Jeremy Lin Dominates the NBA on the Court and in the Press
Jeremy Lin Dominates the NBA on the Court and in the Press
Jeff Smith and Horace C. White
Modern Tokyo Times
The story of Jeremy Lin is one that almost anyone who has seen an NBA game within the past two weeks knows about. The Harvard Graduate made his way up through the D-League, and was cut by his past team, before landing with the New York Knicks. The Knicks were close to cutting the point guard as well, but decided to hold on to him to give him a chance. When things just started going south for New York, they decided to turn to Lin to give him a shot, and did it ever pay off. Lin has been incredible while leading his Knicks team to a seven game win streak. What makes their run even more impressive is the fact that he did a lot of it without Amare Stoudemire, and almost all of it without an injured Carmelo Anthony.
Lin has averaged 24.4 points per game through that seven game span, and has also averaged an impressive 9.1 assists per game as well. Overall, he has made life for everyone on his team a bit simpler and has the entire state of New York, and the country, in a complete frenzy about the name Jeremy Lin. Many people are curious as to how he’ll coexist with Carmelo Anthony when he returns from injury, but both sides seem to have almost no worries about the situation whatsoever, and actually look forward to being out on the court at the same time as well.
With Lin playing incredibly well and coming onto the scene with popularity, it made me think about a few other Asian players who have made NBA history in their careers. We’ll take a look at a few below, and explain how they made an impact on the NBA.
Ha Seung-Jin
Ha Seung-Jin was the first Korean player to ever play basketball in the NBA, and played in both the league itself and the NBA D-League as well. Seung-Jin was an incredible 7 feet 3 inches tall, and weighed 305 pounds. When he first entered the league he was drafted in the second round, as the 46th overall pick to the Portland Trail Blazers back in 2004. Seung-Jin was not only the first Korean player, but was one of the tallest NBA players to ever play in an NBA game as well. He averaged 5.5 minutes per game in his first season with the team, and 7.9 minutes per game in his second season.
Yuta Tabuse
Yuta Tabuse was the first ever Japanese-born player to take part in an NBA game when he played for the Suns back in 2004. One of the most incredible parts of Tabuse’s run to the NBA is the fact that he was only 5 feet 9 inches tall and 165 points! While Tabuse didn’t remain in the NBA long, he still plays the game he loves overseas in the Japanese Basketball League.
Sun Yue
Sun Yue was the fifth Chinese basketball player to play in the NBA, and while he originally played for the Beijing Olympians in China from 2003-2008, he made the move to the NBA and played with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008-2009. He took part on both their NBA D-League team, and also the NBA team as well. Yue is 6 feet 9 inches tall, and was born on November 6th, 1985. Yue played a total of ten games with the Lakers NBA team, before he moved to the Developmental League.
Yao Ming
Yao is one of the most well-known basketball players worldwide today. While he currently has retired from the NBA, Yao Ming is the tallest player to have ever played in the NBA at 7 feet 6 inches tall. He played his NBA career with the Houston Rockets, where he was an eight-time NBA All-Star, and was the first overall pick of the draft back in 2002. Ming originally played with the Shanghai Sharks as a young player in his career, and won a championship with the team in the Chinese Basketball Association in his final season with the team. This was when Yao moved to the NBA, and had quite an impressive career in which he averaged 19 points per game, and 9.2 assists per game. Yao Ming was also named to the All-NBA team a total of five times in his career as well.
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