NBA star and Toronto Raptors guard Jeremy Lin is not going to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. That is a prediction, but it is as certain as predictions can get. Yet Jeremy Lin’s story should warrant a very big footnote in the Hall, if the curators are doing their jobs.
As a professional basketball player, Lin has been outstanding at times and mid-level at others. He has proven to be the kind of player that coaches can rely on and that teams want on their roster. He has never been quite the impact player he was for a few brief luminous weeks in 2011-12 — during the period forever known as Linsanity — when he mesmerized the basketball world. But Lin deserves the giant footnote because as an ambassador for the NBA and basketball at large, Lin has had a major worldwide impact. He is among the most famous players in the world globally, even if he is not an NBA All-Star.
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It is his aforementioned competence on the court, not his fame, that has kept Lin desirable — and that is why a title-seeking franchise like the Toronto Raptors signed Lin this season. Now, though injury has kept him from making his mark during the Raptors playoff run, Lin is in position to win an NBA championship.
That accolade — being called an NBA champion with the ring to prove it — is one that famously eluded Hall of Fame and Dream Team legends Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler and others. If Lin and the Raptors were to defeat the Warriors, Lin would further cement his reputation as a winner.
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