As I sit here for the first time ever watching J-Lin, Jeremy Lin, dice up my Lakers tonight, I feel compelled to call my shot right now…this guy’s going to be a starter in the NBA. Yeah, I said it. A starting NBA point guard. (Inept, fumbling Warriors’ blunders continue, ’cause they cut him). He’s not a sensation. He’s not hype. He’s not a fluke. This guy’s the real deal, and I wish so bad LA had him right now. In fact, his game reminds me a young Manu Ginobili, or Steve Nash — a lot.

I’ve heard a lot of debate in the past few days about this young man. “Oh, just wait until the league gets a scouting report on him, he won’t last,” so say the skeptics. Having only now witnessed him with my own two eyes, I’m starting to understand the underlying, unspoken reason why this young man has only now gotten this opportunity that he has so richly earned. It’s because he’s Asian-American. That’s the elephant in the room here. Many analysts, coaches, and scouts at every level of basketball presume, in fact, assume, that Asians aren’t tough enough, not hard enough, not street enough, to play professionally. I believe the implications of this bias run deeper than just basketball (of which I will not go into here).

But the fact that a smart, well-educated young man of Taiwanese descent has already proven all of these stereotypes defunct, I see this as only the beginning. What do I mean by this? I mean what Jeremy Lin is doing right now before our eyes is hugely important. Without being a prisoner of the moment, I mean J-Lin is Jackie Robinson. Some people might disagree with me, even accuse me of overstating this comparison. But here’s where I think I’ve got a point. As I work with a lot of Vietnamese and Filipino High School youth from Andrew Hill and other High Schools around the Saint Maria Goretti Parish, I constantly hear about the challenges of fitting in, being accepted, and getting respect outside the classroom, and not just in it.

I’m calling my shot now. What you’re doing is important J-Lin. Just keep playing your game, and in so doing, know what you’re doing is impacting so much more than just a game.