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The thing is, the N.B.A. isn’t a club people get into because of mere hard work, or elite grooming, or cleverness. That's part of the sport's magic, at the professional level. None of the rest of you can do this. And that's a good thing.
Basketball has its elite. They tend to come from a certain place, though, and go through a certain hard-knocks training, as the stereotype goes, and they don’t typically go through the Ivy League or hail from Taiwan. That is the rub here. Lin is not supposed to exist. He is not supposed to be able to make plays on an N.B.A. court, to direct his teammates, to decide when to shoot and when to pass. He’s Asian. He went to Harvard. His parents are immigrants. He studied economics.
Here’s the other thing. Lin is not Yao Ming. Lin is one of the 5 percent of the American population that identifies itself as having Asian ancestry; he is from from here and so he is disposed to the American way of things while remaining a part of an overlooked minority. And that, perhaps, is the signature sentiment of the Jeremy Lin phenomenon that's drawn people in, particularly Asian Americans. We’re all too used to the feeling we've somehow been passed over.
So of everyone who claims him, it is perhaps the Asian Americans, and more particularly Young Asian American Christians of Certain Education, who claim him hardest. As the New York Times’ Michael Luo wrote, “It boils down to a welter of emotions from finally having someone I can relate to enter the public consciousness.”
The connection Luo describes is real and it's one I feel too, but I also can’t help but feel it’s a reaction to the reaction as much as anything else. We Asian Americans are pointing to the TV screens and the Twitter streams and saying, “See, see, as long as you see what I know, then we’ve won.” Meanwhile, really, I know that Jeremy Lin is as distinct from me as anyone else on the court.
We are not Jeremy Lin. Rather, the triumphal narrative here is that the rest of the world now has some small clue about our own miscellany, our own idiosyncrasies and beliefs. We are not all Tiger Mom cubs. We are not so uniform and so blind to feeling and emotion and that we can’t swagger and sway. We’re not merely silent strivers. Some of us can dunk and drive and smile like everyone else.
And by the way, for the record, Jeremy Lin never was drafted.
Dope article. In re: Kobe, I think the perseverance piece holds, and maybe he is just used to saying hard work and perseverance together.
If the only way to get into the NBA was hard work, then half the league would be Asian. It takes physical traits, skills, rhythm and aggressiveness.
So um, being of East Indian descent can I claim Lin as one of ours as well? 1. because technically I'm also Asian-American. 2. It'll probably be a decade before an East Indian player makes the NBA
Great article by the way.
I'm also Chinese and studied economics at Harvard, so I am on the bandwagon too.
To me, the most gripping part of the narrative is the underdog story--the underdog succeeds gets and recognition after suffering the injustice of arbitrary bias. It's the same narrative of Moneyball. We made a movie and put Brad Pitt in the main role. Of course, I can't speak for the other Asians.
"Hard work" is one of these dangerous words to use. Some people do indeed toss it out like cliche. Others really know what it means--they are there to see the extra effort compared to what other players put in. At a distance, the rest of us are not really in a position to know; we have to take it on authority. Larry Bird was considered one hard working player, shooting baskets alone in the stadium immediately after being eliminated from the playoffs. Do other players do this too? Or is it fiction that makes up his mythology?
In 2012, hard work is OK--or rather it has been elevated to claim more of the genius class. Read "Outliers." Gladwell claims that much of the success of Bill Gates and the Beatles comes from being fully immersed in their crafts for 10,000 plus hours, aka hard work. If you ever see an exhibit of Degas' studies, you see how hard he worked just to produce one famous work. The hard work v natural gift debate is one of those dumb arguments by people on the sidelines.
What's frightening to me is to think what would have happened to Jeremy Lin if he hadn't done well enough in high school to qualify for Harvard or Yale. Playing well for the Crimson didn't get him drafted by the NBA but it was enough to earn him spots via free agency. Where would Jeremy Lin's NBA career be if he hadn't lived out the Asian American scholastic stereotype?
Great Article! I think the ethos you theorize about is definitely distinct from our immigrant parents we have been raised by or try to separate ourselves from. We try to take that which we found great value in and hopefully continue to imbue it into our own progeny and hopefully discard that which makes us fade into the cookie cutter hard working laborer hoping for a better tomorrow. I have a 16 yr old attending a private high school I attended as a first generation Asian-American but yet I cannot separate myself from the fact that there is distinct difference in how I want to proceed with my child. You are absolutely right - in way - Jeremy Lin should not exist. He is an independent Asian American, Christian believer no less, who has grabbed the spot light in a different way than we or he might have expected. Yet his "humble Harvard" or rather "humble-Asian" mentality and personality seems to remain in the interviews. I can only hope and pray that when Jeremy's level of play starts to falter in time that the credibility factor remains high for Jeremy himself - Asian or not - he deserves it. Or will it be some random event that everyone can dismiss just as easily as we do the Khardasians. Ironic segue - hopefully there will never be a NBA Wives... Mrs. Lin... bashing him or whatever. Good luck to Jeremy, his family and congratulations to his parents in ALLOWING JEREMY TO PURSUE HIS PASSION AND NOT THEIR OWN EXPECTATIONS of what they wished or wanted for him. Be the person to show that passion, perseverance and practice will always promote success in ANYTHING pursued not just medicine, law and business.
It's true that basketball frequently employs racial stereotypes to characterize players. That being said, it's just a fact that Lin is not an especially athletic player (relative to other guards in the NBA). He doesn't create a lot of space for himself by being a great shooter, has problems going left and turns the ball over a lot. Despite all that, he STILL manages to get to the rim at an insane rate, which is why he is in actuality a very smart player. Like the post-injury Chris Paul, Lin utilizes a great sense of timing and a plethora of hesitation moves and subtle changes of direction and pace to break his man down, rather than pure athleticism.
I think fame also comes with alot of pressures on the player in their future games. More fans expect a player to remain an all star basketball player. I just hope Jeremy Lin continues to do well. He's is such an inspiration to all of us Asians.