Lin Gets His All-Star Weekend Close-Up
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/02/24/lin-gets-his-all-star-weekend-close-up/
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/allstar/2012/02/24/20120224_all_star_lin_presser.nba
ORLANDO – Fortunately, Jeremy Lin’s first press conference at NBA All-Star Weekend included a question about Jeremy Lin having any sort of press conference, period, at All-Star Weekend.
Even though it had only been three weeks since Lin “blew up” as the NBA’s biggest story – underdog Asian-American kid from Harvard coming off the bench to revive one of the league’s marquee franchises in America’s media capital – the frenzy had become the new normal for many.
Oh, of course Lin would be on the cover of Sports Illustrated (again). Oh, of course he would outsell every NBA All-Star in replica jerseys. Oh, of course he would have his very own press conference in an interview room that went SRO 10 minutes before he arrived.
Screeeeech! Someone finally stopped the Linsanity and asked Lin – who never asked for any of the hype or mania surrounding him – if he could appreciate how surreal this was. From sleeping on his brother’s couch a few weeks ago to a private audience with a global sporting press, beyond what the actual All-Stars were getting.
“Oh, absolutely,” the second-year point guard said. “Just any press conference of my own in general, let alone All-Star Weekend. Just to be here and to see the company and all the players that are here is just – it’s been unbelievable, and I’m just trying to take it all in and embrace it and enjoy it every step of the way.”
The legend of Jeremy Lin is pretty well known by now: Undrafted out of Harvard. Signed by Golden State as a free agent in July 2010. Modest rookie season with the Warriors (2.6 ppg, 1.4 apg in 9.8 mpg). Cut in December 2011. Picked up and quickly dumped by Houston. Signed by New York two days after Christmas but barely used through nine appearances, averaging about six minutes, across five weeks.
Then – kaboom! – Lin scores 25 points off the bench against New Jersey. Twenty-eight vs. Utah. Twenty-three with 10 assists at Washington, 38 against the Lakers … and the Knicks win nine of 10 games. He becomes the NBA’s flavor of the month and beyond, a wholly unexpected, happy story in an odd post-lockout season. A downright phenomenon that – even after losses to the Nets and the Heat in recent days (and an ugly stats line vs. Miami of eight points, eight turnovers and 1-of-11 shooting) – shows little sign of abating.
Though Lin expects it to soon.
“Hopefully as the season progresses, it will go from [Linsanity] to ‘New York Knicks,’ ” he said. “We can make a good push after the All-Star break and people will start talking about the Knicks and not necessarily me.” New York is 17-18, at No. 7 in the East and chasing a second consecutive playoff berth after a six-year drought.
Lin shared some other tidbits with the inquiring minds Friday, in the hours before he played in the Rising Stars game at Amway Center.
– Landry Fields, Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and Jared Jeffries have been the New York teammates who have been most supportive and helpful as he has learned, and been tested by, the league.
– Had Knicks guard Iman Shumpert not gotten hurt and dropped out of Saturday’s Slam Dunk contest, Lin might have participated with a replica of his famous couch: “Landry was going to roll a couch out with a cover over it, I was going to be sleeping underneath it and then we were going to pull the cover. I was going to throw to Iman an alley-oop from the couch. And he was going to jump over both me and the couch, windmill it and then sit down and have Landry hand him a Sprite.”
– He hasn’t splurged on any purchase. “I’m still a minimum [salary] guy. That hasn’t changed.”
– His job security was precarious enough in January that he said a prayer in pregame chapel in Miami, as the date for guaranteeing contracts (or dumping those without them) approached.
– Yet he never had a solid Plan B in his back pocket, in the event New York did cut him. “Obviously I was thinking about three main options: overseas, D-League or to just take a break or give up basketball for a while,” Lin said. “I was just trying not to think about it, basically.”
– Lin met head-on a question about his ethnicity and whether it worked against him with NBA scouts. “I think it has something to do with it,” he said. “But I think just being Asian-American, obviously when you look at me, I’m gong to have to prove myself more so, again and again and again, and some people may not believe it.
“I know a lot of people say I’m ‘deceptively athletic’ and ‘deceptively quick,’ and I’m not sure what’s deceptive. But it could be the fact that I’m Asian-American. But I think that’s fine. It’s something that I embrace, and it gives me a chip on my shoulder. But I’m very proud to be Asian-American and I love it.”
