Lin-vincible

PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - This whole Jeremy Lin story is a gift from heaven for David Stern and the NBA. Now they have a typically American feel-good story to help forget the lockout, some sloppy games and the Hornets, and a new Asian basketball icon to replace Yao Ming as a marketing locomotive!

I was sure David Stern would find a way to get him into the Rising Stars Challenge in Orlando and he did. This story is without doubt the most incredible one in the history of the league, bar none.

Lin was born in L.A. but his story was invented in Hollywood by the best modern-day screenwriters. Next to this, Slumdog Millionaire was a kids movie!

Let's see the synopsis; a 23 year old Harvard graduate who didn't even get a sports scholarship after winning the state high-school championship and best player award playing for Palo Alto, goes undrafted by the NBA, gets cut by two teams and then out of the blue puts an ailing Knicks team (without its two superstars) on his back and leads them to seven wins in a row while becoming a world-wide media phenomenon!

What? Are you kidding? Nobody is going to believe such an unbelievable scenario, the producers would respond...

Alas, it's all true and in spades! Lin is not a flash in the pan who will drift off into the oblivion of short-lived wonders as some experts would have us believe, he is a Steve Nash-like top ten NBA point guard who will have a long and storied career. He is exactly what New York and its threatened coach Mike D'Antoni needed, a playmaker with a true point guard mentality who gets the ball moving on offence and gets all his teammates involved which motivated them to play defence and transform themselves into ferocious never-say-die winners.

Lin, the first Harvard NBA player since 1955, has alterred the team's psychology says Tyson Chandler, who has benefitted the most from his presence. Lin will mesh with Amare Stoudamire like Nash did and when Carmelo Anthony comes back, HE will have to adapt to Lin and not the contrary.

This means less slow down isos for Melo and more uptempo team play for Lin and the Knicks! Melo convinced the coach to give Lin a shot and it's the best thing he's done for his team so far this season. Lin was a champion in high school and led Harvard to their best season ever (21 wins) as a senior putting up record Ivy league all-around stats.

He knew his own talent and told D'Antoni that he could do the job if given the oppurtunity. He played four years of college ball and was more mature than most rookies so when finally given his chance in his second season, he was READY! So ready that he scored more points than Jordan or Shaq in his first five career starts!

OK, nobody is perfect and once again, like Nash, he can be turnover-prone but getting everyone involved while attacking NBA defences through the pick and roll is risky business. Lin is so smart on and off the court that I am sure that he will adapt to any situation the way he adapted his savvy communications skills to the unexpected media frenzy that engulfed Jeremy and his family this month.

He is down to earth and humble in his analysis and a pun-lovers dream for reporters. With Lin, it's always about the team! What a wonderful breath of fresh air...He's in a New York state of mind...

George Eddy

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