What Little-Known NBA Prospect Could Spark Linsanity 2.0?
7 years ago, the NBA fell in love with Jeremy Lin. What players are the best candidates for a 2019 Linsanity 2.0?
Seven years ago, the stars aligned for Jeremy Lin and the NBA. Lin was a little-known basketball player out of Harvard. He went undrafted out and bounced around the D-League before everything fell into place in February 2012 in New York. The Knicks were desperate for any kind of spark, and coach Mike D’Antoni needed someone to run a million pick-and-rolls every game. The team decided to give Lin a chance, and he did not throw away his shot.
On February 4 against the Nets, Lin played 36 minutes out of the blue and racked up 25 points and 7 rebounds in a win. He started the next game against the Jazz and responded with 28 and 8 in another win, then outdueled John Wall and the Wizards to record his first double-double. February 10 was when the buzz started to really kick in as Lin poured in 38 points in an overtime win against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, and suddenly everyone was talking. On Valentine’s Day, Lin hit a game-winning three in the final second in Toronto and had even the home fans cheering for him. A full 2500 miles away, the Lakers gathered to watch the man who had torched them days earlier, and as the winning shot swished through, Metta World Peace was seen running around the locker room screaming, “Linsanity! Linsanity!!”
And just like that, a star was born and an international craze had begun. Linsanity swept through the league as everyone wanted to get a glimpse of this kid from Harvard. The timing for everything was perfect. The league always hits the doldrums in February, the Knicks were plagued by injuries, D’Antoni’s system was perfect for Lin, and New York was the league’s biggest market. Fans around the world tuned in to catch a glimpse of Linsanity. Beyond turning the Knicks’ season around, Lin was the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA and one of the leagues only Asian-Americans, so he brought an enormous cultural buzz. He was also an outspoken Christian, giving glory to God at each turn of his breakout season. A star was indeed born, and Linsanity became part of the vernacular.
It’s hard to imagine so many stars aligning for a true Linsanity 2.0 in 2019, but every February and March we see some little-known hard-working guys play their way to the NBA as teams cycle through injured players and tanking rosters, looking for any kind of spark to get them to the finish line. Let’s take a look around the league for a few Linsanity 2.0 candidates, some struggling or little-known players who could be in just the right situation to break out and get the NBA buzzing these next couple months as we head toward the playoffs…
Honorable Mentions
The Houston Rockets are ripe for a Linsanity candidate. They’re thin and wrought by injuries, ready for some random dude to hit seven threes some rainy Tuesday night. Unfortunately that guy might just be some buyout player.
David Nwaba could put on a dunk show in Cleveland. Antonio Blakeney can score points in a hurry if he gets some run in Chicago. Either of them could rack up highlights, but they’re not quite Linsanity worthy, and they’d get benched for tanking purposes if they do anything too good anyway.
My favorite honorable mention is Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk. Svi is the Ukrainian sharpshooter out of Kansas University that just got traded from the Lakers to Detroit. The Pistons are short on wings and shooting, and Svi can heat up in a hurry. He scored 29ppg in five G-League games, hitting 4.4 threes at a 45% clip. If he hits a barrage of threes as the Pistons push to the playoffs while the Lakers sit at home, the schadenfreude would be pretty incredible.
Alright, that’s it for the honorable mentions. Let’s count down the most likely 2019 Linsanity 2.0 candidates from seven to one…
7. New York Knicks — Kadeem Allen
We can’t hunt Linsanity 2.0 without at least trying to find a Knick, right? New York is where it all started, and the Knicks aren’t exactly contending for the playoffs, but the buzz at Madison Square Garden will always be there and New York fans are desperate enough for basketball they might even forget about Zion Williamson for a couple weeks for a second crack at Linsanity.
Kadeem Allen might be their best shot. Allen went into All-Star break hot, averaging 16.5 points with 6.3 assists in four games. The Knicks have a recent history of scoring guards like Allonzo Trier, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Jeremy Lin himself putting up big numbers, and there’s plenty of garbage-time points to go around in New York. Buuut… Allen is more of a defender than a scorer. Besides, the Knicks are too focused on losing, and they’d rather see Dennis Smith Jr. and Kevin Knox taking all those shots.
6. Brooklyn Nets — Alan Williams
What about keeping it in the boroughs? The Nets have all that New York cultural buzz and are in the thick of the playoff race. The right player stepping into big minutes could be just the sort of story that gets the media buzzing.
Could Alan Williams be that guy? Williams was recently named a G-League All-Star, averaging 21 points and 13 boards. He has a big personality and a cult following and comes ready-made with two awesome nicknames, Big Sauce and Beast Warrior. Williams is a rebounding connoisseur, averaging over 20 rebounds per 100 NBA possessions in his career, just short of the 22-per-100 league leader Andre Drummond averages.
The Nets are thin at forward and could need some minutes there, especially if players like DeMarre Carroll or Jared Dudley get bought out. Only Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, and Kevin Love have recorded 30 rebounds in a game this century. Could Big Sauce join them with enough minutes? Maybe. But it’s hard to see rebounds getting the masses buzzing.
5. Dallas Mavericks — Kostas Antetokounmpo
The other, OTHER Antetokounmpo. Kostas is a G-League Legend, and Dallas is a big market with plenty of playing time for forwards after trading Harrison Barnes. What if Kostas Antetokounmpo steps into a big role and suddenly Dallas starts winning with Freak Jr. and Luka pushing Dirk to one last playoff run as everyone starts dreaming about Giannis joining baby bro, Luka, and Kristaps for the all-international team of the future?
