Per Basketball Reference, only 21 players under 6'3" had accumulated 40 or more blocks for a season before the 2015-16 campaign. This year, Jeremy Lin of the Charlotte Hornets joined the list, which is mostly filled by supreme athletes like Eric Bledsoe and the pre-injuries version of Derrick Rose.

Furthermore, when you look into it, Lin can absolutely be put on the same level as the players on that list in regards to consistency. The point guard's 42 blocks for the 2015-16 season helped Lin reach 130 rejections total in the last four seasons combined. In the last 20 years only Steve Francis, Baron Davis, Eric Bledsoe (achieved it despite playing in only 231 games due to injuries) and fellow pesky Hornet Kemba Walker have recorded the same total of blocks over the period of four seasons.

That's not to say that Jeremy Lin is some slouch as far as athleticism is concerned though. He plays the point guard position at 6'3" and 200 pounds and gets to the basket religiously thanks to a combination of speed and strength. That's what you call one being an "athlete".

It also helps him record a fair number of blocks by smothering the shots of smaller guards. Lin will keep in front of his match-up and prevent the ball from ever really leaving his hands.

However, the blocks by Lin which I find even more pleasing are the ones where he saves the Hornets from a somewhat lost defensive possession.

The Californian has a knack for using his quick hands to recover on a blow-by drive. He can chase his man down and swat his shot up in the air just as he can get the job done down on the floor with a heady swipe. Such strips of the ball before the opponent ever brings it up make up for many of his recorded blocks.

As you can see in the video above, Lin will also clean up on some of his teammate mistakes by suddenly getting in the picture to contest a shot. Some of the weakside rejections made by him moreso resemble a play made by a front-court shot blocker.

While blocks are too loosely associated with good defense and are an odd statistic for a guard to excel in (you never want your guard making a habit of jumping to contest jumpshots), it certainly only helps when a guard of yours (or two of them, in the case of the Hornets) stays active in this manner. Not only has Lin prevented a certain number of probable field goal makes with these blocks, but it also further strengthens the defensive-minded Hornets of coach Steve Clifford where all guys working on a string like this is the desired result.