New York Knicks: Presenting the All-Decade team
Point Guard: Jeremy Lin
The fairytale of Jeremy Lin is one for the history books. It all started when Lin led Palo Alto High School all the way to an upset of Southern California powerhouse Mater Dei for the California state title. Despite being named First Team All-State (in California!), Lin would receive a total of zero NCAA Division I basketball scholarships.
Years later, he would open up about the reasons behind this wrongdoing, saying that he would be ranked much higher if he were an African-American athlete. Despite that, Lin excelled at Harvard but would ultimately go undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft.
After a rollercoaster of Summer League games as well as a non-guaranteed contract with the Golden State Warriors, Lin would find his way all the way to New York City after being offered a contract by the Knicks mainly due to a series of injuries by the team’s point guards.
It turns out that Jeremy Lin did not even rent a place to stay in New York and opted for a much cheaper, though inconvenient, alternative.
Jeremy Lin stayed on Landry Field's couch last nite bec his older brother didn't have any room for him. Lin: 'I might just move in with him'
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) February 5, 2012
His Knicks debut would come on Feb. 4, 2012, where he would face All-Star point guard Deron Williams and the New Jersey Nets. In what can only be described as an incredible performance, Lin simply took over, scoring 25 points and dishing out seven assists.
On his next game against the Utah Jazz, Lin took advantage of Amar’e Stoudemire‘s absence and Carmelo Anthony’s mid-game injury to follow up his debut with an even more impressive 28 points and eight assists. And thus, Jeremy Lin would turn into Linsanity.
We are dealing with what has to be one of the most beloved Knicks players ever. His road to glory which happened by defying all odds is more than enough to secure him a spot on the All-Decade Team.