JEREMY LIN....

[Venom]

JEREMY LIN
Info
Jersey Number: 17 Team: New York Knicks Position: Point Guard
Height: 6’3” Weight: 200lbs. DOB: August 23, 1988
Age: 23 College: Harvard (2006-2010)

2010 NBA Draft: Undrafted

What a journey
Like me, I guess you wondered why Lin was under the radar since he’s been in the league and why Golden State and Houston Rockets let him go (the Knicks were going to let him go also).

On July 21, 2010, Lin signed a two-year deal with his hometown Warriors. Lin's deal was partially guaranteed for 2010–11, and the Warriors held a team option for the second season. Lin said the counteroffers from the three other teams were higher, but he wanted to come home and play for the Warriors. Lin also signed a three-year guaranteed contract with Nike. His jersey was already on sale before his first NBA game.
It has been stated that because of the 2011 NBA Lockout, Warriors’ head coach Mark Jackson didn’t get a chance to see Lin workout and Golden State waived him on the first day of training camp; the Warriors stated that they did this to free up some money to go after restricted free agent center DeAndre Jordan (who resigned with the Clippers for 4 years and $43M). Lin was guaranteed to make $800,000 if he was still on the roster by February 10, 2012…so off he went.

Lin was claimed off waivers by the Houston Rockets on December 12, 2011. He played 7 minutes in 2 preseason games. They already had 3 point guards under contract (Lowry, Dragic and Flynn). So on December 24th, day before the start of the season, Houston waived Lin to clear payroll to sign center Samuel Dalembert (2-year contract worth $14M).

The New York Knicks claimed Lin off of waivers on December 27th so he can be the backup PG behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby after Iman Shumpert was injured. The Knicks signed veteran Baron Davis, but he was weeks away from playing recovery from a back injury. On January 28, Davis suffered a setback that postponed his Knicks debut. Then New York considered releasing Lin before his contract became guaranteed on February 10 so they could sign a new player. However, after the Knicks squandered a fourth quarter lead in a February 3 loss to the Celtics, head coach Mike D’Antoni decided to give Lin a chance to play. Lin had played only 55 minutes through the Knicks' first 23 games.
On February 4, 2012, Lin had 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists—all career-highs—in a 99–92 Knicks victory over the New Jersey Nets. Teammate Carmelo Anthony suggested to Coach D'Antoni at halftime that Lin should play more in the second half. After the game, D'Antoni said Lin has a point-guard mentality and "a rhyme and a reason for what he is doing out there." The rest is HISTORY…

The Knicks started selling replicas of Lin’s #17 jerseys and t-shirts; the sales and traffic to their online store increased more than 3,000%...and this is coming from a rookie who’s making $762,195. Don’t feel too sorry for Lin because it is noted that he is due to make at least $5M next season when this current contract is up.

So right now, let’s just enjoy the JEREMY LIN SHOW!