A Grain of Saul: Don’t expect “Lin-Sanity” to last

Jeremy Lin has had an impressive run for his first few starts in the NBA, but don’t expect the… Jeremy Lin has had an impressive run for his first few starts in the NBA, but don’t expect the 23-year-old point guard to make headlines for much longer.

Yeah, you heard me: “Lin-sanity” is a fluke, a phase, an anomaly, Tim Tebow part II, except I’m going to hate him a lot less when it’s all said and done.

I get how impressive this kid is. He was sleeping on teammate Landry Fields’ couch in New York City two weeks ago, hoping not to get cut from the Knicks. And then, magically, he’s putting up 38 points, seven assists and four rebounds against the Lakers. The Knicks have won all five games he’s started in.

The numbers show how hot Lin is personally: In his last four games, he scored at least 23 points, recorded at least seven assists and shot above 53 percent from the field. Since the 1985 season, only 41 players have achieved such a streak, according to basketball-reference.com.

As you’d expect, that list of 41 includes players like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and LeBron James. But it also includes names like Derek Harper, Kenny Smith, Jerome “Pooh” Richardson, Jay Humphries and Lionel Simmons, and four other guys who never made an All-Star game.

I’m rooting for Lin, but I’m not holding my breath for him to win championships, make All-Star games or even start next year. There are a few things everyone has to remember before getting carried away.

First of all, Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Baron Davis will eventually come back. When that happens, you better believe a superstar player like Anthony will want the ball back. In fact, Davis, who was the Knicks’ starting point guard before getting hurt, might simply walk back into his starting role, if Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni wants him to. Stoudemire will demand touches as well, like he always has.

In another parallel to the Tebow plague — which saw an underdog quarterback perform better than expected —  Lin has carried the Knicks over weak opponents. Not including the Lakers – who deployed an aging Derek Fischer to cover Lin for 40 minutes – the combined record of the four teams the Knicks beat is 41-70.

There is a reason why the Harvard grad went undrafted and was then waived by the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors this year; it’s because he isn’t that gifted.

On ESPN’s show First Take, the panel of analysts also discussed the big elephant in the room: Lin is Asian. Good Asian professional basketball players are, in a word, rare. Yao Ming was the face of Asian basketball players in the NBA for a while, but he was also 7’6” and is now out of the league.

As Beto Duran discussed on the show, Lin’s race “doesn’t hurt” his publicity, his hype, and his fame. I think it’s pretty obvious the fact that he is Asian has made his popularity even more rampant. People identify with him because he’s a smart guy playing with the best athletes around, he breaks the stereotype, and he’s a comeback story.

To his credit, and despite the relentless media hype, Lin has been nothing but gracious, humble and hardworking — which is why I’m rooting for him. He plays defense. He talks about how the attention has been “uncomfortable.” He wants to share the ball. He’s everything other professional basketball players aren’t.

Even though the Knicks schedule remains soft until March, I still wouldn’t expect to see Lin hit more than 30 points again this season. And once their schedule ramps up and there is some footage on him, definitely don’t expect teams to let his abilities slip through their game plans. Once he becomes the focus, his numbers are going to drop. A lot.

For now, whether it is for luck or just because he has a grasp of reality, Lin said he’s continued to sleep on Field’s couch, and I think that’s a good idea. The “star” point guard shouldn’t get too far ahead of himself.