Now that the NBA Draft is done, what are the chances of actually making the NBA? Here are some interesting numbers as analyzed by a Utah Jazz blogger. The data was collected for a ten-year period up through the 2007 NBA Draft. With Jeremy Lin projected not getting drafted at all, you can see that his chances of merely making the NBA are now even more astronomical than merely getting drafted. Still, it isn’t impossible and has been done before, as Warrior fans well know with Anthony Morrow and the recent spattering of D-League players…

(click to enlarge)

Excerpted from: JAZZ: Locke’s Jazz Report, 2009-10

While ballyhooing the performances of Jerome Randle and Mikhail Torrance, I also reported the consensus that Jeremy Lin is a bonafide point guard prospect. I shall now present to you further evidence of his value to a team at the point position, perhaps more-so than even Randle or Torrance, backed by numbers.

Can you guess which of these stats correspond to which player?…
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Not to steal the thunder, but Dan Duggan of the Boston Herald is about the only one outside of Jeremy Lin’s agent and family who has access to his progress. Jeremy’s currently in Las Vegas training at Impact/Abunassar. He trained there last summer (along with his two brothers). And Jeremy has his first workout with an NBA franchise lined up next week, presumably thanks to his agent Roger Montgomery.

Oh, how I wish I could see him go up against Sherron Collins on a daily basis. Jeremy says he’s “holding his own” and working on his 3-point shooting (better), dribbling (not going quite as rapidly as he’d like), and defense.

It’s good to know Jeremy’s in good hands, but the fact is, he still remains off all of the mock draft boards (e.g., far below Collins). On the other hand, IMHO I believe an NBA GM will pick him in the 2nd round primarily because he’s Asian-American. Hey, it is what it is. Remember, the NBA is a business.

While I’m sure purists would prefer he be picked based on merit, you have to remember that the 2nd round is a bit of a crapshoot. Don’t even try to get inside the minds of NBA executives who have a myriad of hidden variables and/or agendas at play.

I’ve said before that I believe Jeremy’s talent gives him 1st round plausibility, but unlike guys like Gordon Hayward (Final Four pedigree) or Daniel Orton (UK and hype by whom he’s training with), Jeremy doesn’t have enough behind-the-scenes, power-broking “he-said-she-said” going for him. Note: This is complete, unsubstantiated speculation on my part (a gut feel).

To let the floodgates open, I’m not sure that the 2nd round is based on merit at all because 2nd round draftees do not automatically get guaranteed contracts. Again, this is just my opinion. More on this in a future blogpost.

You can follow Duggan on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dduggan21. He has promised a follow-up report on Jeremy’s workouts.

Read the whole article: 
http://news.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/oncampus/?p=217&srvc=home&position=recent

The reasons why Asian-Americans care and root for Jeremy Lin can now be explained scientifically. The study was actually based on African-Americans showing empathy for other African-Americans as a result of the plight with Hurricane Katrina. The following is an excerpt from a blog that reported the findings…

“The take home point, says the study’s author Joan Chiao, is that our ability to identify with another person dramatically changes how much we can feel the pain of another and how much we’re willing to help them. Details are reported in the journal NeuroImage.”

Read the whole article at: Strong racial identity intensifies empathy « Futurity.org

Do you know how popular basketball is in the Philippines? We’ve had blogposts about three Dream League tournament MVPs ending up on the same roster in the PBA, but aside from references like that, do you really know how popular basketball is in “the PI”? Someone very qualified is here to give you the proper context.

His name is Rafe Bartholomew and he’s coming out with a book next month that talks about this very thing: “Pacific Rims: Beermen Ballin’ in Flip-Flops and the Philippines’ Unlikely Love Affair with Basketball”.

Through my homies at GSoM, I’m happy to say that I’m getting an advanced copy of the book to review. I’ll be in talks with the publicist on how to get the book pushed through the Dream League community (10,000 Asian-American rec ballers strong!).

Inspiration for this blogpost goes to HoopsHype, which tweeted they were shocked to find Manila ranking 5th in total number of hits in the world on their site, after mega-metros NY, LA, Chicago, and Toronto of North America.

Here’s a blogpost on Free Darko by Bartholomew, where you can find the awesome photo of a Filipino kid dunking on a wooden backboard in a rural area in the Philippines: http://freedarko.blogspot.com/2010/02/fd-guest-lecture-where-magaling-happens.html

Here’s a recent interview with Bartholomew: In the Bullpen

Here’s the full text of the press release, as forwarded to me by GSoM…
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