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China.NBA.com has just reset their "Likes" rankings for the new 2014-2015 season to gauge player popularity.

Predictably, Jeremy Lin is first at 180,693 "Likes" and Kobe is second at 5,861 "Likes" ahead of the rest of the pack.

The Lakers hold 8 of the top 15 spots.

There are ZERO Rockets players in the top 15 following the Lin trade. Whatever residual influence Yao's tenure had on the Rockets being China's team has surely diminished. Judging by these popularity rankings on NBA.com, the Lakers seem to be quite a bit more popular than the Rockets over there.

The highest ranked Rocket in popularity is Dwight Howard who just misses the top 15, coming in at #16. Harden, who was in the top 10 last season, is now kicked out of the top 30 altogether. "Roleplayer/Piece" Asik is ahead of "Cornerstones" Harden/Howard.

http://china.nba.com/like/

I can't read Chinese, but a Lakers fan on another board has translated it (the bolded names in the China.NBA.com popularity rankings are Lakers players).

Reflexx on Lakersground wrote:1. Jeremy Lin
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Tim Duncan
4. Lebron James
5. Steve Nash
6. Omer Asik
7. Tony Parker
8. Nick Young
9. Dwyane Wade
10. Manu Ginobli
11. Jordan Hill
12. Wesley Johnson
13. Xavier Henry
14. Carlos Boozer
15. Kevin Durant
16. Dwight Howard
17. Stephen Curry
18. Chris Paul
19. Russell Westbrook
20. Kawhi Leonard
21. Ray Allen
22. Dirk Nowitzki
23. Kyrie Irving
24. Paul George
25. Blake Griffin
26. Carmelo Anthony
27. Derrick Rose
28. Pau Gasol
29. Chris Bosh
30. Kent Bazemore

The caveat, of course, is that these rankings are from the NBA.com community, which may not be the same as popularity rankings assembled on other sites. But these rankings do have the advantage of having been reset to only reflect the new 2014-2015 season, instead of carryover votes/"likes" from previous seasons.

Kent Bazemore? Lol

Omer Asik #6 lmao

MrLutareio wrote:Omer Asik #6 lmao

I'm guessing a lot of NBA fans in China watched Rockets games over the past two years following Lin and grew to like the big guy.

MountainDrew wrote:Kent Bazemore? Lol

If anything, this speaks to how the Lakers are the more popular team overseas

That's the problem. Only watching a certain few teams every night makes it seem as if the other teams and players are irrelevant. Almost as if the league only featured the Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Heat, and a few other teams. Eventually even the scrubs on those teams will end up more popular than the best players on the more neglected teams. Not sure if this was the NBA's intention but I feel as if the fans there are kinda missing out.

Left Side Drive wrote:That's the problem. Only watching a certain few teams every night makes it seem as if the other teams and players are irrelevant. Almost as if the league only featured the Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Heat, and a few other teams. Eventually even the scrubs on those teams will end up more popular than the best players on the more neglected teams. Not sure if this was the NBA's intention but I feel as if the fans there are kinda missing out.

They are well aware of other teams, watch numerous teams play nightly, they just happen to be extremely large fans of Lin (Yao before him) and cheer on players that team with him. It's not much different than many American fans, cheering for a Lebron, or a Rose, and their teammates. It is absolutely crazy the amount of fans Lin has in China, you'd think he was Jordan by the amount of endorsements and billboards you'll see him on.

AKfanatic wrote:

Left Side Drive wrote:That's the problem. Only watching a certain few teams every night makes it seem as if the other teams and players are irrelevant. Almost as if the league only featured the Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Heat, and a few other teams. Eventually even the scrubs on those teams will end up more popular than the best players on the more neglected teams. Not sure if this was the NBA's intention but I feel as if the fans there are kinda missing out.

They are well aware of other teams, watch numerous teams play nightly, they just happen to be extremely large fans of Lin (Yao before him) and cheer on players that team with him. It's not much different than many American fans, cheering for a Lebron, or a Rose, and their teammates. It is absolutely crazy the amount of fans Lin has in China, you'd think he was Jordan by the amount of endorsements and billboards you'll see him on.

