Posted on 08/17/2019 9:24:34 AM PDT by rebuildus
He joined the Toronto Raptors this past mid season just in time for their championship run. Played a very small role after joining but here he is in the victory parade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jtMGz5oOaM
Exactly. Let me tell you, this kid lit up NYC and the Knicks were brought back from being nothing to exciting.
Not mentioned in this article is all the hard work and dedication Lin showed the game ended with him being rewarded with a very handsome contract with the Houston Rockets.
God looked out for Lin again when he later moved to the Toronto Raptors in time to see them win their one and only championship.
He’s done well with some good skills and his time in the NBA is important if not memorable in the traditional long term sense.
Love the guy and wish him all the best. He personifies class in a professional athlete.
Much shorter answer:
He was a so-so player that had a cool stretch in a high profile but otherwise crappy team. Then he reverted to form. Fact is he was just never all that.
I don’t follow sports at all. I used to, but there are only so many hours in a day. What I see here is similar to what I recall about Yao Ming. These Oriental basketball players have an Achilles heel - their relatively thin bones make them vulnerable to stress fractures. This is particularly the case in a game like basketball that requires explosive movements followed by hard landings. The only Orientals with the kind of frame that can stand up to this kind of stress are hapas. That’s why Chinese basketball will never be as entertaining as NBA games - native Chinese lack the bone structure to play the kind of fast-paced games prevalent in the NBA without frequently getting injured. Yao Ming seemed more of a mascot than a player. He was in the Rockets to gin up Chinese interest in the NBA and basketball in general.
I wish people would stop trying to make athletic success or failure about religion.
Professional sports are ALL about performance and integration with the team. Whether its Tebow or Linn...its about what they can contribute to win.
Even Kapernick would be starting in the NFL if he was good enough, fit into a program, and could help a team win.
When you cannot help a team win, you are a liability. Period.
Interesting. Thanks for posting (although I rarely follow sports anymore).
You’re welcome, PGalt. I don’t follow sports anymore myself. Thought it was an interesting tale of highs and lows.
Thanks for the reminder that Jeremy won a title with Toronto. Yes, I’m aware, should have mentioned. Updated article to reflect. It didn’t mean much to Jeremy, since, as you said, he played a very small role.
Well said, romanesq
I disagree, discostu. As noted in the article, Jeremy always played well when provided with the right circumstances by his coach and team.
Very interesting comments about the problematic bone structure of Orientals. Did not know this. Perhaps something in (or not in) the diet?
you can disagree but out here in reality you’re wrong, and so is the article. Yes many players play when when provided with the right circumstances. Problem is those “right circumstances” often don’t involve the rest of the team, or more importantly involve the rest of the team dedicating themselves to feeding the target player. Lin’s a nice guy, but he was never a great basketball players. And he never will be. He just doesn’t have the game. And he doesn’t have the ability to control the game. It’s the later that truly makes a great athlete. Great players don’t need the right circumstances, they MAKE them.
Not trying to imply success or lack thereof in sports is about religion. However, to the Christian, God is the most important part of our lives—or at least should be. So it does say something about Tebow, Lin, and others, when they give him the glory. Tebow was most obvious about that. If you didn’t already read it, go back and see the stats Tebow produced against Pittsburgh in that playoff game for Denver. Those kind of stats are NOT a coincidence—hard to deny they are a sign.
Current status from a write up at NBA.com from July 31
Nearly a month after the free agency period began, Jeremy Lin remains unsigned.
An emotional Lin, who signed with the Raptors in Feb. after a buyout agreement with the Hawks, recently spoke at an event in Taiwan, where he elaborated on the increasing difficulty of his NBA journey in recent years.
“I’ve given more of myself to God every single year,” Lin said. “And every year it gets harder. In English, there’s a saying and it says: Once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up, but rock bottom just seems to keep getting more and more rock bottom for me.”
The 30-year-old closed by saying that “free agency has been tough, cause I feel like in some ways the NBA’s kind of given up on me.”
The past few years have been tumultuous for Lin, to say the least. After a career resurgence in the 2015-16 season with the Charlotte Hornets, Lin signed a multiyear deal to join the Brooklyn Nets as a free agent.
Injuries caused Lin to appear in just 37 games over two seasons with the Nets, as he suffered a season-ending injury on opening night in 2017.
Last offseason, Lin was traded to Atlanta, where he found his footing as a veteran presence in a young locker room and contributed as a double-figure scorer, averaging 10.7 points over 51 games. The buyout agreement allowed Lin to join a contender in Toronto, but he struggled to carve a role for himself as a reserve guard with the Raptors.
Lin appeared in 23 regular-season games with the Raptors, posting averages of 7.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists and saw action in just eight of a possible 24 postseason games as the Raptors would go on to win their first NBA title.
With the Raptors roster standing at 20 ahead of training camp, a return to Toronto seems unlikely for Lin.
The nine-year veteran could land with a team in need of a reserve guard this upcoming season; if not, he has also expressed that he would consider playing in Taiwan and per Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia, is said to be a top target of Euroleague’s CSKA Moscow.
Your personal home page is very interesting, indeed!
You don't understand the kind of player Lin is. No one is "feeding" him. He "feeds" them, with assists when players converge on him. I agree with you to a point when you say that great players make their own circumstances. That may be true for a post up type of player, but not al types. On a practical level, when you're a point guard and starting the offense, and the game you excel at is the pick and roll with a spaced court, the coach/team should provide that circumstance. To not do that, and even to put Lin into a #2 guard where he has to wait for someone else to create, and then often get him the ball in a disadvantageous circumstance, makes no sense at all. Take most great players, and put them into a situation they're not well suited to, and they will not do well. Put Larry Bird at point guard, or make a point guard a small forward, etc. You're looking for mediocrity if not out and out failure.
Yes I do. Not that good. That’s the simple fact. He’s not good enough to build a team around, but by your own admission needs the team to be built around him. He simply does not have the skills to warrant that. Which is why he spent almost all his career as also ran. He’s just not all that.
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