Jeremy Lin: Will New York Knicks PG Be Latest Rags-to-Riches Story?
If Jeremy Lin—the point guard for the New York Knicks who has taken the NBA by storm this past week—becomes a legitimate NBA star, he'll already have his signature rags-to-riches moment:
Sleeping on his brother's couch. From Howard Beck of The New York Times:
"His contract, potentially worth nearly $800,000, was not even guaranteed until Tuesday afternoon. So for the past six weeks, Lin, 23, has been sleeping in his brother Josh’s living room, waiting for clarity and career security.
“He has his own couch,” Josh Lin, a New York University dental student, said cheerfully.
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Lin has all the makings of a Kurt Warner story, albeit at a younger age. "Sleeping on his brother's couch" could totally become the new "bagging groceries for a living."
He has come from basketball obscurity to borderline folklore status after two games. And as Beck noted, Lin has persevered through setbacks and certainly goes against the grain of the typical NBA player:
"He is a Harvard graduate playing in the National Basketball Association. He is an Asian-American in a league devoid of them, which makes him doubly anomalous. No team drafted Lin in 2010. Two teams cut him in December, before the Knicks picked him up.
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Listen, after two games it's a bit to early to be writing inspirational movie scripts about Lin and shipping them to Hollywood. At this point, Lin is still a flash in the pan. He's taken opposing teams by surprise, but he won't do so anymore—teams will be sure to have a well-prepared scouting report on Mr. Lin now.
That will happen when you drop a combined 53 points and 15 assists in your first two career starts.
The real question will be how Lin plays once opposing teams figure out the best way to defend him, or if he can avoid being sucked back into the black hole of obscurity after Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire return to the Knicks.
Those two have a way of absorbing all of the shots in a solar system.
So the odds still seem stacked against Lin becoming another rags-to-riches story. But that doesn't mean I won't be rooting for him.
I really want his inspirational movie to begin with Lin rolling off of his brother's couch before heading to Madison Square Garden. That's quality theater right there.
Hit me up on Twitter—my tweets never accidentally fall over the goal line.