「哈佛小子」林书豪震撼美国职篮NBA，不过林书豪24日在记者会上表示，他同意他的血统是让他被低估的原因之一，但他也以身为亚裔美国人为荣。
林书豪来到奥兰多参加明星赛周末，仍是最受瞩目的焦点，从球迷到媒体，他所到之处都会让人潮自动向他集中。
新秀挑战赛赛前「理论上」不开放任何球员受访，休息室也关闭，然后在教练赛前要向球员演讲时，NBA竟然安排林书豪另外在媒体室接受访问，而且长达15分钟，反而让他缺席全队的精神喊话时间，他也是唯一获得此待遇的与会球员，「豪小子」的媒体关注程度已经夸张至此。
以下是这次媒体联访的问答摘要。
媒体：全世界都看到你过去几周内的成长，我们有些人同时也在电玩游戏中看到你的成长(指游戏中他的能力设定)，你知道你自己一开始被游戏设定的排名吗？
林书豪：我不是很确定真正的数字，但我想我一开始能力分数是五十几吧(满分为100)。
媒体：正确数字是53。
林：53？ESPN在季前的球员排名中，在500人里，我好像是第467名吧。
媒体：你在游戏中的能力数字一直提升，现在已经是75了。
林：我不会去担心这些东西，不过确实还满酷的。
媒体：你的大学教练曾说过，他被NBA忽略的其中一个原因，或许就是你的种族背景，教练还说，因为你看起来就不像个NBA球员，你认为确实如此吗？
林：我想是原因之一吧，我不知道程度有多少，但是，身为美籍亚裔，我确实需要比一般人更多的证明自己；很多人说我「看起来快」、「看起来敏捷」，但什么是「看起来」？或许就是因为我是亚裔吧。但没有关系，我以身为亚裔为荣，而且让我会更想证明给大家看。
媒体：事情发生这么快，对你来说是否还有些难以置信？你在明星赛周末有自己的记者会！
林：对，完全就是这样，任何记者会对我来说都已经很难得，更不用说是明星赛周末了，在这里看到这么多优秀球员，我还是不敢相信，我会非常珍惜这次经验。
媒体：过去十几、廿天以来，你的生活有剧烈的改变，突然变成大明星，你如何应对？
林：我只想专心在篮球上，本季的赛程也帮忙不少，因为太紧凑，所以不会有太多时间去想；我也得感谢队友，每天与他们相处，我们都只想专心打好下一场比赛，持续进步下去。
媒体：欧尼尔(Shaquille O'Neal)在分队选秀时挑中你，他有打电话给你吗？
林：没有，因为他缺席了早上的练球(笑)，我想他应该得接受我们罚款吧。
媒体：如果你没被邀请来明星赛周末，你现在会干嘛？
林：我本来就是计画要去个温暖的地方，海滩之类的，然后与家人一起度过，不过我还是很高兴能来这里。
媒体：看你打球，总让我觉得你的球风里有街头篮球的影子，你有到纽约街头篮球圣地Rucker Park打过吗？
林：没有，但我从小在加州长大，基本上我在加州所有地方都打过了。高中时，每个礼拜五晚上我都去史丹福打到早上2点吧，然后我哥去洛加大，读书，我也会跟他去那边打。只要哪里有篮球，我就去打。
媒体：如果今天你是在密尔瓦基打球、而不是纽约，你想情形会有不同吗？
林：纽约当然是最大的舞台，还有广大的球迷，大量的媒体，以一个平台来说，纽约绝对是最好的城市了；我很珍惜在这个城市打球的机会，这个平台，我希望能使用在正确的方向上，我希望能成为人们的模范，传达我的讯息出去。
媒体：除了「Linsanity」外，你还想到什么关于「Lin」的新单字吗？还有，你父亲教导过你最重要的事情是？
林：第一个问题，我没有想过什么字，「Jeremy」就够了，我希望我永远不会因为这些外在事情改变；第二，我父母总是教导我，不只是篮球，人生所有事情都要全力以赴，追逐你的梦想，谨记上帝的指引。
媒体：你花钱买过最好的东西是？你最近买了哪些昂贵的东西？
林：没有……(笑)，我仍然是最低薪球员啊，这并没有改变。
