There will be many excuses given for why the New York Knicks didn’t re-sign Jeremy Lin.
They can blame it on the size of the offer sheet from the Houston Rockets. They can say that last season’s “Linsanity” was a result of good fortune playing for Mike D’Antoni. They can say he was just a flash in the pan, an anomaly.
But the reason the Knicks didn’t sign Jeremy Lin, at least in part, is likely because of his race.
There were so many reasons for the Knicks to re-sign Jeremy Lin. There are only a few that make sense for why they didn’t. Prejudice is one of them.
No one would ever admit to it, and it’s a discussion nobody wants to have, but his ethnicity must be examined as part of why he wasn’t re-signed.
Lin gave the Knicks every reason in the world to be re-signed, even with the large salary in the third year of the contract. There hasn’t been a sensation like Lin in the NBA ever before. He was a one-of-a-kind phenomenon.
And he was good.
He scored 38 points in one game, had 25 points and 10 assists in another. He made game-winning shots. He guided them to a healthy winning streak when it was least expected. He breathed life into the Big Apple franchise.
And after the initial sensation and outlandish statistics died down a bit, Lin proved more than worthy of a significant three-year investment for a young point guard.
As Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports explained, “Lin averaged 16 points, 7.4 assists and 2.1 steals in his final 20 starts — and while those figures don’t make him a candidate for MVP, they do make him a very good NBA point guard.”
They certainly make him a wiser investment than the ancient Jason Kidd and the mediocre, older Raymond Felton.
But Lin’s payback from the franchise was doubt regarding his talent, doubt about his ability to rehabilitate from injury, and doubt about his heritage being able to ball for real.
Why?
This story can be twisted by the Knicks’ organization to say many things…but the truth: Asian-Americans still don’t get respect as athletes in the U.S.
Asian-Americans are still greatly stereotyped. Possibly, it is the ethnic group most stereotyped.
And playing skillful basketball has, unfortunately, not been a stereotype associated with Asian-Americans.
Pretty much everybody knows this is how the stereotype has gone. But Lin proved everybody wrong. He is a baller, even a dunker, as he did in one of his starts last season.
Now, the bias is that Lin is not capable of continuing to play at a high level and keep the “Linning” going.
Call it what it is: when it comes to how Lin’s departure was handled, money was a factor…but so, probably, was prejudice.
*****
Howard Alperin is Managing Editor for AmericanizeSoccer.com
About Howard M Alperin
You sir are an idiot and are trying to turn this into race when it has nothing to do with it. Anyone who thinks Lin wasnt signed because of ethnicity is just mad theyre favorite player is gone! Were in NY hello?? do you know how much Yao Mings people tried to funnel him to NY when he first came to the league? same as Yi Jianlian or how ever you spell it. Lin is even more of a draw here because he is and Asian american and a cash cow for anyone trying to tap into the Chinese market. If we ehad kept Dantoni as coach then Lin should have been retained but he nolonger fits our system and requires the ball to be successful much in the way Anthony does, so who do you think the Knicks are gonna keep when it comes to those two? Exactly!! dont be butt hurt!!
gee you’re punny. obvious racist is obvious.
Remember the warning about Yellow Peril, well guess what, we are here/everywhere amongst you. To all you haters, better watch your back, payback and retribution time has come!
I can appreciate ‘shock’ journalism from time to time but this is about as formulated as it gets.
Racism/sexism claims- Check
Key facts contributing to story omitted- Check
Broad generalizations without supportting detail- Check
Lazy journalism at it’s best.
It’s not for me to explain every detail of why the Knicks organization was prejudiced against Jeremy Lin. This article was written to point out that prejudice was operating as part of the decision-making process. It was probably in their sub-conscious and not spoken about openly. As an Asian-American player, he was not given the benefit of the doubt and was further stereotyped.
And I agree Howard, which was why this was a no-brainer to run. If a point guard who looked like Steve Nash or John Wall had put up Lin’s numbers, teams would be falling all over themselves to re-sign him, and this is doubly so if that player had meant as much financially to the franchise as Lin did to Knicks last year. But because he doesn’t look like what we expect a point guard to look like, and doesn’t have a basketball pedigree we associate with NBA success (Harvard???), he is doubted more than his numbers and performance suggest he should be. The prejudice will never be stated, so you can’t ever be “proven” right, but I agree that it was an underlying reason for the Knicks letting him go…even if subconscious on their part. Because this is a franchise that is NEVER fiscally responsible. Why would they start now with a guy like Lin who brings so much off the court to the franchise?
Great article. If you don’t agree with this article you are either ignorant or in denial. Let me add, from the pov of an African American. I know for a fact that Melo, JR, Stat (because of Lin race) felt athletically superior to Lin and for that reason was jealous of the attention he received and didn’t think he deserved it. I am ashamed and angry of this fact. I suspected it in the beginning and my suspicions were confirmed by comment through Lin’s run. As well as recent comment and behavior by JR and Melo. I’ve always believed that Lin was the chosen one to help move our human race forward. It unfortunate that the magic could not be continued in NY.
Agree.
Absolutely the players are involved on this. Everything is subtle prejudice. There is nothing glaringly apparent.
That’s right. This is a great article which gets it right and says what no one else will admit. The very outspoken jealousy from Carmelo, J.R. Smith and the other Knick’s players, the sour-grapes from the Floyd Mayweathers, and even the disses from the Stephen A. Smiths and other reporters who keep trying to hammer on the idea that Lin only was hyped because he’s Asian and not because he broke records, pretend to be stat or money based, but it’s pretty obvious they’re racially motivated. The vehemence and the volume of objection wouldn’t be there if Lin weren’t Asian.
The guy should be celebrated for beating a racist system that repeatedly got him cut and benched. Instead some people just want to tear him down. They just can’t stand to see an Asian man succeeding and they’ll do anything to stop him.
One decision regarding a PG who played 25 games doesn’t justify completely reaching and saying Asian Americans will never get respected as athletes. I’m completely on the Lin bandwagon, in that it was dumb of the Knicks not to resign him, but the reasons they didn’t are pretty clear.
There are tto many indicators from the Knicks hinting at Lin not being a good ‘fit.’ He’s not the right ‘fit’ because he’s different.
I shouldn’t waste my time responding to this crap story… did you let a subscriber write this article? This I’d like something you would read posted at the bottom of a real story by an uneducated debbie downer! WOW!
When exactly did the Kicks become prejudice vs Lin? Did they pick him up off waivers because they were prejudiced? When they were selling millions of Lin jerseys last season? when they were matching Houston’s original offer guaranteeing 3 yrs & 19M? Or only after Lin went back to Houston to get a bigger poison pill 3rd year guarantee that they didn’t want to pay the huge luxury tax on? Did they just become prejudice then?
When, exactly, did this prejudice begin?
You say there are hints he’s not the right fit. Maybe that’s true. Maybe it’s true because freewheeling Mike D’Antoni was fired, and replaced by defensive minded Mike Woodson. Maybe Lin doesn’t want to defer to Carmelo Anthony? Maybe Lin doesn’t like being held accountable for his 9 turnovers a game? Maybe Lin doesn’t like having to play defense? Maybe Lin wanted to be able to drive 1 on 3 at will and do what he wants with the ball and he couldnt do that anymore in NY?
Congratulations on writing the most narrow minded, bone headed article I have ever read. What a disgrace.