Speaking of funny dudes, did anyone see D-12′s impersonation of Stan Van Gundy? Hysterical, although it is a little weird to have a player making fun of his own coach.

maudlin17: Race was a factor in he was, despite being the california player of the year, did not receive a single D1 scholarship offer.Race was a factor, despite having notable athleticism(most notable best lateral speed of all potential draftees the Mavericks tested, every team did not draft him. Race is the reason, why despite seeing Lin several times, several(Jon Barry being one of them) former NBA’ers still doubted his ability.

Please stop saying that race had nothing to do with why he wasn’t drafted.I’m not saying it was the MAIN reason, but it’s certainly one of the top reasons.

I don’t think race played as big a part as you, and others, are saying. He was weak, physically. He’s not long. Doesn’t have super athletic ability. He really wasn’t good NBA material, but had enough potential to earn him a spot on the rosters.
Give Lin credit for cultivating his talent. That’s the point of the article.

The good news is, this team as presently constructed has a chance to be really good.

and I think it’s hard to say that race had more to do with it than going to an Ivy League school. Chris Dudley wasn’t drafted either, no Ivy League player has been since 1995. he also didn’t look good in predraft workouts, but after he looked good in summer league, four teams offered him deals. to me, race is pretty low on the reasons he was overlooked.

Brian Cronin: For what it is worth, I do not believe Z-Man is suggesting actual trades. He is using trades as a way to gauge how good Lin is comparable to the rest of the league’s point guards. You know, the whole idea of comparing two players by saying, “If Team A offered Player X to Team B for Player Y, who would say no?” This is not “Lin had a bad game, trade him!”

Exactly, Brial, thanks. If the knee-jerk posters were actually following the threads, they would recall that I have said (I think several times) that I am not interested in any trades or a new coach at this point. Let it ride and let’s see what we have.

maudlin17: Race was a factor in he was, despite being the california player of the year, did not receive a single D1 scholarship offer. Race was a factor, despite having notable athleticism(most notable best lateral speed of all potential draftees the Mavericks tested, every team did not draft him. Race is the reason, why despite seeing Lin several times, several(Jon Barry being one of them) former NBA’ers still doubted his ability.

Please stop saying that race had nothing to do with why he wasn’t drafted. I’m not saying it was the MAIN reason, but it’s certainly one of the top reasons.

I was not saying what you think I said. I have no doubt that race played a factor in why Lin was overlooked by all of the D-1 scholarship schools. I also have no doubt that race played a factor in why Lin did not get drafted and could not get off of the bench last year.

I was complimenting Beck for advancing the story. Once everyone accepted that Lin was overlooked, he went back to see what Lin was at various stages, and why he was able to improve DESPITE the fact that the NBA and the D-1 coaches overlooked him. Specifically, Lin was able to work on his physical weakness and improve his shooting to become the player that the coaches assumed that he could never be.

I think race played a big part in coaches having the blind spot to assume that Lin could never remedy his shortcomings to succeed at the next level (both when he was entering college and when he was entering the NBA). But it does Lin disservice to assume that he left Harvard as the player he is today. He identified his weaknesses, worked on the solutions, and has become a very strong PG.

ephus:
Great article by Howard Beck on the evolution of Jeremy Lin.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/sports/basketball/the-evolution-of-jeremy-lin-as-a-point-guard.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

Instead of just repeating the mantra that everyone missed out on a great player because of cultural blinders, Beck did some real reporting to capture how and why Lin improved from high school, through college and especially in the last seven months.

Not in the article, but I have to think that if Golden State had known what they had in Lin, they would have amnestied Biedrins and kept him.If they had not obtained DeAndre Young, they would have been able to trade one of Ellis or Curry for the missing big man.

Race was a factor in he was, despite being the california player of the year, did not receive a single D1 scholarship offer. Race was a factor, despite having notable athleticism(most notable best lateral speed of all potential draftees the Mavericks tested, every team did not draft him. Race is the reason, why despite seeing Lin several times, several(Jon Barry being one of them) former NBA’ers still doubted his ability.

Please stop saying that race had nothing to do with why he wasn’t drafted. I’m not saying it was the MAIN reason, but it’s certainly one of the top reasons.

I’d have to strongly disagree with you on Wall. He is shooting 57% this year and shot 60% last year at the rim on around 5.5 attempts which make him above average finishing at the rim… However, his main problem is that he’s inexperienced. He tends to put up bad shots (out-of-control) at the rim and he often penetrates too deeply to give himself a good look at the rim. He also has pretty superb court vision, averaging 7.5 assists this year and 8.3 last year. His turnovers are high, but again, they are high not because of some long-term, permanent problem but because he is inexperienced. He’s extremely athletic and is verrrrrrrrry long, which cannot be understated. Really, he has a high ceiling if he can learn to play under control and start making the right play almost every time. As of right now, he’s stuck in a losing culture with sulking veterans and not really anyone to learn from. I agree, however, that he needs to either develop a jumpshot or stop taking them. Shooting them doesn’t keep the defense honest because he doesn’t make them. I say Washington should blow things up and ship Andray Blatche’s fat butt out and try to get a veteran point guard to help John Wall develop.

Z-man:
Lin was completely outplayed by Mario Chalmers. There are lots of gyus at that PG level around the league. Let’s not get too carried away with 2 weeks of great basketball. The league will adjust to him, and the question yet to be answered is, can he adjust back? I am optimistic, but would trade him for the any of the top 10 pgs in the league in a heartbeat, just on the basis of there being no uncertainty with those proven products. Lin has upside, but he has significant downside too.

The thing with how the Heat contained him is that you cannot give only the Heat guards the credit… Their bigs are VERY mobile, in fact I would say that they are in a tier of their own with the Bulls on guarding the pick-and-roll. Bosh and Anthony and Haslem are all very quick (for bigmen) and are able to hedge hard then quickly rotate quickly to their man as the ball gets swung back out by Lin. Chalmers and Cole were aggressive at getting over the ball screen (and Stoudemire slipping the screen didn’t help at all esp. b/c the second Heat big rotates over to cover Stoudemire on the roll) and forced Lin, who seemed uncomfortable with the intensity and pressure, to pick up his dribble. Furthermore, because the Heat guards fought through the screen so hard, Lin could not split the screen… I agree with most posters above: the only other teams in the L who can give Lin this kind of pressure are the Bulls, the Sixers (who are surprisingly amazing on the defensive end this season) with Hawes and Brand healthy, and possibly Boston…