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View Full Version : A South Asian Jeremy Lin?



WillJ
12-09-2013, 07:57 AM
Not yet, but Varun Ram started for Maryland last night in their loss to George Washington. Ram (parents' last name is Ramasamy) is a 5'9" guard who transferred to UMD from Trinity College, having grown up in Maryland outside of DC. He's got a ways to go before getting to Jeremy Lin's level, but I'm unaware of any prior high D-1 players with South Asian backgrounds. Pretty cool and, sadly, another reason I might have to occasionally root for this year's UMCP team:).

Depending upon how expansive one's definition of South Asian is, I suppose you could also include Hammadi (the long-time backup NBA center from Iran) and the several Israelis that have played in the NBA (e.g. Omri Casspi, rejuvenated in Houston this year).

blUDAYvil
12-09-2013, 09:54 AM
I'm unaware of any prior high D-1 players with South Asian backgrounds.

Not sure New Mexico State qualifies as "high D-1," but Sim Bhullar is a 7'5" center for the Aggies. He averaged 10.1 pts, 6.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks last year.

http://www.nmstatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=9579&SPID=585&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=1900&ATCLID=205311976&Q_SEASON=2013

FerryFor50
12-09-2013, 10:20 AM
How does Jeremy Lin fit into this at all?

WillJ
12-09-2013, 11:28 AM
How does Jeremy Lin fit into this at all?

My "logic" is that Jeremy Lin garnered a lot of excitement because he was the first Chinese-American to excel in basketball at that level. Perhaps you dismiss as either racist or maudlin a feel-good story based on the outstanding performance by a kid drawn from a demographic group that had previously not been marked for success in that dimension, and one can certainly take it too far. But I found Lin's story compelling and am a big fan. Ram is of course not at that level but, subject to the correction already placed above, he's one of very few Indian-Americans playing basketball at that level, and I think it's always interesting when a good player arrives from an unexpected place. I would very much welcome some Ramsanity. I'm excited about Stephen Adams (a rookie from New Zealand who is tearing it up for OKC), as well, and I keep a running list of countries that have placed someone in the NBA....it's growing!

FerryFor50
12-09-2013, 11:44 AM
My "logic" is that Jeremy Lin garnered a lot of excitement because he was the first Chinese-American to excel in basketball at that level. Perhaps you dismiss as either racist or maudlin a feel-good story based on the outstanding performance by a kid drawn from a demographic group that had previously not been marked for success in that dimension, and one can certainly take it too far. But I found Lin's story compelling and am a big fan. Ram is of course not at that level but, subject to the correction already placed above, he's one of very few Indian-Americans playing basketball at that level, and I think it's always interesting when a good player arrives from an unexpected place. I would very much welcome some Ramsanity. I'm excited about Stephen Adams (a rookie from New Zealand who is tearing it up for OKC), as well, and I keep a running list of countries that have placed someone in the NBA....it's growing!

Right, which is why I asked.

My concern was with placing "South Asian" and "Jeremy Lin" in the same phrasing. It's the same as saying "the white Michael Jordan."

There have been plenty of basketball players of Asian descent in college ball. Lin is a rare case in that he came out of nowhere. His college career was ok, but it took some luck to even get a shot in the NBA. But he was far from the first Asian to play at a high level in the NBA.

Otherwise, it is cool to see players from all over the world playing at the higher levels of competition in the US. I am also unaware of South Asian players other than Sim Bhullar, who is a beast.

Interestingly, someone put together a list of Asian basketball players:

http://asianathletes.wordpress.com/basketball/

WillJ
12-09-2013, 12:11 PM
Right, which is why I asked.

My concern was with placing "South Asian" and "Jeremy Lin" in the same phrasing. It's the same as saying "the white Michael Jordan."

There have been plenty of basketball players of Asian descent in college ball. Lin is a rare case in that he came out of nowhere. His college career was ok, but it took some luck to even get a shot in the NBA. But he was far from the first Asian to play at a high level in the NBA.

Otherwise, it is cool to see players from all over the world playing at the higher levels of competition in the US. I am also unaware of South Asian players other than Sim Bhullar, who is a beast.

Interestingly, someone put together a list of Asian basketball players:

http://asianathletes.wordpress.com/basketball/


In an ideal world, we'd all only see basketball players instead of white, black, Australian, gay etc. basketball players, but that's not the world we live in. So, as a second best, I think it's okay to celebrate, within reason, those who break demographic precedent and excel in an way that might be unexpected. I'm rooting for Jason Collins to get back in the NBA, too. The list you gave was interesting - I forgot about Rex Walters, clearly the best Asian-American basketball player ever - but note that the vast majority of entrants on the list, which isn't all that long, are for players born in Asia. I love Yao Ming, fwiw.