Jeremy Lin about to go off vs the Lakers...

[DAWG61]

ESPN

 

[Incognegro]

I really wanna see Jeremy keep his success going. He seems like he deserves every bit of it.

 

[coarcdawg]

your post reminded me to turn on the game and the guy scores 9 points before the first timeout....thanks for the post.

 

[JohnnyAppleseed]

ngdm

 

[DAWG61]

unreal!! I have never seen anything like this in sports. If you're not watching you are missing out. Knicks are 4-0 since they started playing Lin. 3-0 as a starter. He might fall off the map in a week but this week alone has made a legend out of Jeremy Lin. Can't wait to see this 30 for 30 20 years from now.

 

[Incognegro]

That is if he's able to keep all of that up when Melo comes back into town. I have a hard time believing Melo will let Lin run the offense and stop playing 1 on 1, but if he's able to keep these performances up... I don't think I've ever heard of a player that came in after about 1/3rd of the season is over with and just changed the fortune of that team entirely. This is just amazing.

 

[DAWG61]

the Knicks would of released Lin before any of this started. He's been sleeping on his brother's couch. He still is!! He doesn't even have his own apartment because he only just recently was given a contract for the entire season. For the league minimum $800,000. I wonder how much Baron Davis is getting paid this year because I doubt he sees the floor. http://probasketballtalk....others-couch-now-or-not/

 

[WutheringDawg]

Yeah, it's a neat story. But he's gone against a dog tired Jazz team, a really bad Nets team, and a laughably horrible Wizards "team." Then tonight he gets to go against Derek Fischer, who is better suited to play in a SPS vs. Nafoom bball game. Wait until he plays a real defense that knows he's wants to drive the lane off the pick and roll. But I will say that it's cool to see a Chinese-American Harvard grad putting up big numbers.<div>
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[eurotrash]

He loves the game, has great skill, he's fun to watch and his enthusiasm has spread to the rest of the Knicks. Can that continue over a long season? Who knows. But the NBA may have found a new face for a while. A Harvard educated (he has a econ degree--not an easy degree) and doesn't have chip on his shoulder. Several years ago the NBA decided to embrace a hip hop attitude. They were probably thinking along the lines of Will Smith, the Black Eyed Peas and even the macho and interesting lyrics and style of LL Cool J. Turns out, many players decided to adopt the hyper masculine posture and angry nature of gangsta rap and the NBA began to hemorrhage fans and money. So much for what the Dr., Magic, Bird, and Jordan built. Don't underestimate the popularity of players like Wes Welker, Danny Woodhead, Peyton Hillis, players overlooked by major colleges but ones that seem fine for the NFL. They're players average NFL fans can relate to. The NFL changed and even abandoned its flawed mindset to open the head coaching ranks to black coaches. Maybe the NBA can learn not to underestimate the skill and marketability of young men not typically considered as suitable for the NBA. Less Baron Davis (has he ever been a team player?) and players in the Iverson mold and you might regain interest from fans who fled years ago. I don't think yet another Kobe fadeaway jumper is enough.

 

[Incognegro]

A lot of those players were the face of the league simply because they were/are exceptional players and (for a majority of them) in larger markets. There are plenty of players right now that have a team first, humble mind state that you speak of. A lot of these guys, however, are in smaller markets. Why do you think you hear more about Blake Griffin than you do Kevin Durant? It's not because Blake is a better player than KD which I don't think is up for debate, but it's because the Clippers are finally good and that they are in Los Angeles. Just look at ESPN every now and then (their website included) and there will be more articles about the Clippers, Lebron, Mavs and a few others than there will be of OKC and Chicago (the two best teams) because all of those are bigger markets especially when compared to OKC.<div>
</div><div>Derrick Rose fits that same exact mold, Chris Paul is starting to get a little bit more of his due now that he's gone to LA, and there are a few others in the league that may not be super stars but they do fit that mold. The special things about Jeremy is 1) He's Asian American. 2) He came from no where. 3) He's turning a team around that had been underachieving with the likes of Carmelo Anthony and AmareStoudemire. 4) He's in New York. I agree that the league needs more players like him, but it has nothing to do with the league trying to show the players that fit a particular mold and market that. If that were the case, then LeBron James would not be as marketable as he has become. I don't consider him the type of player mentally like Jeremy, but he's nothing like you described what you think the league tries to go after either.</div>

 

[MSUArrowCS]

I agree it's way too early to crown the guy as a franchise-changer or face of the league. But I will say that I watched that game just because he was playing in it. I think the NBA could use some more guys like that.

Another thing I noticed while watching: Kobe guarded him much of the 2nd half, not Fischer. After the 360 spin move in the 1st half, they switched Kobe on him. And as Kobe said after the game, their plan was to keep him out of the lane. And they did, but he hit his jump shots. It was impressive.

 

[eurotrash]

I don't disagree with you about large vs small market analysis (as I said, economics is a nice degree) and I'm sure they are all sorts of team players that I never heard of--I don't watch the NBA much. But even LeBron has lost a bit of luster for essentially declaring himself the face of the league and with the endorsement of ESPN (press conference, hour-long special, etc. when leaving Cleveland). Tiger Woods has taken a hit as well for his behavior.

Cultivating the proper image is important to increase market share. The image the NBA earned over the last few years (and I'm sure some of it is unwarranted) cost it the support economically important segments of the U.S. (and China and Europe as well). Sure the hyper-masculine image works for young men of various ethnicities--they're still forming identities and nothing's more exciting than acting tough. But check out the recent Pew Study regarding wealth and purchasing power--whites and Asians are on top. Whites could identify with former NBA greats, even Kareem, because they weren't dicks, or at least didn't appear to be. Trash talking then was not a problem because it reflected typical male athlete behavior. The NBA is in need of a makeover and just like NFL execs who once universally questioned whether blacks had the mental capacity to be head coaches, the NBA needs to realize that non-blacks can make good players. They're also good for marketing purposes, even in small markets.

 

[Incognegro]

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