Enter the Dragon

The Year of the Dragon has unveiled a player of Chinese descent to breathe fire into the NBA this season. Jeremy Lin, 23, was born in Los Angeles to Chinese parents with roots to Taipei and now plays for the New York Knicks. Last campaign, Lin averaged 2.6 points in 26 games for the Golden State Warriors and was more of a promotional attraction for the Bay Area’s large Asian community than a serious contributor on the hardcourt. In fact, he was cut by the Warriors and the Houston Rockets before the Knicks gave him a chance. Displaying fiery form, Lin shot 28 against Utah, 23 against Washington and 38 against the Los Angeles Lakers to score the most points by an NBA cager in his first three career starts since 1976-77. His eruption in the Lakers game overshadowed Kobe Bryant’s 34-point explosion.

At the moment, Lin is averaging 11.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 14 outings. He’s shooting .496 from the field, .770 from the line and a dismal .167 from three-point distance. Slowly, the opposition is starting to take notice and clamping down defensively on Lin. What makes Lin special is his ability to create. He makes no-look blind passes to wide open teammates for easy baskets, penetrates with an eye to dish and doesn’t hesitate to take tough shots on strong moves to the hole. His basketball IQ is exemplary. He’s got a point guard mentality with a wing’s shooting ability.

Obviously, Lin is smart. He earned an economics degree at Harvard University which as is the rule among Ivy League schools, doesn’t award athletic scholarships. Lin finished with a grade point average of 3.1. Aside from excelling in the classroom, Lin was outstanding on the court, ending his four-year varsity career as the first Ivy Leaguer to compile at least 1,450 points, 450 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals.

In his last three years at Harvard, Lin’s coach was former Duke guard Tommy Amaker who previously called the shots at Seton Hall and Michigan. Amaker is known to Filipino fans as a member of coach Gene Keady’s US collegiate all-star squad that lost to Ron Jacobs’ Philippine team in overtime in the 1985 Jones Cup finals. As a Harvard rookie, Lin averaged 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds as coach Frank Sullivan took the varsity to a 12-16 record in his 16th year at the helm. Amaker took over the next year and piloted the varsity to an 8-22 mark to 14-14 and finally, to 21-8 in Lin’s senior season. Lin averaged 12.6 points as a sophomore, 17.8 points as a junior and 16.4 points as a senior.

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“Jeremy’s a throwback, a complete player with a great deal of energy and competitiveness,” said Amaker quoted by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. “It’s no longer good enough to drive himself. Now, it’s time to bring others along with him.” And that’s his situation in New York. With his numbers, Lin is in a position to make better players out of his teammates. Surely, the Knicks – now on a five-game winning streak but only in third place in the Atlantic Division with a 13-15 record – can only get better when Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire rejoin the club.

Lin won’t ever become a Michael Jordan or even a Kobe. It’s not his style to shine individually. He’ll thrive in pick-and-rolls, dribble-drives and kick-outs. Coach Mike D’Antoni must realize Lin can’t be thrust into a situation where he puts the Knicks on his shoulders. He’s far from being a LeBron James or a Dwyane Wade. But it’s clear that the Warriors and Rockets made a big mistake in letting him go. Lin has a role to play with the Knicks and in the NBA. He brings hope to Asians who dream of someday breaking into the majors. Before Lin, there were only five players of Asian descent to make it to the NBA. Wat Misaka, born in Utah to Japanese parents, played three games for the Knicks in 1947-48. Raymond Townsend of UCLA saw action for the Warriors and Indiana Pacers in 1978-82. His mother Virginia Marella is from Balayan, Batangas. Rex Walters, Corey Gaines and Robert Swift had Japanese lineage.

Among the Ivy Leaguers who saw action in the NBA were Dartmouth’s George Munroe (later chairman of Phelps-Dodge) and Rudy LaRusso, Columbia’s Jim McMillian (with the Los Angeles Lakers) and Jack Molinas and Princeton’s Bill Bradley (later a senator), Geoff Petrie, Brian Taylor and Bud Palmer. An Ivy Leaguer who played in the PBA as an import was Cornell’s Philippine-born Alex Compton, now assistant coach with Powerade.

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Who will coach the East in the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 26 in Orlando? The West coach has been determined to be Oklahoma City’s Scott Brooks with the Thunder showing the way in the conference. But in the East, it’s a dogfight between Chicago’s Tom Thibodeau and Miami’s Fil-Am coach Erik Spoelstra. Cut-off date is Feb. 15 so the team that is on top of the East by then will anoint the All-Star coach.

Right now, Chicago is 23-7 with a game against lowly Sacramento left before the cut-off. Miami is 21-7 with games against Milwaukee and Indiana to go. The East squad is made up of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony as starters with Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Andre Igoudala, Deron Williams, Roy Hibbert, Chris Bosh and Luol Deng as reserves. The West is composed of Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant and Andrew Bynum as starters with Russell Westrbook, Steve Nash, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, Marc Gasol, Tony Parker and Dirk Nowitzki as reserves.

Fans voted the starters. Coaches voted for the reserves in their conference. They weren’t allowed to vote for their own players. The limitation for the reserves was to fill in two guards, two forwards, a center and two others of any position for each team. In the East, Rajan Rondo should’ve been named, maybe instead of Williams. In the West, Monta Ellis deserved a spot.