10:02 am Mar. 21, 20125
Jeremy Lin showed an uncharacteristic hint of irritation with a question about his persistent doubters as he stood in the center of yet another media scrum at his locker following New York's 106-87 win over Toronto at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night.
"I'm not worried about proving myself to anybody," Lin, who had 18 points and ten assists against just three turnovers, responded before the question had even finished. "People are going to have skeptics their whole lives, so I don't really care about that."
He seldom answers questions so curtly, and is usually the first to assess himself harshly, and to discuss the aspects of his game that need improvement.
But maybe it's time for him to stop pretending he's just a prospect with a chance to succeed. Certainly, the N.B.A. teams employing those anonymous scouts quoted in the Post who assessed Lin as a D-league talent should be concerned about paying good money for such ill-informed opinions.
It was one thing when the entire league had yet to see the undrafted Lin play. It is quite another to come up with such a judgment based on the playing record he's compiled already. It almost sounds like some of the scouts who missed Lin on the way up are hoping he'll prove them right, after the fact, by crashing back down.
The reality is that despite a coaching change that shifted the Knicks away from what was supposedly the only system he could ever succeed in, and a surrounding cast that has shifted almost continually since he broke into the league, Jeremy Lin is still putting up numbers that are impressive, both compared to the other point guards in the league this season, and compared to the rookie campaigns of the best players at his position in recent years.
Lin's assist percentage on the season is 43.5 per 100 plays, just ahead of Chris Paul, and trailing only Jose Calderon, Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo and Steve Nash. Which means he's been distributing the ball at an elite level, and that continued last night, when he delivered an assist in 57.5 percent of his plays.
That's all the more impressive next to the accomplishments of those great point guards when they were at his level of experience. Lin's assist percentage rates ahead of the rookie seasons of Paul, Kidd and Williams, all of whom rank among the all-time leaders in rookie performance for assist percentage. The list of players at Lin's assist rate or lower includes people like John Stockton, Andre Miller, Gary Grant and Sherman Douglas.
Not one guard who has done what Lin has in his first or second season has failed to have an extended career in the N.B.A. And no one is still worries about the potential ability of players like rookies Ricky Rubio, Kyrie Irving or second-year point guard John Wall, even though all of these young point guards lag far behind Lin as distributors of the ball.
One person who clearly understands this is new Knicks coach Mike Woodson, who is making sure his new offense includes room for Lin to operate.
"I kind of know where shots are coming now," Woodson told assembled reporters for his postgame press conference Tuesday night. "We're kind of mixing in open-court play, where we give Jeremy an opportunity to wheel and deal, we mix in some set plays, and we post some. So there's a variety of things going on."
And throughout all of it, there remains Jeremy Lin, whose success has ceased to be a phenomenon. At least for those of us who aren't as smart as those scouts.
Howard,
Thanks for another great article. For us Lin fans, these critics and especially Stephen A. Smith are seriously irritating. The former is clearly trying to justify their misses on Lin before. Stephen A. Smith is kissing Carmelo's a** by putting down Lin. "Marginal player"? "D leaguer"? Lin's PER keeps climbing. He's the 31st among all players, highest on Knicks team and 10th among PG. Marginal? Then what to make Carmelo who's out of the 50th? Lin has better shooting FG% and 3pts% than Carmelo does and Carmelo is supposed to be "the greatest scorer in the league?" Some people are trying hard to protect the status quo of the NBA.
Well, one reason why Lin's story is so compelling is that he broke through the stereotype and proves his critics wrong all his life. This will just be another chapter in his bio. Stephen A. Smith can play the villan when Jeremy Lin's movie is made.
There will always be doubters as long as there are moron's and idiots. Fact of life.
This is a great article. I was never a basketball fan let alone any sports fan. I have never watched a sport game on TV as passionately as I do now when I watch New York Knicks game with Jeremy Lin in it!! But all change when Jeremy Lin got on the board! I now know bit of basketball!
I hope all the best and success to Jeremy Lin. He truly deserve this fame and I hope he continue to shine!!
Jeremy Lin just wanted to play basketball and did play his heart out every time. He is a team player and care less whether he has the best line in the stats or whether he can get the headlines in the media the next morning. He kept trying to divert attention to his team when the team won the games and took the responsibilities when the team lost.
The kid by experience is a rookie. Why you guys keep comaring him with other veteran PGs is beyond me, it's like saying how come a high schooler can't compete with a university graduate, he's not there yet we all know that but needs time. He IS probably the best PG Knicks has right now, and has shown lots of promises for someone who just started his NBA career (20+ games with meaningful play time per game) and, most importantly, he’s learning every game. If you did watch the last few games, you should notice that he was playing in control and improved a lot with his defense and efficiency in the offensive end. Why can't you Lin-haters look at the bigger picture? He's inspired many people to work hard and chase their dreams, it's beyond basketball, beyond sports. People like you may be of some good value to push guys like Lin to excel, even though he's got nothing to prove to you, but it exposes you for what you really know...shallow and little.
He’s good now, and will get better. Whoever is saying he is a flash in the pan or will never improve is an idiot (or, in the case of of some commenters on other sites, really just racist). And, don't hate on Melo either...when he finds his groove, he will be a very lethal weapon against ANY teams in the league. Be patient … basketball is a team sport.
Jeremy Lin just wanted to play basketball and did play his heart out every time. He is a team player and care less whether he has the best line in the stats or whether he can get the headlines in the media the next morning. He kept trying to divert attention to his team when the team won the games and took the responsibilities when the team lost.
The kid by experience is a rookie. He IS probably the best PG Knicks has right now, and has shown lots of promises for someone who just started his NBA career (20+ games with meaningful play time per game) and, most importantly, he’s learning every game. If you did watch the last few games, you should notice that he was playing in control and improved a lot with his defense and efficiency in the offensive end. He's inspired many people to work hard and chase their dreams, it's beyond basketball.
He’s good now, and will get better. Whoever is saying he is a flash in the pan or will never improve is an idiot (or, in the case of of some commenters on other sites, really just racist). And, don't hate on Melo either...when he finds his groove, he will be a very lethal weapon against ANY teams in the league. Be patient … basketball is a team sport.