Here's a kid who led his high-school team to a 32-1 season and a state championship, who was subsequently named California's High School State Player of the year for his abilities, yet ended up being California's ONLY HS State basketball player in HISTORY who was never offered a Division 1 scholarship.

Here's a kid who was given little choice but to play for a middling Harvard basketball team without a scholarship, but who went on anyways to be named one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, break Ivy League records in almost every individual statistical categories, and, in his junior year, become the ONLY NCAA Division 1 player to rank top ten in his conference in scoring (17.8), rebounding (5.5), assists (4.3), steals (2.4), blocked shots (0.6), field goal percentage (0.502), free throw percentage (0.744), and 3 point shot percentage (0.400).
He was also a finalist for the John R. Wooden award his senior year and was picked by ESPN commentator Fran Fraschilla as one of the top 12 most versatile players in college basketball. Keep in mind also that all these accolades were received while playing on a lousy team that had not once in its history been ranked.

Give this kid some damned minutes. He's already shown glimmers of his potential on the Knicks in his limited time here. If you've actually watched Lin playing on the floor the last five games or so, it's obvious that he makes the rest of his unit look substantially better through his effective, if a little raw, true PG play. And his recent stat lines in limited minutes makes Shumpert's and Douglas' (especially Douglas') look rather sad in comparison.

Knicks vs. Houston

Lin: 9 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal | 20 minutes|
TD: 7 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 0 steals | 26 minutes|
Shump:11 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal |28 minutes|
Bibby: 0 points, 0 asssits, 0 rebounds, 1 steal |10 minutes|

Knicks vs. Bobcats

Lin: 8 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 0 steals | 6 minutes |
TD: 9 points, 2 assists, 0 rebounds, 0 steals |15 minutes|
Shump: 3 points, 2 assists, 0 rebounds, 2 steals |25 minutes|

While the disparity between Lin's and Douglas + Shumpert's stat lines seems small, when you consider that the latter two have been on the court 3-7x longer to achieve inferior to nearly equal stats as Lin game after game should be rather disheartening for us Knicks fans. And before you go about dismissing Lin's stats as worthless because they're often accrued during "garbage time," consider that when Lin received significant, non-garbage minutes against the Rockets, he:

1) had 3x as many assists as Douglas and 50% more than Shumpert (on fewer minutes).
2) scored more efficiently than either
3) outscored Toney Douglas and outrebounded Shumpert
4) had no experience playing real minutes and was by far the rawest guy on the floor

Let's throw aside our pre-conceived notions, develop Lin, give him some meaningful time on the floor and he'll regain the confidence and swagger he needs to perform at the high level he's shown he can play at. We'll have a real, creditable PG, and we'll win some damned games for once.

P.S. For those of you who bother to read this and end up agreeing with me, please help get the word out for the good of the team. If I have to watch Toney f***** Douglas publicly masturbate on the court for 15-25 min. again while Lin warms D'antoni's bench, I swear I'm going to punch a hole through my TV.

Against UCONN (a perennial D1 powerhouse):
30 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocked shots.

Against Boston College (In 2008, right after BC knocked off the No. 1 North Carolina Tarheels):
27 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds

Look at those numbers and tell me this kid doesn't have potential. Tell me that, if this guy looked like a more typical NBA baller (being Chinese and having a somewhat boyish appearance probably hurts him), this 6'3-6'4 college superstar PG WOULDN'T have been picked in the first round of his draft class, or that D'antoni by this point in the season WOULDN'T have considered the possibility of placing him as a regular on the second unit.

Comments I hear about Lin not being athletic are completely bogus, lazily made simply because of his ethnicity, or because they haven't really been watching him on the floor. You can't execute deep drives past NBA-caliber defenders as often as Lin does without being athletic. You don't completely dismantle Kemba Walker and the rest of the 2009 UCONN Huskies team single-handedly without being athletic. And you DON'T upstage and outshine #1 draft pick John Wall on both ends of the floor without having substantial athletic ability (look up Jeremy Lin vs. John Wall on youtube if you want some good entertainment).

What the hell has to happen for this guy to get some meaningful minutes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ2mng5e95w

knicks8020 - what took you so long?

Quite possibly the most thoroughly researched post of the year. Nice homework and excellent points. Sure, it's only February 3 but you get the idea. Next time Toney Douglas stops his dribble ten feet outside the three pont arc, The Answer Man swears he's going to punch a hole through his TV.

Two Thumbs Up

He's keeping him hungry, like Cujo.

No one's sucking anyone's dick here. Recognize talent when you see it. Nervousness can be shed with burn.

JCrusher wrote:

soundcrib wrote:and shumpert doesn't play out of control? yet he's our combo guard playing point guard in the starting lineup for the new york knicks. go figure.

I never said shumpert is flawless but he gives us defense. All im saying is just relax about lin and stop proclaiming him the next steve nash lol

Nobody's saying Lin's the next Steve Nash. What we're saying is that Lin could develop into the starting PG of this Knicks team if we give him some consistent minutes and develop him. There's no excuse for giving human garbage TD any minutes under any circumstance. And Shumps is best used as an SG -- I think we've already agreed upon that.