The Layers of Linsanity

On Feb. 4, Jeremy Shu-How Lin stepped onto the floor of Madison Square Garden. It wasn’t his first time—he had been claimed by the New York Knicks off waivers on Dec. 27, 2011 after stints on the Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets, and in the NBA Development League. But this time was different; this time was special.

Not only had the the Knicks lost 11 of their last 13 games, they had an injury-depleted roster and limited options at the point guard position. Lin started the game against the New Jersey Nets relatively quietly, tallying just a rebound and an assist in the first quarter. But as the second quarter started, Lin found his rhythm, dishing out three assists and scoring three baskets of his own to bring the Knicks within two points heading into halftime.

The Madison Square crowd, sensing something special, cheered on Lin as he finished with a final stat line of 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting, seven assists, five rebounds, and two steals in a 99-92 win.

Over the next 11 games with Knicks superstars Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony spending time on the bench with injuries, Lin led the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak and a 9-2 record, all while averaging 23.9 points and 9.1 assists. It was official, “Linsanity” had hit the Big Apple and captivated millions worldwide.

Almost overnight, stores were invaded and overwhelmed by fans that wanted to get their hands on any and all kinds of Lin-related paraphernalia.

The Palo Alto, Calif. native was added to the Rising Stars Challenge during NBA All-Star Weekend by popular demand and received all sorts of media attention including a selection to Time Magazine’s 100 “Most Influential People in the World.”

The internet boomed with Jeremy Lin puns and fans all around the world debated how long Linsanity could last.

And then, just as quickly and unexpectedly as Lin had become a global phenomenon, he disappeared.

On March 24, Lin reported that he had a sore knee after a game against the Detroit Pistons, and on March 31, the Knicks announced that Lin had chosen to have knee surgery for a meniscus tear and would miss the rest of the season.

“It’s just so funny how since he got hurt, how quickly people forget what he accomplished this year,” says Lin’s high school coach Peter Diepenbrock. “I’m looking forward to him basically showing everyone that it wasn’t just a two-month deal.”

Although Lin’s season is over, he has made a significant impact in New York, at Harvard, around the Ivy League, and around the world because of his multi-dimensional appeal.

“Jeremy has so many layers to him,” says Harvard men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker. “You peel back one, and there’s another. There are so many wonderful stories about who he is.”

LASTING IMPACT

One of the many layers to Lin’s story is his association with Harvard, both the basketball program and the University as a whole.

Lin arrived at Harvard in the fall of 2006 as a 6’3” point guard from Palo Alto High School. While Lin’s first year at Harvard passed without event, by the time he was a sophomore, he quickly refined his game. And, by the end of his sophomore campaign, hadaveraged 12.6 points and was named to the All-Ivy Second Team.

“He did great things for us here, but he didn’t just drop out of the sky; I know that’s how most people view it,” Amaker says. “From day one, he has had a tremendous impact from how he’s conducted himself, how hard he’s worked, and certainly his performance.”

Lin would only get better. As a junior, he was the only player in NCAA Division I men’s basketball to rank among the top ten in his conference in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, and three-point percentage.

And as a senior, Lin was a unanimous choice for the All-Ivy First Team and led Harvard in scoring. One of 20 finalists for the John R. Wooden award for the national player of the year and one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy award for the nation’s top point guard, Lin completed his Harvard career as the only player in program history to record 1,450 points, 450 rebounds, 400 assists, and 200 steals. While Lin received publicity as a senior, it has grown exponentially since his time with the Knicks.

“The masses now know that Jeremy Lin went to Harvard and played at Harvard,” Amaker says. “He did tremendous things for this program, and he made an incredible name for himself in the Ivy League. Now that he’s moved on from Harvard and gone on to the professional ranks, the notoriety, the exposure, the attention has certainly helped us because usually they don’t mention [Harvard basketball] in any shape or form, whether its interview, print, or even television. [Harvard and Jeremy Lin] are somehow already interrelated and that’s just an amazing phenomena.”

While it is hard to fully gauge the effect of Lin’s success on the Harvard basketball program, Amaker hopes that Lin’s example will give the program credibility and increased exposure, which could help with recruiting.

