Now, I said I would no longer post about the NBA for the rest of its season in pure protest. But I have to back away from this to discuss Jeremy Lin. He is all the talk of the town, all the rage, and biggest of all he is conquering the NBA with his happy-go-lucky attitude, determination, willingness to share, high risk-high reward style of play, and transcending ideals that is appealing to the working class, the religious groups, and of course the Asian communities in New York. To think a couple weeks ago he was inches from being cut from the Knicks. But the emergence of Lin is revealing two things about the NBA: it is being exposed as a league that no longer knows how to defend point guards, and the league truly only cares about the larger markets.
Let’s start with the first point. Somewhere along the lines, sometime in the past couple of years, the NBA became an offense-heavy league and totally forgot how to defend the frontcourt. Nowadays, a younger Steve Nash, Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas and John Stockton would have a field day with the current NBA system. The team with the best treatment of the point guard positions wins. J.J. Barea, a rather average point guard, was able to suddenly explode in the playoffs last season and helped propel the Mavericks to their first NBA title. The top teams in the NBA have one thing in common: great point guards. See the Bulls with Rose, the Heat with the Wade/James combo, and the Thunder with Westbrook. Other mediocre point guards like Brandon Jennings, Jamier Nelson, Deron Williams still find success because few teams have developed an ability to truly stop them. In the 90s, the three previous point guards I mentioned would not even have a job.
Jeremy Lin has a very aggressive (and exciting) approach to playing, and its working miracles. He will run towards the basket at full speed, somehow breaking past everyone, and with a willingness to knock against the bigger bodies. And what happens when he runs into said wall? He finds someone else closeby who finishes the deal. Lin doesn’t just score, but he is becoming an assist machine—he isn’t afraid of sharing the ball. Take notes Kobe Bryant. And this aggressive approach is also leading to high amounts of turnovers, which is fine as long as the tactic is getting you wins. Even against the stingy Laker defense he managed several turnovers, but in return nearly banks 40 points against Kobe Bryant. How does a team being run by a player who is averaging about 7 turnovers a game manage to win? Because teams just don’t play defense anymore, especially against the smaller, quicker players. Similar to the NFL losing the ability to guard tight ends that suddenly can explode on offense, almost every NBA team has problems guarding the frontcourt, and Lin is looking like an MVP because of it.
Which leads to my second point: Jeremy Lin’s success and exposure to the media is definitely helped by the extreme East Coast bias. Thanks to the Knicks of New York having a feel good story, the rest of the world is forgetting about the mammoth MVP numbers of LeBron James (nearly 30 points a game, along with nearly 7 assists and 8 rebounds), the colossal numbers of a player that doesn’t care about his own team anymore (Dwight Howard: 20 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks, and leading his team in steals), and the emergence of another point guard that has a very bright future: Ricky Rubio.
Isn’t anyone paying attention to Ricky Rubio? With no help outside Kevin Love (also ringing up underrated numbers) he is averaging 10 points a game, 4 rebounds a game, and nearly 9 assists per game. And this is in his rookie season, and for the Timberwolves—in the far tougher Western Conference. Bringing some excitement to Minnesota is far tougher than bringing the excitement to New York and Rubio is delivering. Not to take away anything from Lin, but if we had seen him explode in numbers in the Rockets (where he was supposed to go before Stern became fascist) it would be nowhere near as dramatic or as well-documented. New York exaggerates every small little detail, and they will take over the headlines for the smallest of reasons. Jeremy Lin was at the right place, at the right time, under the right circumstances. Lin, be happy you didn’t receive your chance at Golden State or Houston.
Post-Note: Imagine if Rubio becomes an Orlando Magic and participates in the trigger-happy offense under Van Gundy? You’d be surprised how well he would fit. Moving on.
So how much longer can the Linsanity reign? Probably much longer as long as the Knicks keep winning, the East Coast keeps screaming, and as long as Carmelo Anthony learns that he is going to have to share territory with the newcomer. Anthony is perceived to be a ballhog and an attention-grabber, so he is going to have to adjust his game or else he is going to be delightful trade bait when the deadline is near and the Magic are running out of hope to keep Howard after the off-season. I am pretty sure the northeast will partake in a collective joygasm if the Knicks manage to trade for Howard to play alongside Amare and Jeremy.
Oh great, now I am participating in the Linsanity.
I for one am enjoying this trip of craziness that is overtaking the NBA, but let’s not forget—none of this would have happened if David Stern hadn’t been so evil and blocked the Chris Paul trade. With that veto Stern was trying to prevent the larger markets legally monopolizing the quality and popularity of the NBA. But if Jeremy Lin has taught us anything, you can never escape the shadows of the Big Markets.
And that Madison Square Garden hasn’t felt such optimism in a very, very, very, very, very, very long time.
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