Tuesday, February 14, 2012
First of all, I admit, Jeremy Lin has been very impressive since New York Knicks’ head coach Mike D’antoni started giving him extended playing time. His numbers over those first five games, averaging 26.8 points and eight assists per game, are truly spectacular for someone who scored just 76 points last season.
New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin (17) drives past Los Angeles Lakers' Matt Barnes (9) during the first half of game Feb. 10 in New York City.
But let’s be realistic, as good as he has been, the media attention he is receiving is directly fueled by the need for New York to be relevant in all sports — especially in basketball.
If Lin were balling out in, say, Portland, Ore., would the effect be the same?
Before Lin came along, the Knicks hadn’t been relevant since the Patrick Ewing era. Even after they acquired the superstar tandem of Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, the brooms of rabid Boston fans swept them out of the NBA playoffs in the first round last year.
And before Lin became a rock star this month, the Knickerbockers sat seven games under .500, with their fan base wondering if a quality basketball team would ever call Madison Square Garden, one of the most famous sporting venues in the world, home again.
Now, he’s the hero of basketball, the next great American underdog story, the next, dare I say it, Tim Tebow hype machine.
I hold nothing against either Tebow or Lin; they both seem like upstanding citizens (although Tiger Woods showed that athletes aren’t always who they appear to be), but I can’t stand the hype media outlets pump out about their play.
Lin has received major playing time in such a small number of games that it is impossible to know how he will play over the course of an NBA career,
And if you check out Lin’s statistics, he really hasn’t been as good as billed. He does most of his scoring in the paint and is not a great three-point shooter, making just three of 17 shots from beyond the arc during his five-game miracle stretch.
And while the New York media made a big deal about his 38-point outburst against the nationally feared and overrated Los Angeles Lakers, an impressive feat nonetheless, they forgot to mention that the Lakers are a terrible road team this season (5-10 record) and that the main man responsible for guarding Lin was well past his prime, 37-yearold Derrick Fisher.
So if you want to buy into the hype, go ahead, I’m not going to stop you. It’s a good story, and 15 years down the road, there will probably be a Disney movie made about Lin. But let’s wait and see if he can continue to play this well throughout a season before campaigning to give him a spot in the NBA All-Star Game.
— Edited by Caroline Kraft
Blog: The NBA with Lauren A
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