Jeremy Lin is an American professional basketball player with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

After receiving no athletic scholarship offers out of high school and being undrafted out of college, the Harvard University graduate reached a partially guaranteed contract deal with his hometown Golden State Warriors. Lin is one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history, and the first American player in the league to be of Taiwanese descent.

Lin was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in Palo Alto, California. His parents, Gie-Ming and Shirley, emigrated from Taiwan to the United States in the mid-1970s.

In his senior year in 2005–2006, Lin captained Palo Alto High School to a 32–1 record and upset nationally ranked Mater Dei, 51–47, for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II state title. According to Dana O’Neil of ESPN, “Lin was the runaway choice for player of the year by virtually every California publication.” He was named first-team All-State and Northern California Division II Player of the Year, ending his senior year averaging 15.1 points, 7.1 assists, 6.2 rebounds and 5.0 steals.

At Harvard, in his senior year (2009–10), Lin averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks, and was again a unanimous selection for All-Ivy League First Team. He was one of 30 midseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award and one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award. He was also invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Fran Fraschilla of ESPN picked Lin among the 12 most versatile players in college basketball. He gained national attention for his performance against the 12th ranked Connecticut Huskies, against whom he scored a career-high tying 30 points and grabbed nine rebounds on the road. After the game, Hall of Fame Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said of Lin: “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.” For the season, Harvard set numerous program records including wins (21), non-conference wins (11), home wins (11) and road/neutral wins (10). Lin finished his career as the first player in the history of the Ivy League to record at least 1,450 points (1,483), 450 rebounds (487), 400 assists (406) and 200 steals (225). He graduated from Harvard in 2010 with a degree in economics and a 3.1 grade-point average.

The New York Knicks claimed Lin off waivers on December 27 to be a backup behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby after an injury to guard Iman Shumpert; recently-signed guard Baron Davis was also injured and weeks away from playing. Lin said he was “competing for a backup spot, and people see me as the 12th to 15th guy on the roster. It’s a numbers game.”The Knicks’ third-string point guard, he made his season debut on the road against the Warriors, where he was warmly cheered in his return to Oracle Arena. On January 17, 2012, Lin was assigned to the Erie BayHawks of the D-League. On January 20, he had a triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists in the BayHawks’ 122–113 victory over the Maine Red Claws. Lin was recalled by the Knicks three days later. 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 Boston Celtics, coach Mike D’Antoni decided to give Lin a chance to play. “He got lucky because we were playing so bad,” said D’Antoni.[94] 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 Mike 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.” In the subsequent game against the Utah Jazz, Lin made his first career start. He had 28 points and eight assists.[100] In a game against the Washington Wizards, Lin had 23 points and career-high 10 assists. It was his first double-double. On February 10, Lin scored a new career-high 38 points and had seven assists, leading the Knicks in their 92–85 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. He outscored the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, who had 34 points. On February 11, Lin scored 20 points and had 8 assists in a narrow 100–98 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Lin scored 89 and 109 points in his first three and four career starts, respectively, the most by any player since the merger between the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the NBA in 1976–77. He is the first NBA player with at least 20 points and seven assists in his first four starts. Lin was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals in those four starts with the Knicks going undefeated. On February 14, Lin scored a game-winning three-pointer in Toronto with less than a second remaining in a game where he surpassed Shaquille O’Neal’s league record for the most points in his first five games as a starter.

The Associated Press called Lin “the most surprising story in the NBA”. Bloomberg News wrote that Lin “has already become the most famous [Asian American NBA player]”. Knicks fans developed nicknames for him along with a new lexicon inspired by his name, Lin. Time.com ran an article titled, “It’s Official: Linsanity Is for Real”. Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson said, “The excitement [Lin] has caused in [Madison Square] Garden, man, I hadn’t seen that in a long time.” He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline “Against All Odds”, which The New York Times called, “the greatest tribute”. Lin’s story was also on the front-page of many Taipei newspapers.

The Knicks scrambled to start selling replicas of Lin’s No. 17 jerseys and t-shirts, and the sales and traffic for their online store increased more than 3,000%. “I’ve surrendered that to God. I’m not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore,” said Lin. Lin becomes a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Lin