I promised a dear friend of mine that if Jeremy Lin could consistently put up good numbers I would dedicate a blog to his story. After scoring more point in his first four games than any player since the ABA/NBA merger he's earned the right to be a topic of discussion. The kid from Harvard has the Knicks undefeated in their last 5 games (without Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony) and is the talk of New York. Is Jeremy Lin good for the NBA?
Absolutely. After dragging out the NBA lockout for months on end the league can use all the feel good stories it can find. Jeremy Lin represents the power of positive thinking and perseverance. The guy believed in himself when no one else did after being cut by the Houston Rockets and shuffled back and forth from the D-league with the Knicks. It's somewhat of a miracle he was able to take such great advantage of his opportunity.
It's also good for the NBA from a marketing perspective. His Asian ancestry makes him instantly popular in China and Taiwan not to mention the Asian Americans that have rallied around his stellar play. Jersey sales are through the roof and casual fans that know very little about basketball are tuning in just to see what all the fuss is about.
Jeremy Lin has gone from sleeping on his brother's couch to high fiving with Spike Lee at Madison Square Garden. No one saw this kind of impact coming and it's refreshing to see all the hard work and sacrifice pay off. Hopefully the Linsanity that has taken the world by storm won't be a fad. His solid play has got Jeremy to this point, but a few bad games is all it takes to turn the Knicks faithful against him. Keep hitting jumpers, dunking on fools, and throwing dimes and everything will be OK. Good luck Jeremy.
No comments:
Post a Comment