Lin makes his mark in the NBA despite challenges

Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks has taken the NBA by storm over the past month. He has done so by playing at an extremely high level in his first four starts averaging a mind boggling 27.3 points, 8.3 assists, and 2.0 steals in an undefeated run for the Knicks. In a game against the Los Angeles Lakers Lin outscored NBA star Kobe Bryant 38-34, and led the Knicks to a 92-85 victory over the Western Conference Powerhouse. His play has earned him the honor of Eastern Conference player of the week and much hype surrounding him going into the coming games. What makes Jeremy Lin's story so impressive is not the things he is doing now, but things he has had to overcome to reach these heights.

Rewind six years ago and you have Lin, a senior in high school at Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto, California outside of San Francisco, leading his school to the California Interscholastic Federation State title over high favored and nationally ranked Mater Dei. Lin was first team All-State and averaged 15.1 points, 7.1 assist, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.0 steals. Despite these accomplishments Lin went un-recruited out of high school except spots to Harvard and Brown, both Ivy League schools that do not offer athletic scholarships. Even Stanford, which was located in the very same city as Lin's high school gave him no looks. He was offered a chance to walk-on at UCLA and other Pac-10 schools, but the scholarship offers never came.

Eventually Lin accepted a spot on the Harvard Basketball team and in his four years for the Crimson earned honors as All-Ivy League selection and owned a marquee win over opponent a 17th ranked Boston College team that had defeated the #1 team in the country a few days earlier. In that game Lin had 27 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds, this was eventually followed up by a 30 point and 9 rebound game against powerhouse Connecticut. These accomplishments garnered Lin much attention, but when it came to the NBA draft he was passed on and fell to free agency to find his new home.

Lin played summer ball for the Dallas Mavericks organization and was tossed around from team to team, all the while gaining love and attention from fans along the way, but he never really got a steady role. This all changed once arriving in New York, where Lin has started his trek to stardom.

To this point he has a true underdog story and has overcome the odds to get to where he is right now in the NBA headlines. His growing popularity (he was sold the most NBA jerseys of any player over the last 10 days) assures that he will stay in the spot light for as long as his play will allow him.

Jeremy Lin is example of a player that has always had to overcome adversity and just play the game. This will suite him well as he embarks on his NBA career. He has jumped to an excellent early start and can do great things if he can handle all the pressures that accompany a star professional athlete. His situation has almost a Tim Tebow-esque feel to it-a guy that overcomes the odds and gains the love of fans for being unique. As long as he keeps playing at the level he is playing at for the New York Knicks, it should be safe to say Lin could become a household name in the NBA soon.