Not only can Jeremy Lin dunk a basketball, he can also calculate its circumference, bitch. (Chris Wraight, GoCrimson.com)

I haven’t mentioned Jeremy Lin, the point/combo guard out of Harvard, on this site for lack of my man-crush on him.  It’s just that he hadn’t done anything newsworthy in the fantasy basketball universe for those outside of Fantasy Ivy Leagues to warrant it.  (Note: Fantasy Ivy Leagues are about as rare as Fantasy WNBA Leagues.)

But when Lin started tearing up the summer league — and by “tearing up” of course I mean outhustling John Wall for a nice stretch in a game last week… but hey, that’s all NBA scouts are really looking for from the end of their bench anyway, right? — I started dreaming up the possibilities:

I, an Asian dude, could finally own another Asian dude in my fantasy league.

(And, no, that wasn’t meant to sound that gay.)

No offense, Yao Ming or Yi Jianlian.  I’ve owned both of you in leagues past.  In fact, after Yao got hurt at the end of the 05-06 season, I even sneakily drafted him in the early second round the next year.  (Well, at least it was sneaky until he got hurt again.)  But the fact is, I’ve got about as much in common with Yao Ming as I do with Shaquille O’Neal.  They’re both very large men with very different playing styles than mine (scrappy hustler) whom I can barely understand in interviews.  Would Yao or Yi ever take a charge in a rec league like I would?  Doubtful.  Would Jeremy Lin?  Maybe to probably.

Unfortunately, I've got more in common with the guy on the left.

But while Lin’s strong play in the summer league was enough to get me excited about basketball in general, it wasn’t until today when I started getting excited about his prospects for fantasy basketball.  But let me take a quick step back first, for the few of you who haven’t been paying attention.

Although Lin led Harvard to its best season in decades and turned in several strong performances against NBA-caliber opponents in college, he went undrafted.  But Donnie Nelson, Dallas’ savvy GM, decided to invite him to play for the Mavericks in the summer league.  At the time (a few weeks ago), Nelson told Lin he was probably about a year from the NBA and wanted Lin to play for the Mavericks’ D-League affiliate in the meantime.

Now, I think Donnie Nelson is a genius for two reasons: 1) he recognized Lin’s high basketball IQ, something that could easily get lost in the shuffle of the rigorous athletic tests during pre-draft workouts.  And 2) he recognized Lin’s marketing potential.  Even if this kid doesn’t save the world, as it seems a lot of fans are prematurely hoping he does, he’s going to fill seats.  And not just with skinny little Asian butts, but with the butts of anyone who’s ever rooted for an underdog before, because even though some Harvard kid wouldn’t be considered an underdog in almost any other walk of life, he sure is in the NBA.  Plus, Dallas’ D-League affiliate just moved from Colorado to Fort Worth (just outside of Dallas), so some extra hype couldn’t hurt in filling seats, right?  And just to throw it in there — Nelson is also the principal owner and operator of the club.

But I digress.  Whatever your motives, Donnie Nelson, thanks for giving the kid a chance.  And since then, the Mavericks, Lakers and an undisclosed Eastern Conference team have all expressed interest in signing Lin to a contract.  But with any of those teams (unless that Eastern Conference team was the Knicks), I still wouldn’t be excited about Lin’s fantasy prospects… until I read this:

Lin near deal with Warriors

I don’t know if this is the best fit for him as a player, but the Warriors are the best fit for anyone in fantasy.  (And actually, it might not be that bad of a fit for him as a player either, especially with C.J. Watson going to Chicago.  Also, Lin’s slashing, run-and-gun style could be a nice fit in GS.)

But here’s the main reason why I’m confident Lin will be owned in 50+% of fantasy leagues this year — and I’ll do it in list form.

Chris Hunter
Cartier Martin
Anthony Tolliver
Reggie Williams
Anthony Morrow
C.J. Watson
Anthony Randolph

I could really go on and on, but these are just a few of the names that 1) nobody knew about two years ago and 2) you, me, or someone in your (competitive) fantasy basketball league owned at some point last year.  It might have been only for a spot-start, but still, all these guys were fantasy-legit thanks to Golden State.

Add in the fact that your Asian buddy, or your white girl-space-friend who has an Asian fetish (because there are tons of those, right?) will want to own an Asian-American dude on his, or her, team, and voila — you magically hit that 50+% ownership mark in Yahoo leagues.  Now of course, I’m not saying Lin should be drafted.  Not even in the deepest of fantasy leagues.  I’m just saying he will be owned, and in plenty of leagues.  The biggest threat to my theory is if the new ownership in The City decides to slow down the Warriors’ traditional up-tempo style, but when one of the owners is an entertainment mogul, I don’t see that happening.  At least not soon.

So, welcome to the League, JLin.  Look forward to picking you up on waivers for a spot start sometime in mid-February, if not sooner.