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fter Yao Ming retired, Jeremy Lin’s ascent to basketball stardom has come as a total surprise. His strong performances in the NBA have won him a huge amount of fan support. It is a remarkable and largely unexpected success story with lessons that we can apply to our own lives and careers.

With three breakout games, Lin has become the NBA’s newest playmaking sensation. He’s a fan favorite — home and away — and has earned more than 60,000 Twitter followers in just five days, and his Chinese Weibo followers (a service similar to Twitter) number more than 1.5 million.

The story of Lin is inspirational. His struggles against adversity and his refusal to give up on opportunities as they arose have made him famous. His story is much more attractive than any movie, because the outcome is still in the making and the suspense is increasingly worth the wait.

Lin is leading by example in various fields in the US and even in Asia, not just among basketball fans talking about him as a Chinese-American player, but also about how he managed to make his own Cinderella story into a reality.

The road to his current success has been far from easy. He suffered several setbacks in the pursuit of his dream. After graduating from Harvard University, he went undrafted in the NBA. He was dropped by the Mavs, and eventually found a spot with the Golden State Warriors where he struggled to get off the bench.

He was cut by the Warriors, and then the Rockets too. He was almost cut by the Knicks as well, just before his big breakout game and subsequent insertion into the starting lineup. Now he appears to be unstoppable, and people can’t get enough of “Linsanity”. A week ago, he was like a candle in the wind, but now he has illuminated the whole world.

Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outdueling Bryant as New York held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85 on Feb. 10.

Lin continued his legendary story on Feb. 15, when he dropped a three-point bomb with half a second to go, giving the Knicks a 90-87 victory over the Raptors. It was the sixth consecutive Knicks win in what continues to be an unexpected run.

Lin scored a total of 89 and 109 points in his first three and four career starts, respectively, the most by any player since the merger between the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the NBA in 1976–1977. He is the first NBA player with at least 20 points and seven assists in his first four starts.

In his first four games, he has outperformed every other player in the history of the modern NBA — including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and other legendary figures.

Lin’s rise to his current position was not always smooth, but because of his steadfastness and his efforts, he is living his dream of playing in the NBA. Opportunities always favor those who are prepared, and have put in the necessary training to achieve success.

Find inspiration in the story of Jeremy Lin and you too may find yourself the apple of the eye of audiences you never thought possible. The opportunity only rewards those who are prepared.
Great Han
Medan, North Sumatra