The Jeremy Lin story has been incredibly inspirational. It is a story about grace – the miracle of God. It certainly is also about his hard work and determination and perseverance. He is a singularly unique player. No one predicted this kind of success. He got ready and he got the opportunity. And it’s nothing short of amazing what he’s doing with the opportunity. I don’t think hard work can fully explain it. Certainly, he was novelty at Golden State but he was always a great college player, albeit at Harvard. No one could have predicted this level of success. His athleticism, passing ability, driving creativity, sneakiness and all-around game are just unbelievable. This is the best sports story of a generation. We’re going to look back on this in awe and just wonder how it happened. I feel completely inspired and encouraged by what he’s doing.
It’s like he’s on a mission from God to destroy every possible stereotype about Asian American men. I wish I could think about something else. I’m just completely overwhelmed by how awesome this is. It’s not necessarily life-changing. He’s not doing what my brother does – saving people’s lives. He’s not doing what I do – at least not directly – he’s not teaching the Bible but you could certainly argue many people are coming to know Jesus through him. He’s simply very good – one of the best in the world – at playing a game and it’s totally captivating. I mean ridiculously captivating. Maybe it’s because I know him personally. Maybe it's because he's a Christian. Obviously I resonate with his background.
Clearly, and I think Jeremy would agree with this, this phenomenon is bigger than him. I mean – he’s doing things no one could have imagined. I don’t really know how to think about all of this. It kind of blows my mind. There was this hilarious video on the Jeremy Lin effect and it’s just awesome. It’s got a black guy looking for nerdy Asian guys to play ball with him, who know the pick and roll. It’s utterly absurd, almost as absurd as Linsanity.
I mean, how do you explain his numbers in the NBA given that he didn’t even do that in high school or college? You can’t extrapolate that kind of stuff. Obviously, he’s gotten way better since then. But how can human beings improve that much? Well, obviously he did. It says a lot about the nature of sports, how unpredictable sports are. How Jeremy likely always possessed intangibles that allow him to compete at the very highest levels. And how he was able to hone his talents through feedback and repetition from the very best. And clearly, there were some very good people coaching and training him. And also, it shows the kind of person he is, always learning, always improving, always growing. And you can tell what happens when a team plays with confidence and chemistry, with swagger. This Knicks team BELIEVES in Jeremy. There’s no way they could perform as well; no way Jeremy could perform as well without that kind of trust. His coach is willing to risk his job on Jeremy. You get the feeling Jeremy’s teammates would die for him. I mean Jeremy is telling everyone what to do, where they’re supposed to go, when they’re supposed to switch screens, etc. Superstars are deferring to him. And he’s incredibly, ridiculously confident and poised. He’s a cold-blooded killer. He tunes everything out and just focuses on the game. Last night against the Raptors was the first time in his brief NBA career with the ball at the end of the tie game. And he acted like it was the most natural thing in the world. He’s played less than 600 NBA minutes. And it was like “oh been there, done that”. How does hard work account for that? How does any human explanation account for that?
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