Name: Jeremy Lin

Name: Jeremy Lin

Born: August 23, 1988, in Los Angeles

Nationality: American

Height: 191cm

Weight: 91kg

High School: Palo Alto

College: Harvard

Pro career: Golden State Warriors, Houston

Rockets, New York Knicks

Position: Point guard

Twitter: @Jlin7 - 500,000 followers

Weibo: jlin7 900,000 fans

PERSONAL LIFE

Son of Shirley and Gie-ming, both from Taiwan, who came to the United States in mid-1970s. Both were computer science students. Father's parents come from Beidou, Changhua, in Taiwan. Mother's parents come from Pinghu, Zhejiang, on the mainland.

Neither parent played organised basketball, but enjoyed watching the NBA on TV. 'My dad,' Jeremy said, 'is a complete basketball junkie.'

Family spoke Putonghua and English in the home. Lin says he can speak Putonghua and read and write a little; took classes at Harvard to improve.

Wants one day to be a pastor doing non-profit work in underprivileged communities.

HIGH SCHOOL

Two-time league MVP.

In his senior season averaged 15 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals, leading Palo Alto to a 32-1 record.

COLLEGE

Lin didn't receive a single scholarship offer from a division one basketball team, believing ethnicity may have played a part, with only 0.4 per cent of division one rosters made of Asian-Americans (2009 figures).

Offered a guaranteed squad place at only two schools, Harvard and Brown (Ivy League schools do not offer athletics scholarships).

Became first player in Ivy League to record 1,450 points, 450 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals. Ranked first all-time at Harvard in games played (115), fifth in points (1,483), fifth in assists (406) and second in steals (225).

Nominated for the Bob Cousy Award as one of the best point guards in the country

PRO CAREER

Fourth Asian-American ever to make the NBA.

First of Chinese-Taiwanese descent.

First Harvard product to make NBA since 1953.

All 30 teams pass on him in the draft, some twice, before in July 2010 he joins local team Golden State Warriors, the team he supported as a boy.

Appeared in only 29 games for Warriors. Cut by them and then the Houston Rockets, albeit reluctantly as both teams sought roster and salary space to sign other players.

Signed by the Knicks as an emergency back-up on December 27, 2011, and plays a handful of minutes for the struggling Knicks before coming off bench on February 4 to score 25 points.

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