Friday, February 10, 2012

Harvard Econ Grad Tears Up NBA

This is a pretty amazing story, an NBA undrafted, Harvard economics graduate, Jeremy Lin, is tearing up the NBA in the last three or four games, out of nowhere. Playing for the New York Knicks, who are having a terrible season, with injuries to many key players (the Knicks' two superstars Amare Stoudemire and Carmello Anthony are out) Knicks coach Mike D'Antonio handed Lin the ball. Just, two weeks ago, the Knicks sent him to the D-League in Erie, NY. He's been playing like he is the second coming of Michael Jordan.

Here's a clip of Lin leading the Knicks to a win over the Wizards.



Here's more Lin:





I hope he makes it in the NBA. We don't need anymore Harvard elitist economists.

UPDATE: Friday night with the two Knick superstars out Jeremy Lin lead the Knicks to a victory over Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Lin lead the Knicks with 38 points and 7 assists.

Here's NyPo's Mike Vaccaro on Lin:

What happens when the hype doesn’t do justice to the truth? When the breathless hysteria isn’t equal to the black-and-white of a stat sheet, or the relentless roar of an arena in full, epic spasm? When you empty the thesaurus of adjectives and try inventing new ones, like the end of a “Words With Friends” game?

For crying out loud, what happens when Jeremy Lin outduels Kobe Bryant?

“A once in a lifetime thing,” is how Mike D’Antoni described it.

“A dream,” is how Jeremy Lin himself put it, and honestly, it wouldn’t be possible for the kid to have any idea what he did, what he’s doing, what he’s done for this team and this sport and this city.


Maybe, until now, it was possible to believe we were getting ahead of ourselves, that we were blaring our horns a little too loudly and a little too brashly, and it is easy to understand why we would be cautious about that.

But now? After this? After seeing Lin electrify Madison Square Garden with 38 points and seven assists (and, yes, with six turnovers; at this point, even his gaffes are part of the charm)? After watching him turn 19,763 witnesses into a cacophonous congregation, the noise building to ear-splitting crescendos regularly during this 92-85 victory over the Lakers?

After seeing him take over the fourth quarter as coolly and as easily as if he were a six-time All-Star?

“You don’t see many guys play like that in their whole career, let alone these past three or four games,” D’Antoni said, his voice filled with wonder. “And he answered a lot of questions tonight too: Can he pull a trigger in a big moment? Can he go against the defense when they force him a certain way?”

The coach shook his head and smiled. He smiles a lot, a week after it seemed he was a few steps away from a gangplank.
“Some of the stuff he’s doing,” he said, “is just amazing.”

We can stop waiting for midnight to strike, for the other glass slipper to drop. If Lin’s coming-out party was predicated on ridiculously hot shooting — 12-for-14 one night, 15-for-18 the next — then all of those Kevin Maas comparisons would be apt. Hot shooting — like hitting home runs in bunches — is a byproduct of a little momentum and a little luck.

But the greatest things that Lin bring to the Knicks are all repeatable: Energy. Penetration. Passing. Making teammates better — and if you ever thought that was an empty basketball cliché, then you haven’t seen the latest versions of Tyson Chandler, Landry Fields, Jared Jeffries and Iman Shumpert, to name four.

“He made winning plays the whole fourth quarter,” Jeffries said.

“You have to love a kid like that,” Chandler said.

“It’s indescribable,” Fields said. “It’s something I’ve never seen growing up in this game. He’s a great kid. It has to inspire you.”

The Garden was beyond inspired last night. As hard as the regulars have fallen for the kid, these were the Lakers and this was Kobe, and as remarkable a phenom as Lin has been he still was making just his third career start.

And matching Kobe move for move.Shot for shot.Holy-cow moment for holy-cow moment.And prevailing.

“Kids should look up to him,” Bryant said. “See what hard work can do.”

“Waived twice, sent to the D-League four times,” Lin said. “A lot of my time has been just trying to be the 15th man on a team. And now this ... ”

5 comments:

  1. I think that he is more Stockton and Price, with the mental quickness and risk-taking of Jordan. He apparently understands when to do it himself or when to utilize the talents of others.

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  2. He's going to make it. He has legit NBA talent. He's busy tearing up the Lakers as I write this.

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  3. With a degree in economics and the ron paul revolution continuing to spread, I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually stumbles upon Dr. Paul, and then upon the Austrians. Obviously the mathematicobabble he must have been brainwashed with at Harvard might deter this, but let us hope that his curiosity and Dr. Paul's rising popularity can overcome his brainwashing. If his star continues to rise and he becomes an avid ron paul supporter and critic of the FED, he might take the intellectual revolution to a whole new level. I really wish the RP campaign would make a conscious effort to reach famous people and teach them basic economics. Can you imagine a reporter asks him, "Since you have a degree in economics do you have any advice.?" Lin "sure, vote for Dr. Paul who predicted the whole thing, read End The Fed, everyone should be familiar with 'the austrian school of economics'" . That will do more for liberty and economic prosperity than 20 million dollars spent on ads trying to get hyper-religious-good-vs-evil-thinking-70-year-old-republicans to vote for Dr. Paul.

    I'd rather spend one million dollars to get Lebron James in a room with Mr. Wenzel for four hours than creating ads attempting to get the aforementioned people to vote for Dr. Paul. I really really wish the campaign or superPAC or some group of RP supporters would make a conscious and well-coordinated effort to educate famous athletes/stars.

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  4. I'm laughing to myself right now. My asian wife wanted to go to the spa (located in one of the greater los Angeles asian communities) today, so I wound up in the lobbie using my "portable office." They have the Knicks/Timberwolves game on and lots of the locals are showing great interest.

    I had been thinking to myself "wow! I didn't know asians were so into professional basketball." I finally thought of your blog post and put two and two together.

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  5. Highlights from the Lin v. Kobe match. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlG045iZsBI

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