Linball

Hell, it was all over the blogs when he schooled John Wall in a 2010 summer league game.

 

TV ratings are up, merchandise sales are up, and it's a seller's market for tickets:

 

Lin's a better story than Tebow. I agree:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/michael_rosenberg/02/14/lin.tebow/index.html?eref=si_mostpopular

 

I love the story about how he might finally be the reason Time Warner caves in the war with MSG. I wonder how many subscribers TWC is losing out of this.

 

When it comes to small Boston school point guard who went undrafted: JJ Barea > Jeremy Lin.

At least for now. Barea has a ring and was a strong contributor for the team that won an NBA title.

 

Gator, I disagree. Lin has done things better in his first stretch of starts in the NBA than any player since the ABA merger. Barea became a reserve on a championship team who contributed, making him much like, say, an Avery Johnson.

They have different stories, but Lin's is better.

 

Uh, no.

Barea 10.6 ppg, .445 FG%, 3.67 apg, .577 spg, 1.42 TO
Lin 27.2 ppg, .500 FG%, 8.8 apg, 2.0 spg, 3.0 TO

Those are their numbers as starters.

Sample size is entirely too small, but there's no sane way to argue J.J. Barea is a better player than Lin.

 

Sample size is real small. And everyone needs to take a step back. I get it, he plays in NY, which is why this is such a big deal.

All I'm saying is that Barea's story is just as good, coming out of a small Boston school undrafted, spent time in the D League before landing with a championship team, on which he was a major contributor. You can throw all the stats you want at me, but again, wake up me when the Knicks are world champs, or even make the playoffs.

 

Whether they're equal players is debatable. To me it's pretty obvious that Lin is going to end up as the better player, but Barea has found a very good niche and might end up being better.

The comparison of them as "stories" is insane.

 

Barea may ultimately prove to be the better player, he is getting $8M or so from the 'Wolves (wow) and he was a major contributor to the Mavs winning, but Lin's peak right now exceeds any peak that Barea has ever had or will likely have. Sure its only 6 games, but that's 9% of the season right there. What a burst of excitement for the NBA. So what if he flames out, no one will ever be able to take away the memory of being serenaded with "MVP" at MSG.

 

You mean the whole nation somehow passed over the great JJ Barea story? Please.

 

I'm as anti-East Coast bias as anyone and I don't get the "he plays in NY, which is why this is such a big deal," business.

Do you even pay attention to the story? Here's a guy who was days from being cut and seemed to be headed toward journeyman obscurity and all of a sudden, out of the blue, he has the most productive first six starts of ANY players since the NBA/ABA merger.

Better than Jordan. Better than Kobe. Better than LeBron. Better than Bird. Better than Magic. Etc., etc., etc.

That is a HUGE story if he were playing for the Timberwolves or the Bobcats. Now, it's a BIGGER story because he's in New York. But it's still a sensational story regardless of who he plays for. After all, Tebowmania exists even though he's quarterbacking (I use that term loosely ) in the Mountain Time Zone.