The rise and fall of Linsanity
Jeremy Shu-How Lin was born to immigrant Taiwanese parents in Torrance, California and attended nearby Palo Alto High School where he led his team to the California Interscholastic Federation Division II title, upsetting the nationally ranked Mater Dei High School.
He applied to all the Ivy League schools as well as California-based colleges University of California, Berkeley (UCB), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Stanford University which is just across the street from his high school.
It was Harvard who took Lin and in four seasons, was selected to the All-Ivy League First Team three times. By the time he graduated in 2010 with a degree in Economics, he became the first Ivy League player in history to set records in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. Lin also gave the school’s basketball program records in wins. Traditionally, Harvard is never known as a sporting university but more on producing law and business graduates.
Going undrafted in 2010, Golden State signed him to a 2-year deal, becoming the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese ancestry to play in the NBA. With the Warriors, Lin had little playing time as he shares the same position with Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis. GSW waived Lin on December 2011.
The Knicks signed him three weeks later but was still sparingly used. Coach Mike D’Antoni, with injuries to point guards Iman Shumpert and Baron Davis and with Mike Bibby on the decline, took a chance on Lin one February night against New Jersey, and thus began a 13-game run with 10 wins that included an 8-game win streak. A basketball wonder boy has risen, leading a Knicks winning turnaround with a 13-game average of 22.5 points and 8.7 assists. Linsanity was born. But it was not meant to last.
You can’t compete with superstars and the Knicks have Carmelo Anthony. Coming from a groin injury, Melo was not happy with his diminished role. He thrives in isolation plays and mid-range jumpers, unlike Lin who was more suited to pick-and-rolls and free-flowing offense. It’s easier to fire coaches than stars so the Knicks let go of D’Antoni and got Mike Woodson whose style of coaching suited Melo.
There also was resentment from some of the players because Lin was becoming a star and not everyone on the team was not happy with his success. D’Antoni wanted players to adapt to the new style of play but some refused, Melo in particular. “I had one vision that I wanted him to play one way. He wanted to go the other way. I couldn’t get to my way”, D’Antoni said.
Amar’e Stoudemire, then with the Knicks, said, “If Lin stayed, it would have been cool, but everyone wasn’t a fan of him being the new star, so he didn’t stay long. A lot of times you’ve got to enjoy someone else’s success and that wasn’t the case for us during the stretch. You’ve got to enjoy that. You’ve got to let that player enjoy himself and cherish those moments. But he was becoming a star, and I don’t think everyone was pleased with that.”
D’Antoni’s brother Dan, who was the Knicks’ assistant coach that time said, “It was hard to blend everything. You have to have spacing. Anthony wanted to get back to that spot where he’d ask for the ball in a certain area. The offense Jeremy was running is more free flow, attacking off the pick-and-roll and kicking it to shooters. Two different styles. Mike had a hard time with it.”
In April, Lin injured his left knee, tearing his left miniscus which required surgery. He sat out the rest of the season and just like the dazzling passing of a comet, Linsanity was extinguished as soon as it got lighted.
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