Letting Linsanity Sink In

There are two major reasons why we love to watch sports.  First, we admire the display of the world’s best athletes competing at the highest level.  The second – and much more powerful and impactful reason – is that we love seeing success stories, especially when the cards are stacked against them from happening.  As a whole, fans naturally root for the underdog and get caught up in the wave of Cinderella stories.  Much of the hardcore enthusiasm and pride instilled in sports fans comes from the inspiration and hope that a rare phenomenon gives them.

In the last week, we have been witnessing one of these phenomenons, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.  And it just so happens to be occurring within one of the most storied franchises.  I’m speaking, of course, of the one and only New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin.  In the last four games without “superstars” (yes, I’ll keep calling them that) Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire (Melo with a sore groin, and Amare coping with his brother’s untimely death), the Knicks have gone 4-0 – in large part due to Lin coming out of nowhere to lead his team to convincing victories over New Jersey, Utah, Washington, and the Lakers.  In those 4 games, Lin’s point/assist log looks like this: 25/7 vs. NJ, 28/8 vs. Utah, 23/10 at Washington (against last year’s No. 1 draft pick John Wall, no less), and a whopping 38/7 against Kobe and the Lakers.  With each game, Lin is gaining tremendous confidence, and has electrified the Garden.

Blowing by defenses left and right, Jeremy Lin has taken the sports
world by storm, and has the Knicks finally playing winning basketball

Since sneaking in to the NBA after 4 successful years at Harvard,
Jeremy Lin has gone relatively unnoticed by teams league-wide

Stats aside, this hasn’t been a good story; it’s been a GREAT story. After going undrafted out of Harvard, and between bouncing around teams in NBA and spending time in the D-League, this guy wasn’t on ANYONE’s radar.  Before Tuesday – when his contract became guaranteed – he was sleeping on his brother’s couch at night to save money.  Even Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey couldn’t help but praise the guy and express regret for not giving him a chance.  Of all the point guards on the Knicks roster – Baron Davis, Iman Shumpert, and Mike Bibby – who would have ever thought that Lin would be the answer as the floor general? 

These days, everyone in the sports world is asking if Lin’s remarkable run can be sustained, and whether he’s actually for real or just a one-week wonder.  I’ll put my answer simply:  One great game is an aberration.  Two is a trend.  Three is reality.  And four?  Well, considering the competition and the spotlight, his performance is no fluke.  Plain and simple - the guy can play.  He's constantly beating guys like Deron Williams and John Wall off the dribble.  Although turnover-prone so far in his first few games playing big minutes, his playmaking ability is top-notch.  And hey, he can dunk!  To put it in perspective, he's SECOND in PER - right behind freaking LeBron!  How good can he be?  It's tough to tell; I'm not going to say he's All-Star material, but I would say he could be a solid backup point guard on a contending team.  But more importantly, he needs to be in the right system to be effective.  Even with his new-found confidence, I think the quality of his play is always going to be dependent on the team and playing style.

Here’s a crazy thought:  what if Lin keeps this up through the rest of the season?  Imagine this scenario if Linsanity continues:  he’ll land a big contract over the off-season after teams commence on a bidding war for him.  Next season, he’ll be put on the All-Star ballot.  If the Lin bandwagon multiplies by then, fans WILL vote for him - especially from China and Taiwan.  While still pretty crazy and farfetched, Lin being voted as a 2013 NBA All-Star starting guard is not completely beyond the realm of possibility.  I mean, we all remember how many All-Star votes Yao Ming got – and even Yi Jianlian almost got voted in when he was put on the ballot a few years ago.  But Yi was not causing nearly the stir that Lin is now.  How crazy would that be?

Carmelo Anthony's ball-holding ways will be tough to mix
with Jeremy Lin's free-flowing pick-and-roll offensive style

Okay, now that I have gotten all the praise out of the way – time to play Devil’s Advocate.  Realistically, the Knicks are still not a winning team.  Before Linsanity started, New York was off to a disappointing 8-15 start in a year they had higher expectations.  Mike D’Antoni was on the hot seat, and Melo and Amare’s superstardom has come into question (and rightfully so).   So while they are having success without those two, you have to wonder how their return will impact the team.  As I’ve beat to death over and over, Melo and Amare happen to be two gifted scorers with the same team-killing deficiencies.  Defensively, they are two of the worst starting forwards in the league.  On offense, the two scoring juggernauts and iso-happy games severely penalize the team’s overall ball movement.  Without them, Lin and the Knicks have been primarily running pick-and-roll plays, where Lin has been incredibly effective.  In that scheme, there has been a free flowing offense that we are used to seeing from D’Antoni-led teams.  But when Melo and Amare return, I just can’t see them letting Lin dictate the offense – especially Melo, who has never taken kindly to the idea of being a second fiddle.  Over his entire career, he has never given me any reason to believe that he can adjust for the betterment of the team – at least not yet.  And if Melo continues dominating the ball, Lin's play might suffer.The subsequent destruction of chemistry is my biggest fear for the Knicks as a team, in the aftermath of Linsanity. 

So if this fear is realized, and the Knicks struggle integrating his two stars with Lin, what does D’Antoni do?  Does he put his foot down and tell the team that Lin will be the team’s primary playmaker, and ask his two stars to put their egos aside?  Can he somehow integrate Melo and Amare’s scoring prowess without adversely affecting the team’s successful style of play lately?  Tyson Chandler has really stepped it up on both ends of the court, but will he keep it up?  I don’t see any positives from this happening, but for the sake of Knicks fans, I really hope I’m wrong.  Knicks fans have experienced far, far, far more disappointments and letdowns than success throughout their lifetime, so hopefully this can turn around their fortunes on a more permanent basis. They are long overdue for some optimism in the team.

Regardless of this particular team’s success, I think Lin has turned his own career around and will never again have to worry about finding a place to crash.  Whether or not he can sustain this run, he has instantly impacted the league and inspired fans worldwide in a way that few ever have before.  As fans, let’s not question him and just enjoy the ride while it lasts.