Thought Life
If you haven’t heard of Jeremy Lin yet, you soon will (see this dated Time article). He’s a Christian basketball player for the New York Knicks. He’s also a Harvard graduate and an Asian-American. I’ve followed Lin on Twitter for some time, but he struggled early in the season as he was cut from the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets. The Knicks claimed him off waivers, and he actually played a game in the developmental league in my home state for the Portland Red Claws. Lin was not doing well, and it looked like he would be cut from the Knicks.
But a number of injuries forced coach Mike D’Antoni to give Lin an extended trial. In his first game getting significant minutes, Lin scored 25 points; the next game, 28; and last night, 23 with ten assists. In short, he is lighting up the NBA. It’s a beautiful thing to watch, not least because this is a guy who Tweets CJ Mahaney quotations. His situation has been so unstable that he’s slept on his teammate’s couch–imagine LeBron or Kobe doing that!
I would encourage you to keep your eyes out for Lin. Though he was undrafted, he has many skills and could be a starting point guard. He’s tall, has a great first step, is an excellent finisher, and creates many openings for teammates. He plays good defense. In short, I love his game, and it’s exciting to see yet another Christian athlete excel. It’s also great to see an Asian-American Christian draw attention. I’ve heard that Asian-Americans, to speak broadly, can feel like the “silent minority” in the American church, and that’s a major problem.
My buddy Doug Hankins of TEDS–a baller in his own right, with an excellent blog to match–just linked to some comments from Carl Park, a fellow TEDS PhD student, who commented positively on Lin’s impact for the Asian-American community.
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