Linsanity: Analyzing Jeremy Lin's Meteoric Rise to Fame

In a matter of a week, Jeremy Lin has taken over the world, at least in regard to social media outlets. Lin’s Twitter followers have risen by more than 100,000 and he is the sixth most googled name in the world.

Lin has accomplished such a dramatic increase in popularity after a week where he averaged 28.5 points and eight assists per game. 

Can you say NBA Player of the Week? 

Still, this is a very short time span to have gained so much fame.

How has it happened?

There are three major factors here.

Perceived Improbability

One of the factors that makes a story like Lin’s so intriguing is the belief that he came out of nowhere. The belief that he seems like such an improbable guy to possess NBA star level talent is appealing.

This starts of course with race—unfortunately, many things still do in this world. As an Asian American, Lin was not heavily recruited out of high school, and was undrafted out of Harvard.

Yes, Harvard.

Lin believes that if he wasn’t of Asian descent, his recruiting process would have gone differently. He is quoted at sfgate.com in a piece by Bryan Chu saying:

"“I'm not saying top-5 state automatically gets you offers, but I do think (my ethnicity) did affect the way coaches recruited me. I think if I were a different race, I would've been treated differently.”"

Lin is still viewed as a novelty because of his ethnicity, and this contributes to his fame. People who think his abilities are so surprising are neglecting the fact that he is 6’3”, 200 pounds and an absolute gym rat; these are all great traits for a point guard, no matter what your ethnicity.

If he were African-American and had a week like this, would he experience such a rise in popularity?

Probably not.

Lin is not terribly athletic, he just knows how to play the game has great instincts. Those traits appeal to the everyman. Some fans may watch him and feel as though they can relate to him, because he isn’t 6’9” with a condor-like wingspan and blessed with a 42” vertical.

You could see someone who looks like him at your local YMCA. That gives him even more appeal to the casual fan.

On top of all that, Lin hails from an Ivy League school. In the history of the NBA and ABA, only 40 players hailing from Ivy League schools had appeared in a game before Lin. So Lin’s ascent was improbable not only because of ethnicity, but also because of the collegiate institution he hails from.

Youth and Future Impact

At 23, Lin still offers mega upside moving forward. He may very well be the Knicks' point guard of the future. With so much banter about Baron Davis, and prospective trades for Steve Nash, is it possible Mike D’Antoni had his point guard at the end of the bench the entire time?

Before this past week, Lin hadn’t even scored double figures in a game, let alone averaged 28 and eight.

As dynamic as Lin has been, he still turns the ball over a ton. In his fabulous week, Lin is averaging 4.75 turnovers per game, but he’s still learning the game. That’s the beauty and appeal of his situation. As good as he’s been, his imperfections imply that there is still room for improvement, and that tells us the best is yet to come.

Who doesn’t like to have better days to look forward to? 

Especially when the present isn’t looking to shabby as it is. Nothing excites a city or an organization like effective young players with upside, and Lin is that guy.

The Knicks

Lastly, but certainly not least in the factors in Lin’s rise, is the fact that he plays for the New York Knicks. It’s New York—everything is bigger, badder and more sensationalized.

It’s not to say that he hasn’t played well, any fool can see that. 

Still, because it’s New York, it’s a bigger story. Had Lin made this impact with the Golden State Warriors, it would not have been nearly as covered, and I probably wouldn’t be writing this article.

The Knicks are one of the NBA’s biggest draws, win or lose. It just so happened that Lin’s rise came at a moment when the Knicks had lost five of six. The team was staring at a very disappointing 8-15 record and D’Antoni’s future past this season was highly in doubt.

Insert Lin, and now the Knicks have won four games in a row, they are now in the eight spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race and D’Antoni seems to have his point guard.

This gives Lin’s story the team savior effect and the fact it’s the Knicks that he’s saved makes it bigger.

People love the next big thing, and nothing is bigger than what's next in the Big Apple. 

It’s a great story, and it’s pretty refreshing that something on the court is taking the headlines from the “Who's going to get Dwight?” stories.

Count me as one of the “Lin-sane,” not because of the aforementioned reasons, but simply because he’s a baller and I love the game.