perspective...

A lifelong Knick fan can only keep quiet for so long.

Yes, this Jeremy Lin business is insane, but i will not use puns, that's for the NY Post and Joe Schad. I choose perspective.

The Dallas Mavericks had a lot to say about the Knick point guard before and after they had their lassos handed to them, and there is some truth to what many skeptics are saying about Lin.

Can the 20+ points and 7-10 assists a game last over the long haul? In the playoffs?

Why not?

A major point Mav guards Jason Terry and Jason Kidd seem to harp on was the fact that Knick coach Mike D'Antoni's system is built for active point guards that can hold their dribble/ Kidd went as far to mention that the system has Lin playing a lot like Steve Nash.

Lest i remind Kidd that Nash was not an MVP until he was coached by Mike D'Antoni. Oh, and the two were more or less exchanged for each other and while Kidd now has a ring, he also has Dirk Nowitski. Nash never had a player of that caliber and scope on his roster.

Is Lin a product of the D'Antoni system? Of course he is. Is the system the reason why Lin is having so much success? Well, kind of.

D'Antoni's system requires a point guard that can keep the dribble, drive deep into the lane and make one of three decisions all in the matter of 5-7 seconds. Not every guard can do this. Tony Douglas couldn't. Ray Felton was just getting the hang of it before they went and shelved the hole system so Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony could play a two man game for a month and a half. Is it so hard to believe that a Harvard graduate could have the mind and skill set to make split second evaluations and decisions? Isn't that what intelligence quotient is about? Not just the ability to store facts and figures but to use them in moment-to-moment decision making of all kinds to great success. Is it so hard to believe that a starting point guard from a Palo Alto high school could win a state championship in California and have the skill set to back that up? How about getting the grades and everything else that goes with being accepted by the oldest university in the country? how about being coached at Harvard by a former point guard who was raised in a system still run by the winningest coach in college basketball history? Isn't it possible that this coach would have been able to impart some nuance about the point guard position to a talented kid willing to put the work in?

The idea that the success that Lin has had is fleeting, that it will disappear is foolhardy. The skills to succeed are in place, just as they were for Nash. Is Lin and MVP? i won't go that far. He sure has the potential to be one though. If a South African/Canadian who prefers soccer can become an MVP so can a kid from Harvard—those kids from Harvard tend to be pretty successful.

i, for one, am just glad that the Knicks have a point guard to get the ball to the waiting hands of all-stars like Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, while energizing role players such as Tyson Chandler (whose contributions are not to be dismissed), Jared Jefferies, Landry Fields and Steve Novak to play to their fullest potential and allowing Iman Shumpert to learn how to play the NBA game without being under the lights and scrutiny of the Garden's watchful and discerning eye. With the addition of JR Smith and the entry of Baron Davis into the lineup it only increases the chances of Lin's success, applying more ball handling and giving Lin crucial minutes of rest he has not been afforded as of yet.

And why not in New York? Why shouldn't the team that has always driven the city more than any other, (all respect to the Rangers who are currently killing it in the NHL), corner the banner headlines across the nation and be the lead of every highlight show? Why shouldn't Madison Square Garden, the best building in all of sports not be the focal point of attention this Spring?

Why not? i choose this perspective...

requiem...

he was a stubborn cautionary tale of a man with a lot to teach.

he was a storyteller who rarely painted himself as the hero.

he was my uncle, my boss, my friend and my purgatorial confidant.

he was gone this morning and the world is a little heavier for me today.

i'm sure the sun will be a little brighter with Dan working the lights....