We’re now part of the Lin crowd

Here at Leftovers, we've decided it's time to go all-Lin.

With the success Jeremy Lin has enjoyed in his brief time in the NBA, there's no lack of material associated with the New York Knicks rookie guard who is the NBA's first American-born player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent.

Savvy local basketball fans will recall back in July 2010 when Lin was a free agent out of Harvard trying to make an impression on the Dallas Mavericks' brass in the Las Vegas Summer League and held his own against a more celebrated rookie -- Washington Wizards guard John Wall, the overall No. 1 pick -- in a game at Cox Pavilion.

Lin averaged 8.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists for the Mavs that summer. But with Dallas trying to nurture another rookie guard -- Rodrigue Beaubois -- Lin signed with Golden State and spent the 2010-11 season bouncing between the Warriors and the NBA Development League's Reno Bighorns. Of course, the Mavs did OK without Lin, winning the NBA title last year.

■ CASHING LIN -- Long before Lin became the darling of New York, Andrew Slayton was ready to make him a merchandising star.

Slayton, who helped coach Lin at Palo Alto (Calif.) High School, secured the domain name "Linsanity.com" two years ago and has seen his merchandise business bloom in the wake of Lin's success with the Knicks. Among the hottest selling slogan T-shirts are "LIN YOUR FACE," "GO AHEAD, GO LINSANE" and, of course, "LINSANITY."

On the site, Slayton explains his rationale behind Linsanity.com:

"Having long ago been declared terminally LinSane, we have followed Jeremy Lin's career since his days at Palo Alto High School always firmly believing that his time would come and that the world would know our LinSanity."

Being across the street from Stanford obviously rubbed off on Slayton when it came to business smarts.

■ GOOD LIN-VESTMENT -- You don't have to be a Knicks fan to benefit from Lin's heroics. You need only own some shares of Madison Square Garden stock.

The New York Post reported that MSG stock is trading at $32.32 a share, up 3.8 percent, which is the highest it has been in a year.

Of course, it doesn't hurt shareholders that the Garden's other primary tenant, the New York Rangers, have the second-best record in the NHL.

■ LIN-VITED GUEST -- If you think Lin's success has gone to his family's head, guess again. He had been staying in Manhattan with his brother Joshua, a dental student at New York University. But when Joshua decided to throw a party recently, Lin was forced to find alternate dwelling for the night.

Teammate Landry Fields came to the rescue, offering Lin the use of his couch. Word got out about Fields' generosity and he tweeted kiddingly "Let the bidding begin" on the most famous piece of furniture in New York.

Lin, incidentally, is in the process of getting his own apartment. He's making $800,000, which is guaranteed for the rest of the season. That might net him enough to afford a studio in Greenwich Village.

COMPILED BY STEVE CARP
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL