Source: Celtics wanted to grab Jeremy Li

By Mark Murphy / Celtics Notebook

Jeremy Lin was apparently on the local radar well beyond his old friends at Harvard.

According to a source, the Celtics [team stats] were poised to claim the Knicks sensation off waivers when he was cut by Golden State prior to the start of the season, but Houston chose ahead of them in the waiver order.


When Houston later released him, the Celtics were ready to make a move again, only for the Knicks to take Lin off the wire.

No one, of course, had an inkling that Lin would eventually emerge as the point guard the Knicks needed so badly.

“I’m sure we looked at him, but Danny (Ainge) would have to answer that,” coach Doc Rivers said before last night’s 98-88 loss to Detroit. “I thought (Harvard coach) Tommy Amaker and I were friends. Maybe not. He never told me.”

No one heard, of course. Ivy League players — even players of the year — pop up maybe once per generation on the NBA’s draft radar.

“It’s rare, especially being undrafted,” Rivers said of Lin’s sudden success, after being cut by Golden State, Houston and nearly the Knicks team he has led to a seven-game win streak after last night’s 100-85 win over visiting Sacramento last night.

“There’s several cases of guys who were drafted, even in the first round, and passed to one team, another team, and finally they matured. This is different, because no one drafted him. They were saying by not drafting him that they didn’t think he could play, and then they cut him several times, and now he’s doing this.

“I’d love to get inside his head, because he has to be a stubborn kid, a really stubborn kid to go through that and still do what you’re doing.”

One such player was in the visitor’s locker room last night. A night earlier, Ben Wallace had set the record for the most NBA games (1,055) by an undrafted player since the 1976-77 NBA-ABA merger.

“It’s still a neat story, just unheard of in our league,” said Rivers. “There’s guys who have gone undrafted., They have one here in Detroit with Ben Wallace. I coached him in Orlando along with Chucky Atkins. They played for years. Neither one of them was drafted. . . . It can happen. But it’s still rare — a rare feat.

“If he played somewhere else the accomplishment would still be great, but I don’t know if the attention would still be as much,” Rivers said of the New York spotlight.

“Let’s be honest: What’s making this whole thing great is the winning streak. They’re winning all of these games while he’s doing this. If he had the same numbers and it was all of these losses, they would still be talking about it. It’s a good thing, a good message for everyone. If you want the attention, go win.”

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I'd laugh if the Knicks slid back into the quicksand of a new losing streak when Anthony comes back Friday. If the Knicks start losing as Anthony's shots start increasing maybe Anthony will be begging La La to go to the other coast. Then everyone can take a bite out of the Big Apple, and as Mick Jagger would say, "Don't Mind The Maggots."

MD!