded stars, there’s usually one or two reasons you can pinpoint—too small, poor workouts, doesn’t fit the mold or didn’t play in power conference. In Lin’s case, it was a confluence of all these factors that led to him being overlooked.

As a scrawny senior in high school, Lin led his Palo Alto team to an upset of powerful Mater Dei in the California state championship. Most Division I colleges had already committed their scholarships at that point. The unrecruited Lin could have tried to walk-on at nearby Stanford, but he opted instead to play at Harvard, an Ivy League school that can’t give athletic money.

Lin had a steady but not spectacular career for the Crimson. His highlight was scoring 30 points against Kemba Walker in a 79-73 loss to Connecticut in 2009. Still, no Harvard hoopster had played in the NBA since Eisenhower was President and Lin wasn’t likely to break that streak.

Lin was invited to several NBA pre-draft workouts, but none of the teams put him in a 5-on-5 setting. With his talents assessed mostly by quantifiable numbers—reach, speed, vertical leap—Lin never hit the board in the 2010 NBA Draft. John Wall was clearly the best point guard and was taken No. 1. The other point guards taken that year in order: Eric Bledsoe, Greivis Vásquez, Armon Johnson, Terrico White, Andy Rautins (Knicks) and Willie Warren.

Of course, it’s easy to look back now at that group and point fingers at NBA talent evaluators and ask, “What were they thinking?” But let’s think back to that June draft night in Madison Square Garden, imagine David Stern going to the podium and exclaiming: “With the [blank] pick of the draft, the New York Knicks select Jeremy Lin of Harvard.” The boos then would likely have been far louder than the cheers Lin receives now. Insanity meet Linsanity.

Despite the setback, Lin continued to work on his game in NBA summer leagues and received free-agent offers from a handful of teams. He settled on the Golden State Warriors, whose owner is Joe Lacob, a Stanford booster who had remembered Lin from Palo Alto and thought The Cardinal had missed out on him. He wasn’t about to. However, with Stephon Curry at point guard and ball-dominating Monta Ellis at two-guard, the Warriors were not the right fit for Lin, who spent most of his first-season shuttling back and forth between the Developmental League. He played sparingly in 29 games that season for the Warriors.

Lin continued to work on his game through the NBA lockout and even entertained offers to play overseas. When the lockout ended, the Warriors and new coach Mark Jackson cut Lin.

He was claimed by the Rockets and quickly waived before finally landing with the Knicks in late December.

With his three point guards injured, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni inserted the unproven player into his starting lineup to run an offense that was made for Lin’s abilities. And, the rest has been WORLDWIDE history.

So, the question remains: How was he overlooked?

His own high school coach probably said it best when he told ESPN that Lin was undersized and needed work. And that’s what Lin did—work. Each time Lin was told he didn’t belong, he worked harder to prove that he did.

The notion that some sort of racial profiling kept him down is blatantly absurd. NBA scouts don’t care if a player is from Chicago, Uganda or Mars—as long as the player can help their team win, that’s all that matters. If anything, the fact that Lin is of Asian descent helped him stand out and be MORE recognized at workouts.

That’s the great thing about the Jeremy Lin story, there are no antagonists, no one to blame, no one to fault. No, the Jeremy Lin story is purely about him—his strength, his hunger and his perseverance.

The Jeremy Lin story is better than any movie, any documentary, and any of that garbage on reality TV.

And it’s only just beginning ...

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BY DAN CAHILL Twitter: @dancahill_cst February 16, 2012 1:48PM