Is Jeremy Lin for real?

So what gives? How does Jeremy Lin go from getting cut by two mediocre clubs -- the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets -- to starring on one of the league's biggest stages, all within a period of three months?

To find out, we asked some of the league's talent evaluators, and here's how they explained the 6-foot-3 Harvard grad's ascension from undrafted D-Leaguer to New York Knicks energizer. Lin, who was beaten out by Goran Dragic and Jonny Flynn for Houston's backup point guard spot in December, has averaged 25 points and eight assists while shooting 58 percent from the floor over the past three games.

No one wanted to take credit away from Lin, but no one was ready to declare him the next Steve Nash, either, and no one was ready to call out the Warriors and Rockets (or all the other teams that passed on him in the 2010 draft) as numbskulls. But they said that there's more at work than Lin's ability.

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NBA analyst

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• Senior Writer for ESPN The Magazine
• Formerly at the New York Times, 1998-2004
• Covering the NBA since 1995