Some diehard Lakers fans if they have to resort to liking Wesley Johnson, Xavier Henry and Jordan Hill. LMAO

I like how Jeremy Lin is the only one listed with the traditional 3 character Chinese name, and everyone else (with the technical exceptions of Nick Young and Ray Allen) has their names phonetically transcribed

Case in point: Westbrook --> 威斯布鲁克 --> Wēi sī bù lǔ kè

Left Side Drive wrote:

AKfanatic wrote:

Left Side Drive wrote:That's the problem. Only watching a certain few teams every night makes it seem as if the other teams and players are irrelevant. Almost as if the league only featured the Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Heat, and a few other teams. Eventually even the scrubs on those teams will end up more popular than the best players on the more neglected teams. Not sure if this was the NBA's intention but I feel as if the fans there are kinda missing out.

They are well aware of other teams, watch numerous teams play nightly, they just happen to be extremely large fans of Lin (Yao before him) and cheer on players that team with him. It's not much different than many American fans, cheering for a Lebron, or a Rose, and their teammates. It is absolutely crazy the amount of fans Lin has in China, you'd think he was Jordan by the amount of endorsements and billboards you'll see him on.

Some diehard Lakers fans if they have to resort to liking Wesley Johnson, Xavier Henry and Jordan Hill. LMAO

They'll root on and be fans of, whomever is wearing the jersey of the player that want to see succeed. Of course many that cheer on Lin don't know anything about the NBA, an older generation that sees Lin as a great role-model to their children. His popularity actually goes beyond basketball in China. They see someone not much different than themselves that became successful not only in sport, but also academics. That's incredibly important to many of his Chinese fans. You're talking about a country that in the last decade had greatly increased it's export of students to foreign schools, Lin represents the hopes many of them wish to achieve.

Wow. Asik, Nick Young, Xavier Henry, Jordan Hill, Wesley Johnson and Carlos Boozer ALL ahead of Kevin Durant....

Watch Jeremy Lin start the all star game for the west this upcoming season.

Nothing new. Lakers killed 2 birds with 1 stone with that trade. Got a decent upgrade at PG and keep business booming without a big time free agent signing.

Shem wrote:Watch Jeremy Lin start the all star game for the west this upcoming season.

It would be a shame...but hey, the rules are the rules. But who knows, Lin could have a hell of a season in the first half. He may warrant the start. Doubt it. But it could happen.

dirtymike wrote:

Shem wrote:Watch Jeremy Lin start the all star game for the west this upcoming season.

It would be a shame...but hey, the rules are the rules. But who knows, Lin could have a hell of a season in the first half. He may warrant the start. Doubt it. But it could happen.

Well, Nate Silver did predict that there's something like a 83% chance (34 out of 41 players) that Lin would be an All-Star at some point in his career based on statistical comparisons with other players historically who have achieved something similar to the Linsanity hot streak, even if only for a brief fleeting moment.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.co ... -no-fluke/

I'm not sure that he deserves it right now, but it's certainly possible that Nate Silver will be proven right and Lin might deserve it in some future year. But the Allstars have always been a popularity contest.

14. Carlos Boozer
15. Kevin Durant
16. Dwight Howard
17. Stephen Curry
18. Chris Paul
19. Russell Westbrook

Sounds about right.

kodo wrote:

14. Carlos Boozer
15. Kevin Durant
16. Dwight Howard
17. Stephen Curry
18. Chris Paul
19. Russell Westbrook

Sounds about right.

No accounting for popularity. The NBA fans on NBA.com like who they like. Not necessarily merit based.

Left Side Drive wrote:

AKfanatic wrote:

Left Side Drive wrote:That's the problem. Only watching a certain few teams every night makes it seem as if the other teams and players are irrelevant. Almost as if the league only featured the Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Heat, and a few other teams. Eventually even the scrubs on those teams will end up more popular than the best players on the more neglected teams. Not sure if this was the NBA's intention but I feel as if the fans there are kinda missing out.

They are well aware of other teams, watch numerous teams play nightly, they just happen to be extremely large fans of Lin (Yao before him) and cheer on players that team with him. It's not much different than many American fans, cheering for a Lebron, or a Rose, and their teammates. It is absolutely crazy the amount of fans Lin has in China, you'd think he was Jordan by the amount of endorsements and billboards you'll see him on.

Some diehard Lakers fans if they have to resort to liking Wesley Johnson, Xavier Henry and Jordan Hill. LMAO

There are fans that cheer for their team and their players. Not everyone is on LeBron/Rose/KD bandwagon. And no, I don't have any negative feelings towards those 3 players.

Kent Bazemore?

no surprise