Jeremy Lin. Is he the next Asian Kobe Bryant? For the past month he has been making headlines in regards to how well he plays basketball. He is the first Asian American to play in the NBA. Due to Lin's remarkable talent and success, he is all over the media, print advertisement, and he even has his own ice cream and shoes! The Linsanity movement has also caused his jersey sales to sky rocket 200%. Who wouldn't want to wear #17 on his or her back?!
Lin was born on August 23, 1988. He is a professional NBA player for the New York Knicks. His career started off when he received a sports scholarship to play basketball at Harvard University. With his extremely high GPA of a 4.2, Harvard, without hesitation accepted him. Throughout his college years, he averaged about 12.6 points per game. By his junior year during the 2008-2009 season he ranked in the top ten in his conference (NCAA Division) in scoring, averaging 17.8 points per game. He also averaged 5.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.4 steals. By his senior year 2009-2010 he averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.1 blocks and 2.5 steals. During his time playing for Harvard, Lin broke several records. He graduated from Harvard with a 3.1 GPA majoring in Economics. His career in basketball was soon to begin.
His NBA career started when he got drafted for the Golden State Warriors in 2010. He signed a $500,000 contract for 2 years. In which he also signed a three year contract with Nike. As guard for the Golden State Warriors, he did not receive that much playing time. He did, however, receive a lot of support from the Asian community. Two years later he signed a contract to play for the New York Knicks. On February 4, Lin's success began when he out played all-star Deron Williams scoring 25 points. Ever since then his reputation sky rocketed and he became extremely popular. He has helped the Knicks, without the two star players in Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, quickly become a contender in the Eastern Conference. He is also making a huge impact on the Asian American community and is continuing to gain support from all over the world. Jeremy Lin's story is definitely "Cinderella"-esque. He is an uprising phenomenon.
By: Sali Nguyen
