Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks
Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks is the NBA's first American player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent, and he may be New York's best new hope in the form of a powerful point guard. Reuters

Jeremy Lin is headed to the New York Knicks.

The 23-year-old point guard was claimed off waivers and will fill a starting position that will eventually go to Baron Davis, the recently-signed point guard whose currently back injury is preventing him from playing, ESPN reported Tuesday.

Released Sunday by the Houston Rockets to allow the team to sign Samuel Dalembert, Lin is from a rookie native of Calfornia who is the first person of Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA and the first Asian-American to play in the league since 1947, according to ESPN.

Yao Ming and other Asian players have played in the league to success, but they are citizens of Asian nations, not Asian Americans.

Lin, who is 6'3 and 200 pounds, graduated from Harvard after failing to receive any athletic scholarships after high school and being undrafted after college, but was able to make it onto his hometown team, the Golden State Warriors. He played in 29 games in his rookie season last year with the Warriors.

The Knicks also signed small forward Steve Novak off waivers last week, and rookie guard Iman Shumpert injured his knee during the team's first game of the season on Christmas, when they beat the Boston Celtics.

Jeremy's just looking for an opportunity to show what he can do, his agent Roger Montgomery told ESPN on Tuesday. And what better place to do so, than on the biggest stage in basketball?

Winning their first game this year against the Celtics gives the Knicks momentum headed into the condensed 66-game season, but Shumpert's scary MCL injury, which should leave him out for about a month, according to New York magazine, does not bode well for a team already seen by many observers as less than solidly assembled.

But Carmelo Anthony's great performance (see video below) in the team's first Madison Square Garden appearance this year, and Amar'e Stoudamire's new role under Anthony (pointed out by Sports Illustrated), in which he relied more on staying out of the lane as a screener than on his traditional pick and roll mastery, are promising signs that the team is gelling at the outset of its first full season with Anthony.

With only 65 games left to play, the Knicks should be on their way to their best season in years.

NBA Basketball