Jeremy Lin says the announcement of his retirement was premature

JEREMY LIN

Whoa! It looks like sports journalists jumped the gun. Jeremy Lin is not retiring from professional basketball.

Lin posted a long, cryptic message last week on social media wherein he admitted that he had come to the realization that his attempt to return to the NBA was not going to happen. It sounded like the end of his career.

He wrote: "I didn't get it all done, but I have no regrets," Lin wrote. "I gave my ALL and hold my head high. As for what's next, I trust what God has in store for me … Thanks to everyone whose rolled with me on this journey. I love you all."

“It wasn’t my official retirement, but it was definitely something where I’m kind of realizing that there’s not much else I can do to prove that I belong in the NBA,” Lin told The Spin.

At one time, he was the only Asian American in the National Basketball League.

Since he began his career 11 years ago when he went undrafted after a stellar 4-year stint at Harvard, he played played for the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors. He last appeared in a game for the 2018-19 Raptors that won the NBA title.

The high point was a few weeks with the Knicks when he started in place of the team's starting guard. He was nothing short of spectacular. For 26 games, he was the toast of the town. Linsanity was born.

Unfortunately, an injury kept him from playing in the playoffs and he was never able to regain the consistent winning form of Linsanity.

After playing part of the season with the Raptors, where he earned helped earn a championship, no NBA team picked up his contract so he spent a year playing for the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association. 

Last year he turned down a huge contract to return to the Ducks so he could audition for the NBA by playing in the G-League with the Santa Cruz Warriors. He was among the top ten scorers in the league. He watched as the other top scorers were called up by NBA teams. When he didn't get that call, he came to the realization that his NBA dream may be over.

But, he says, he's not retiring and his mulling over his options.  “Every challenge that I’ve been given, every ask of me I’ve done and I’ve performed well, so for me, it’s kind of realizing, hey, it doesn’t really matter what I do,” Lin says.

Houston Rockets GM confirms what we already knew re: Jeremy Lin

Opinion

As an Asian American man, I can relate to Jeremy Lin, who at one point was the only Asian American player in the National Basketball Association.

No, I couldn't dunk or execute a pick and roll. My game was journalism. Except for my time at the San Francisco-based Philippine News and at the Bob Maynard-owned Oakland Tribune, I was often the only Asian American in the newsroom.

As I worked my way up the food chain, eventually becoming an editorial writer, I wa able to influence news coverage - especially when it came to covering minority communities. I know if I wasn't there, if I hadn't spoken up, if I hadn't assigned an angle to a story, those stories and perspectives would never have been written.

So, it wasn't surprising to hear an NBA executive admit what Asian Americans already knew -- Lin was often overlooked and underappreciated because he was of Asian descent.

The Houston Rockets and general manager Daryl Morey already had a good idea of what Jeremy Lin was capable of before Lin entered the 2010 NBA draft after starring on the Harvard basketball team.

Morey opened up about their scouting report on Lin on Michael Lewis’ 2016 book titled “The Undoing Project.” On the book, Morey claimed their model told them that Lin belongs in the top 15 of the draft. However, during this time, Morey still didn’t trust their model completely and passed on him, via Reddit (u/shoot_your_shot).

Here’s an excerpt from Lewis' book on Morey's evaluation of Lin:

“He lit up our model,” said Morey. “Our model said take him with, like, the 15th pick in the draft.” The objective measurement of Jeremy Lin didn’t square with what the experts saw when they watched him play; a not terribly athletic Asian kid. Morey hadn’t completely trusted his model - and so had chickened out and not drafted Lin. 

A year after the Houston Rockets failed to draft Jeremy Lin, they began to measure the speed of a player’s first two steps: Jeremy Lin had the quickest first move of any player measured. He was explosive and was able to change direction far more quickly than most NBA players. 

“He’s incredibly athletic,” said Morey. “But the reality is that every **** person, including me, thought he was unathletic. And I can’t think of any reason for it other than he was Asian.”

To his credit, Lin accepted the unasked for role of "representing" Asian Americans and often spoke out about the racial slights he experiences in the league and civil rights abuses that have grown in the US.

In a sense, Lin suffered as the "model minority" in a sport dominated by African American athletes. He was a "smart" "team-first" player; he wasn't athletic enough, fast enough or tough enough; he was seen as a novelty whose position was "given" to him, not an athlete who "earned" his accolades.

"And still, Lin’s stats have been healthier than most would guess," writes Kyle Wagner for the Daily News. "In his healthy seasons, he shoots around 60 percent at the rim, and his true shooting percentage — the gold standard for an “efficient” player — has flirted with very good to elite levels. He has been an undeniably useful guard."

Over the weekend, sadly told a church audience in Taiwan, “Free agency has been tough because I feel like in some ways the NBA has kind of given up on me.” 

That's too bad. Lin is not a great player, but he's a good player and at 30 years of age, better than many other guards who have signed multi-million dollar contracts.

Linsanity is a distant memory, but Lin's story chipped away at old stereotypes and biases that Morey's admission proves are difficult to undo -- and, we're not talking just about the NBA.

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In his debut, Jeremy Lin played well for the Raptors, eh?

LINSANITY has officially moved north into the land of poutine and hockey.

Jeremy Lin hasn't even had a practice session with his new team but he received a standing ovation when he was first introduction to the Toronto Raptors fans.

In 25 minutes playing time, Lin finished with eight points, five rebounds, five assists, a steal, a block and a plus/minus of plus-10. He was off on all three of his 3-point attempts but was 3-for-4 from elsewhere on the floor.


In his first time on the court, he stole the ball exciting the crowd but lost the ball in transition when he tried to pass to a team mate.

Moving from the 19-38 Atlanta Hawks to the 43-16 Toronto Raptors, Jeremy Lin could go deeper into the playoffs than he's ever gone before.

In an interview with reporters, the Chinese American point guard expressed an eagerness to join his new team. Here's what Eric Koreen and Blake Murphy of The Athletic tweeted out:

Last night (Feb. 13) was a small sample size but Lin's debut with the Raptors was a success. To top it off, the Raptors beat the Wizards, 129-20.
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