“The impact he’s had has given us credibility for the fact that a young man such as himself has come through Harvard, has come through our program, has come through the Ivy League,” Amaker says. “I think there are certainly hopes of being able to present our program to kids who have dreams of being an NBA player. Maybe that in itself will give us some traction with regards to recruiting. That in itself is worth its weight in gold.”

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 says that the impact from Lin’s exposure will not be limited to Ivy League basketball.

“We [look at demography], looking five, ten, 15, 20 years out. That’s really what our time perspective is,” Fitzsimmons says. “When you think about the effect that that type of publicity can have both here in the United States and abroad, there’s no question that [Lin’s] example and all the wonderful things in the press could well have a very positive effect for Harvard really for years to come.”

Fitzsimmons sees Lin’s impact as a very positive thing for Harvard admissions in both the short and long term, in the United States and all over the globe.

“It’s one thing to see and hear numbers about Harvard,” Fitzsimmons says. “It’s another to see, in some sense, Harvard personified in such a positive way. In some respects it’s very much the American Dream.”

AROUND THE IVIES

The focus on Lin’s successes has spread to other points in the Ivy League.

Yale senior center Greg Mangano has been following Lin’s success in the NBA during his own period of NBA recruitment.

“It’s definitely helped,” says Mangano, a two time member of the All-Ivy First Team. “I followed [Lin] really closely because I knew it was going to help having him and anyone else who is trying to play at the next level.”

NBA Director of Scouting Ryan Blake suggests that scouts have been following the Ivy League for a while, even before Lin’s recent successes.

“We pretty much scour the earth, and we do our best to find players that have professional ability,” Blake says. “We definitely don’t ignore [his success], but it’s not in terms of ‘now we have to go scout the Ivy League,’ because we already cover it. “

Penn senior guard Zack Rosen—the 2012 Ivy League Player of the Year—agrees with Mangano that Lin’s success certainly can’t hurt his chances.

“It decreases the inhibitions of the people who say, ‘Ivy League, smart kids, not really capable of playing in the league, period,’” Rosen says. “What it does is it introduces the fact that that guy can play and get it done at the next level. For me, obviously, it’s a great time because he’s done a lot. He’s been through the Ivy League. A lot of people told him no, he kept telling himself yes, and that’s a good example for anyone.”

TRAILBLAZER

While his Ivy League education is undoubtedly a significant layer to Lin’s story, there is another, deeper layer to his journey to NBA success: his Asian-American heritage.

“I think that he happens to be in the NBA and is an Asian-American,” Amaker says. “That’s another layer because it’s different. He’s a trailblazer in a lot of ways.”

The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Lin’s basketball career has been undeniably linked to his Asian-American roots from the start. Race has appeared to be an obstacle for Lin at several points in his career.

As a high school senior, Lin led his Palo Alto High School Vikings to a 32-1 record and a CIF Division II championship date with perennial California basketball powerhouse Mater Dei. Lin carried his Vikings to a 51-47 upset, shocking a Monarchs team that had eight players who went on to Division I basketball programs.

While Lin sent his resume and recruiting information to Cal, Stanford, UCLA, and all the Ivy League schools, only Harvard and Brown offered him guaranteed spots while the Pac-12 schools asked Lin to walk on.

At Harvard, Lin again faced pressure from opposing fans, who would hurl derogatory racial insults, and jeers during games. Lin’s focus and perseverance in such an environment has been inspirational to both Asians and non-Asians alike.

“He’s providing inspiration, and he’s providing living proof that if these kids work hard and keep at it, that opportunities will be there,” says Robert Nakamae, president of the San Jose Ninjas, an Asian basketball organization from the Bay Area. “I think a lot of the kids, especially the Asian-American kids, look up to him as an example of what hard work and perseverance can do for them. It doesn’t have to be in basketball or sports, but if they can follow his example and apply it to whatever it is they are doing, especially in school or their jobs, hopefully they can find the same kind of success that Jeremy has found in their own respect.”

Nakamae finds that he can use Lin’s story to inspire and excite children not just about basketball but also about the values of hard work, persistence, and relentlessness.

“My daughter plays [basketball], and we have told her that Jeremy was not an overnight success,” Nakamae says. “Before this season with the Knicks, he spent a lot of time in the offseason conditioning and then working on his shot with Doc Scheppler from Pinewood, [Calif.]. It didn’t just come naturally to him. He put a lot of work, a lot of time into developing himself into a better basketball player. That’s really the message we try and give our kids too: you have to put time into this, whatever it is, basketball, baseball, or school.”

