Alumni Update: Jeremy Lin '10

As the Harvard men’s basketball team surges into the heart of conference play on a six-game win streak, the squad’s most famous alumnus, Jeremy Lin '10, is having quite the month of his own.

After struggling to find minutes behind the Golden State Warriors’ high-scoring backcourt of Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry, the guard was reassigned on Jan. 10 to the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League, where he immediately showed that his brief NBA experience had greatly improved his game.

“It’s a great opportunity…for me to come down, get a lot of playing time, and work on what I need to work on.” Lin recently told NBA.com. “The coaches, the GMs, they’re talking to me, telling me what I should improve on.”

On Jan. 15, Lin was named to the NBA D-League Showcase’s first team after averaging 21.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 3.5 steals per game during the four-day, 16-game tournament in South Padre Island, Texas.

Of the players named to the heavily-scouted Showcase’s three teams, only Lin and 2010 NBA lottery-pick Cole Aldrich were NBA-assigned players.

The guard earned another accolade shortly thereafter, when he was named D-League Co-Performer of the Week, along with Bighorn teammate and former New York Knick Marcus Landry. Lin averaged 20.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.8 steals while leading the Bighorns to a 4-0 record for the week of Jan. 10-17.

The hot streak has continued recently for Lin, who followed up a 16-point, 7-rebound, 8-assist, 6-steal game Saturday with 21 points and 11 rebounds Sunday, both in losses to Iowa.

Despite playing on a team of former big-school college stars in Landry, Danny Green (North Carolina), Salim Stoudemire (Arizona), D.J. Strawberry (Maryland) and the recently-waived Nick Fazekas (Nevada), Lin leads the squad in scoring and is second in assists, proving that the NBA is where he really belongs.

“I know he can play and I think it was a phenomenal signing and still think it is,” Warriors majority owner Joe Lacob recently told csnbayarea.com’s Matt Steinmentz. “He’s getting better, gaining some confidence…I’m very happy.”

Lacob said his team received multiple recent trade offers for Lin, but he’s not biting.  Instead, Lacob has been so impressed with Lin’s play that he expressed confidence the guard would be with the Warriors next season, despite Lin’s non-guaranteed contract.

“I would think he’ll be on the team,” Lacob said. “We like Jeremy. We think he’s going to develop into a pretty good player.”