Sounds great, but it’s pretty outlandish. Kostas is a G-League Legend in team name only. He barely played last year at Dayton and is averaging just 10 points and six boards in the G-League. He’s never played a single NBA minute, and even in the scenario above, it would be Lukamania getting all the buzz.
4. Memphis Grizzlies — Yuta Watanabe
It’s gonna get ugly in Memphis for a team with every incentive to tank and little talent left. Players like Avery Bradley and Justin Holiday could get bought out. Mike Conley will get shut down at some point. Bruno Caboclo is playing minutes. Some dude named Julian Washburn led the team with 37 minutes recently. This team needs players.
Why not Yuta? Watanabe was conference Defensive Player of the Year at George Washington and is averaging 14 points a game in the G-League. More importantly, he’s just the second Japanese-born player to play in the NBA, and it’s always a big deal when a people group has representation in a professional league for the first time. That was certainly a huge part of the buzz with Jeremy Lin and what helped make him a worldwide sensation.
Unfortunately for Yuta, the Grizzlies are so irrelevant it may not matter who plays, and unless Watanabe puts up some monster stats, it’ll be hard for him to get noticed.
3. Miami Heat — Yante Maten
Maten is the guy on this list most likely to turn into an impact name as we head toward the playoffs. The Heat are battling for one of the final Eastern playoff spots, and they’re also fighting through a litany of injuries and an ever-changing depth chart. Miami has never been afraid to try something new, and they have a history of successful homegrown G-League players at the NBA level, guys like Tyler Johnson, Rodney McGruder, and Okaro White.
Enter Yante Maten, a four-year Georgia star that made All-SEC twice and was conference player of the year as a senior. He’s been lighting up the G-League with 26ppg, shooting 60% from the field and over 40% from deep. Maten is the second-leading G-League scorer, a shooting wing perfect for the stretch four role Miami has carved out for Kelly Olynyk. Maten can really play, and he could be a difference maker for a team fighting for every win.
Can he grab headlines and buzz too? Not so sure about that part. Yantsanity may not be where it’s at, but Maten could be a player either way.
2. Orlando Magic — Markelle Fultz
It makes you cringe a little, right? But it also makes sense.
It seems forever ago, but Markelle Fultz was the #1 pick in the NBA draft just two summers ago. That was before an endless string of injuries derailed his basketball career, maybe permanently, and it was before he was finally exiled from the Philadelphia 76ers for Jonathon Simmons and a couple picks. Fultz may not play in the NBA again this season, maybe ever.
But what if he does? What if the injury is mental as much as anything and a fresh start in Orlando is just what he needs? The Magic need guard help in a bad way, and they entered All-Star break as hot as anyone with five straight wins by almost 21 a game. What if Fultz puts everything together over the home stretch and looks like the #1 pick again? It’s not like it would be hard to steal playing time from D.J. Augustin. What if Fultz is suddenly scoring 15 or 20 points a game, slicing to the hoop, hitting floaters, and pushing the Magic toward the playoffs? Remember, this is the same guy that became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double just 10 months ago.
Markelle Fultz is an all-world talent. If he puts up numbers amidst a playoff push, you better believe the NBA world will be watching. Orlando even plays the Sixers twice in March. Heck, they could play Philly in a first-round playoff matchup where Fultz would get his shot at Simmons, Embiid, et al.
It’s not exactly the same as Lin or the others on this list, but Fultz is a different kind of comeback story everyone would get excited for. Could Fultzmania be coming soon to an NBA arena near you?
1. Los Angeles Lakers — Alex Caruso
Let me paint you a picture. It’s a quiet Monday night in L.A. Rajon Rondo and Lonzo Ball are out injured again. Brandon Ingram hasn’t brought his scoring boots. Kyle Kuzma’s shot has gone missing. LeBron can’t get any help, and the Lakers’ playoff hopes are on life support, down 18 at halftime, three games out of the 8-seed with a month to go. That’s when Los Angeles turns to little-used 25-going-on-60 youth-pastor-lookalike Alex Caruso.
Caruso gets hot in the third quarter, hitting a quartet of threes, and his hustle and defense wake up the sleepy L.A. crowd. The Lakers come roaring back, and LeBron drives and kicks to an open Caruso for a buzzer-beating set shot for the game winner. Caruso gets the start the next game and finishes with 25 points and 12 dimes as buzz begins to build. Three days later the Lakers get Saturday night prime time and Caruso drops 31 points on Kyrie Irving as the Lakers beat the hated rival Celtics. The Lakers ride a six-game Caruso-fueled win streak into Madison Square Garden for a Sunday afternoon game. There he drops a triple-double in front of a national audience. The Lakers ride Caruso all the way to the 7-seed and the Western Conference Finals.
Carusanity — can you feel it?!?
Might not be as crazy as you think. Caruso averaged 19 points and eight assists a game en route to Second-Team All-NBA G-League honors last season, and he already melted local crowds at Las Vegas Summer League with a dazzling array of Showtime passes and shooting. LeBron has elevated similar hustle players like Matthew Dellavedova before, and they have elevated him.
Big market team in need of a little-known star breaking through to carry a storied NBA franchise to the playoffs with a national audience watching? Check, check, check, and check.
Alex Caruso fits all the marks for 2019 Linsanity 2.0. Now all he needs is his storybook ending.
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