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- The Road to Brooklyn: Part I
- The Road to Brooklyn: Part II
- The Road to Brooklyn: Part III
- The Road to Brooklyn: Part IV
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The Road to Brooklyn: Part II (The Harvard Years)
When Bill Holden, a then-Harvard assistant coach, arrived to Las Vegas in 2005 to scout some prospects, he didn’t have high hopes. After all, Harvard is an Ivy League school, which means they can’t offer athletic scholarships. In a situation like that, it’s hard to compete with some of the more prominent basketball programs. To make matters worse, Holden didn’t have much luck during the first day of the tournament. One of the names on his list – a certain Jeremy Lin – didn’t impress him whatsoever. Playing against a disinterested opponent, Lin had trouble showing off his talents. On his way out of the gym, Holden told Lin’s high school coach he seemed better suited for Division III.
That could have easily been the end of this particular story. Fortunately for Harvard and Holden himself, he would get another chance to scout the scrawny kid from Palo Alto. Two days later, while he was watching another player on his list, he heard a commotion from the neighboring gym. He went to check it out, and sure enough – it was Lin, playing against a very competitive AAU team with a couple of Division I recruits. This time, Holden came away with an entirely different impression of Lin’s game. What he saw that day was a skinny kid who played hard defense, attacked the rim fearlessly and seemed to have a knack for the game that you just can’t teach. After the game ended, Holden apologized to Lin’s coach and ensured him Lin would be their top priority that summer.
Though Holden kept up his word, he didn’t have to work very hard to secure Lin’s services. Out of all the schools Lin sent his highlight DVD to, only Harvard and Brown guaranteed him a spot in the team. Holden was particularly worried that Stanford, a university down the street from Lin’s house, would jump in and steal him. Stanford was Lin’s dream school, and there was no doubt he would have joined them if they invited him. However, the offer never came and Lin eventually opted for Harvard. In the years that followed, this would be seen as one of the biggest recruiting blunders in Stanford’s history.
Lin’s freshman season came and went without him making much of an impact coming off the bench. Another former Harvard assistant coach, Lamar Reddicks, remembers him as the physically weakest guy in the team. Once he secured the starting spot at the beginning of his sophomore year, things started to change. As the only Harvard player to start all 30 games that year, he averaged 12.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Though his outside shot was still very inconsistent, he shot an excellent 48% from the field. At the end of the season, he was selected to the All-Ivy League Second Team.
His junior year saw him improve even further. While continuing to start in every game, he improved his scoring average to 17.8 points per game. He also improved in rebounds (5.5), assists (4.6) and steals (2.4). Even more importantly, his three-point shooting became one of his most potent offensive weapons. He shot exactly 100 three-pointers that year, making 40 of them. Unsurprisingly, he was unanimously selected to the first team of the All-Ivy League.
However, it was during Lin’s senior season that he finally caught the eye of the general public. In a hard-fought loss against the Connecticut Huskies, Lin outplayed his future teammate Kemba Walker, recording a career-high 30 points and nine rebounds. The then-Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun was particularly impressed with his performance, saying he could play for any NCAA team. During his senior year, Lin averaged 16.4 points, 4.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks. Once again, he was a consensus selection for the All-Ivy League First Team. He also made the list of 11 finalists for the prestigious Bob Cousy award. His education didn’t suffer, either – Lin left Harvard with a 3.1 grade-point average and an economics degree.
Despite his stellar college career, NBA teams were reluctant to give Lin a chance. Though he was invited to eight workouts, he ultimately went undrafted at the 2010 draft. He did, however, manage to make the Dallas Mavericks Summer League team. He quickly proved he belongs in the NBA by outplaying that year draft’s first pick John Wall, limiting him to 4-of-19 from the field. In five games with the Mavericks, he averaged 9.8 points in 18.6 minutes per game. Though his perimeter shots weren’t falling in, NBA teams started to take an interest in Lin. After the Summer League, he signed a two-year deal with his hometown team, the Golden State Warriors. It was a dream come true for a scrawny kid from Palo Alto, but the road ahead was still long.