O’Rear: In Lin, Houston has no problem

By BILL O’REAR

Tribune-Herald sports editor

If you’re inspired by underdogs, then you should cheer for Jeremy Lin this coming season with the Houston Rockets.

After all, in less than six months he has grown from a little-known, undrafted NBA player into a potential star who will make $25 million over the next three years with the Rockets. And yes, these are the same Rockets that cut him earlier in the year before Lin hooked up with the New York Knicks and “Linsanity” broke loose in the Big Apple, turning the lackluster Knicks into a hot ticket and the slender 6-foot-3 point guard into one of the feel-good stories of the year.

With the Knicks hovering in mediocrity with an 8-15 record, coach Mike D’Antonio inserted Lin into the starting lineup and he ignited a winning streak that lifted New York to a winning record and caught the city by storm. In his first start, he scored 25 points as the short-handed Knicks beat the New Jersey Nets 99-92. In his first five games in the lineup, he averaged over 20 points and six assists per outing for the Knicks — then punctuated his unbelievable tale with a 38-point performance in a win over Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in a packed Madison Square Garden.

Lin ended up starting 25 games before being sidelined with a knee injury and having his incredible run end prematurely. For the season, he played in 35 games and the 23-year-old Harvard graduate averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 assists. He showed a lot of NBA nonbelievers he could be successful in the league and gained thousands of fans who fell in love with his story — in fact, his Knicks uniform top rose to No. 2 in the league in jersey sales as his popularity exploded.

The humble Lin is the first American-born player of Chinese and Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA. But it’s his cumulative story in life of how he continually overcame the odds to earn the lucrative contract offer from the Rockets and set the stage for what might be an exciting Chapter 2 in the Lin novel.

Of course, there are lots of NBA coaches and players who question Lin’s basketball abilities and wonder if he will ever be a full-time player or even capable backup point guard for the Rockets. But D’Antonio believes in Lin’s mental toughness and complete understanding of the sport and how to be successful in a team game. That’s why Lin excelled with the Knicks in that short period, the coach gave him the ball and let him run the show, helping make his teammates better and giving Lin a chance to showcase his skills in getting to the basket, hitting the pull-up jumper or 3-pointer, or finding an open teammate.

The Knicks said they wanted to re-sign Lin since he was so popular with the paying fans and advertisers, and he got along well with his teammates. But when Houston offered the $25 million deal to the young point guard, including more than $14 million in the third year, the Knicks opted to let him go. It was not a popular decision with the fans, but deep down with big-ego teammates like Carmello Anthony and J.R. Smith, it returned the spotlight to them. Anthony, supposedly Lin’s friend, called the Rockets’ offer ridiculous instead of congratulating Lin on his good fortune. If Anthony or Smith had been offered the same deal, they would probably have whined it wasn’t enough.

There’s also little doubt that some in New York management privately hope that Lin will fizzle in a Rockets uniform since it would deem them correct in letting him go.

However, the Houston management saw the bright upside to signing Lin and the financial bonus of having the star guard shine in the lucrative Far East markets, especially in China, where former Rockets center Yao Ming had been a fan favorite during his NBA career. Even if Lin turns into a marginal player on the court, the NBA team’s investment in him will pay off on the business side.

The Rockets also seem to understand what D’Antonio did — that if you give Lin the ball and let him run the offense like a Steve Nash or young Jason Kidd, good things can happen. His only downfall may be his physical strength, since he was worn down by the heavy burden of playing so many minutes with the Knicks last season as a starter and eventually hurt his knee. But this summer, he’s worked hard on his strength, conditioning and stamina and may surprise a lot of opponents in his improved play this coming season. If he can play around 38 to 40 minutes per game and the Rockets have a quality backup guard, good things could happen.

If Lin stays healthy and the Rockets buy into what he can do for his teammates, Houston might be one of the surprise teams in the league this coming year, a playoff team.

Still, legendary NBA coach Larry Brown doesn’t see star potential in Lin and thinks he’ll be at best, an NBA backup. Denver Nuggets coach George Karl thinks the Rockets jumped off the deep end with their big contract offer and also questions Lin’s talent. But there have been many “can’t miss” players over the years who never fulfilled their promise and there have been many who beat the odds and had productive careers.

Lin will not blow anyone away with his physical talents, but he’s skilled and carries a high basketball IQ on the court. And he’s been a winner, a leader and a success at every level of basketball along the way. He’s also had to prove himself at each level and his work ethic and great selfless attitude have played a key role in his surpassing what others always thought were his limits.

As a high school senior at Palo Alto High School in Northern California, he led his team to a 32-1 record and the state Division II title. He averaged 15.1 points, 7.1 assists, 6.2 rebounds and 5.0 steals per game. It wasn’t good enough to earn him a basketball scholarship in college, but he opted to take his 4.2 grade point average to Harvard and became a star in the Ivy League. As a senior, he averaged 16.4 points, 4.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game while being named a unanimous all-league selection.

And in a game against national powerhouse Connecticut in his senior year, Lin scored a career-high 30 points and had nine rebounds in a road loss. After the game, Hall of Fame UConn coach Jim Calhoun said: “I’ve seen a lot of teams come through here, and he could play for any of them. He’s got great, great composure on the court. He knows how to play.”

That’s why Lin is confident he can stick in the NBA and help a team be successful. He knows how to play. The Rockets are betting $25 million on the same thing. But no matter what happens to the soft-spoken Lin, there’s little doubt he’ll go on and be successful off the court, too, with his economics degree from Harvard and what he’s learned from beating the odds in every challenge he’s faced so far.

Email Tribune-Herald sports editor Bill O’Rear at borear@hawaiitribune-herald.com.