“I don’t see any difference in expression of faith between professionals and any other individual who expressed their faith,” Cleveland says. “I think the more people who are open about their faith and the more people who live by the things they say they believe helps me be equally strong in my own faith.”

LINSPIRATION

Lin continues to be a positive role model and example for many different communities and groups of people as a multi-faceted individual on the biggest stage in basketball. Different people want to see Lin influence and impact the world in different ways.

“There aren’t too many players like him as far as in the way he carries himself, his ethics,” Diepenbrock says. “I would like to see him as a really positive effect on his colleagues and for him to have a tangible influence on NBA players and how they conduct themselves.”

But perhaps Amaker sums it up best.

“Jeremy is who he is, and he sets an example for himself,” the coach says. “He makes other people better. But he has a way of not trying to force who he is or what he believes in on others. He’s been able to galvanize folks; he’s been able to lead folks. But he has a way of doing it in his way. And that’s the best way because that’s who he is.”

—Staff writer Joseph Pak can be reached at jpak@college.harvard.edu.