Harvard junior Uggi Lee seems to agree.

“I think his real impact really comes at the younger level for kids who look up to him and are able to see that professional sports is something they can aspire to,” Lee says. “I think it’s incredible the kind of energy it has created in the Asian-American community, and I hope that it’s something that can be followed up on by other Asian-American athletes.”

Lee would like to see more people in the Asian-American community follow Lin’s lead and achieve success.

“It would be really sad to see Jeremy Lin being the only Asian-American athlete in this decade or this generation,” Lee says. “It would be really nice to see people take his lead and really change sports into something Asian-Americans can pursue so that they can feel sports is something that Asian-Americans have had success in in the past.”

Lin’s stories of persistence as an Asian-American athlete live on through New York University sophomore guard Ryan Tana, a fellow Asian-American basketball player from the Bay Area.

“I basically grew up with [Lin] because I played with his brother Joseph in AAU. It’s given me and a lot of other Asian-American players confidence in basketball and the things that they can get accomplished,” Tana says. “It makes me proud to be playing basketball at such a high level. You hear so much about it. Just this past season, on road trips the fans would call me Jeremy Lin and stuff like that, so you’re exposed to it all the time.”

Tana, a guard who excelled in both athletics and academics at Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, Calif. admits that race may have been a factor during his college basketball recruiting process.

“There are definitely stereotypes about Asians, and coaches see them. I think that definitely plays a part in recruiting in terms of all Asian-Americans who are trying to play basketball at the next level,” Tana says. “Besides the coaches, other players would also not really see me as a legitimate threat. They would not really take me seriously. I had confidence that I could play at the D-I level, but that didn’t really happen, you could say, because I’m Asian.”

While Tana believes that there is still a long way to go until Asian-Americans are afforded the same respect during the recruiting process, he is heartened by the increasing prevalence of Asian and Asian-American athletes at the collegiate level.

“At my school, at NYU, they are starting to recruit more Asian players,” Tana says. “This year we have a freshman from Hong Kong, Adam Zhu, and next year we have a Korean player coming in. On our level, there are definitely more Asians. But there’s a lot more work to do. America in general has a long way to go in terms of race relations and how we perceive different people.”

LEAP OF FAITH

Yet another layer of Jeremy’s story can be found in his devotion to Christianity. Much like New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow, Lin has very publicly and adamantly expressed his faith.

Sophomore Harvard College Faith and Action member Terrance Moore thinks that Lin is within his boundaries to express his faith on the professional stage.

“I feel like [Tebow and Lin] are doing exactly what we are called to do,” Moore said. “God put certain skills, certain distinctions and gifts, for us to use it for His purpose on earth. They are being very bold in that, it takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of faith and trust to get all that money and all that fame but still remember what your purpose is.”

Lee seems to agree with Moore’s sentiments.

“For me, I see Jeremy as a role model as a Christian athlete more than as a role model as an Asian-American athlete,” Lee says. “It’s really encouraging for me personally to see someone who can hold on to their identity as a Christian so strongly as a professional athlete, in a place where I assume it is easy and tempting to be someone different.”

Harvard sophomore and HCFA member Christopher Cleveland is equally inspired by Lin’s expression of his Christianity.

“I don’t see any difference in expression of faith between professionals and any other individual who expressed their faith,” Cleveland says. “I think the more people who are open about their faith and the more people who live by the things they say they believe helps me be equally strong in my own faith.”

LINSPIRATION

Lin continues to be a positive role model and example for many different communities and groups of people as a multi-faceted individual on the biggest stage in basketball. Different people want to see Lin influence and impact the world in different ways.

“There aren’t too many players like him as far as in the way he carries himself, his ethics,” Diepenbrock says. “I would like to see him as a really positive effect on his colleagues and for him to have a tangible influence on NBA players and how they conduct themselves.”

But perhaps Amaker sums it up best.

“Jeremy is who he is, and he sets an example for himself,” the coach says. “He makes other people better. But he has a way of not trying to force who he is or what he believes in on others. He’s been able to galvanize folks; he’s been able to lead folks. But he has a way of doing it in his way. And that’s the best way because that’s who he is.”

—Staff writer Joseph Pak can be reached at jpak@college.harvard.edu.