Obsessedsportsnut's Blog

I’m really not sure what’s left to be said about Jeremy Lin that hasnt been mentioned in the press yet.

“Asian American Bay Area kid who led his high school to defeat Mater Dei in one of the biggest upsets in California basketball history, who then went on to have a standout college career at Harvard. Despite not being drafted in the 2010 NBA Draft, he impressed numerous general managers and executives with his play at the NBA Summer League with the Dallas Mavericks including a sensational performance against John Wall, which caught the eyes of the Lakers and the Warriors, who eventually sign him to a contract.”

Jeremy Lin’s road to the NBA has been an inspirational one to many people. Ive had the pleasure of following his career from Palo Alto all the way to Harvard to the Dallas Mavericks, and it’s been a joy to see him grow as a player. He attends a sister church of mine and has been a youth counselor at our joint summer retreats. At these retreats, I’ve the opportunity to play against him on a couple occasions, and I have to say I’ve never felt better after being taken to school so badly…

Anyways, the one thing I’ve noticed about Jeremy is that he’s taken advantage of every opportunity that he’s given to impress. While playing in the Ivy League, Jeremy never really had the opportunity to impress on a national level, since most people dont really follow the Ivys. However, during Jeremy’s junior and senior years, Harvard schedule 4 games against Big East and ACC opponents, Georgetown, Uconn, and Boston College twice. During Jeremy’s junior year, Harvard played Boston College, who was coming off a win over the #1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. In this game, he lead Harvard to a huge upset over BC where we saw Jeremy drop 27 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, 6 steals, and 2 blocks. The next year, he lead Harvard to another victory over Boston College, and hard losses to Uconn and Georgetown.

In these 4 games against these top teams, he averaged 24.25 points, 4.75 assists, 4.75 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1.25 blocks. His season averages were 16.4 points, 4.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 steals, and 1.1 blocks. These 4 games put Jeremy on the map, and made his name known to the entire sporting world.

After the Uconn game, coach Jim Calhoun (who’s won 2 national titles and is one of the top 5 college coaches in the game said this about Jeremy: “He’s a terrific basketball player. What I really like about him is he’s athletic, more than you think so. He controls his temperament to a really nice tempo. He knows how to play. He’s one of the better kids, including BIG EAST guards, who have come in here in quite some time…I really love his composure. There are a lot of teams that come through here… I can’t think of a team that he wouldn’t play for. (Jeremy Lin) really has great, great composure on the court; he’s got change-of-pace dribbles; he’s really, really good.”

After graduating from Harvard, he made a successful showing at the Portsmouth Invitational, which showcases some of the best college players who are not sure draft picks.

Because of his play, the Dallas Mavericks signed him to their Summer League team, where he went on to impress many many people, clearly showing everyone that he belongs and deserves a chance to play in the NBA.

After this performance, the rest is history. This past week he signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors.

This signing is a win-win situation for both parties.

For Jeremy, getting this contract is the culmination of many years of dedication and hard work, and to get a contract with the team that he grew up loving has to be one of the best feelings in the world. Compared to other teams that were interested in him, the Warriors have a very very thin back court. After Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry, the Warriors dont have much depth. Depending on how he plays in training camp and improves overall, Jeremy has a very real chance of getting decent playing time come the regular season. Had he gone to the Lakers he would have been stuck on the bench behind Derek Fisher and Steve Blake. Had he gone to the Mavericks, he would have been stuck behind Jason Kidd and Rodrigue Beaubois. Yes he probably would have learned tremendously from Fisher and Kidd, but he would not get any playing time come game time. By going to the Warriors, he has his best chance of playing at Oracle Arena…and plus…he’s playing for the Warriors. What an opportunity!!

For the Warriors, this is very very smart low risk, high reward investment. Financially, they are committing very little to Jeremy Lin. Reports have the contract at two years, including a $500k salary with half of it guaranteed and the rest incentives based. The 2nd year is a team option meaning that they would have the say in whether to bring him back for a 2nd year or not. However if you look at this from a marketing point of view, the Warriors will probably make this money back by the tickets they sell. Using a very conservative estimate, assume that the Warriors sell an extra 100 seats/game because of this signing. That’s 41 games x 100 seats x $50/game. That’s already $200,000. Throw in jersey sales (Im definitely buying one), and this signing can mean a ton of revenue for the Warriors.

From a business point of view, this is a very smart move. But this would be a total insult to Jeremy if you were to say that this signing was purely done for marketing. The Warriors definitely saw enough talent and potential in Jeremy to be a solid role player off the bench behind Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis that they wanted to bring him in and try to develop him. This is an investment. I truly believe that Jeremy can make it in the NBA, but then again, he might not be able to cut it. It was a chance that the Warriors were willing to take. If he makes it, its great for everybody. If he doesnt, they didnt invest that much financially in him that they would get hurt by the move. Like I said, low risk, high reward.

I’m truly happy for Jeremy Lin and what he’s been able to accomplish so far. I definitely will be heading out to more Warrior games this season to cheer him on. However, it makes me happier to see his faith in God shine throughout everything. I leave you with a recent interview conducted with ESPN.

How important is the [Asian-American] identity stuff?
You know, it’s important but not as important as my being a Christian. That’s first and foremost the most important thing to me when it comes to my identity.

Is it more important to your folks?
No. We believe in the same thing. That’s how our house is and how I was raised. We’ve always taken our Christianity and our walks with God as our first priority.