A FANS NOTES

 By @linspiredinca 

CCTV Storytelling –Jeremy Lin, March 14^th, 2015

The program started with excerpts from Linsanity documentary; a brief recap of how it happened, and showed some game highlights. There were other brief highlights of Jeremy’s amazing journey inserted throughout.

Jeremy talked about perseverance in English. “Find out what your passion is, what makes you happy, and pursue it with everything you got. Stick with the plan, don’t complain, don’t blame, stay positive and work harder than everyone else.”

Translations of some interesting/funny questions & answers from both host & selected participants:

*Jeremy put up a photo of Stanford coach on his computer after Stanford rejected him. Host: “did you stick a pin in him?” “No, because I couldn’t afford another computer.”

*Jeremy and host bantered about their height. Jeremy said he was 5’6” in high school, but is now 6’3”. Jeremy joked that host hadn’t gotten taller. “Asian kid picked up bad habits in America. Should be more humble, not so honest and straight forward”.

*How did you get to be so tall? Jeremy: I don’t know, I slept a lot, drank lots of milk, and prayed to God to make me taller.

*How did you decide on basketball vs. football or other sports? Jeremy: I actually liked to play soccer. My dream was to play in the World Cup. But in soccer, maybe you can only score one point in a game, whereas in basketball, you can score 30 points or more. It is more fun.

*Jeremy had a girlfriend in college.

*Jeremy was very satisfied with his 3.1 GPA at Harvard, even though his high school GPA was 4.2. “Harvard students are a lot smarter”.

*If he did not play in the NBA, he believes his economics degree will give him other job opportunities.

* A Harvard graduate from the class of 2010 had a GPA of 3.7. Host joked, “Get out. You are not welcomed here”. He watched Jeremy play many games against other ivy leagues. He wished he had gotten his autographs “just in case you get famous”. Of course, Harvard basketball became famous under Jeremy.

*Jeremy’s mom on stage to answer if she thought of herself as a tiger mom: No, because expectations for her sons were discussed and agreed to beforehand. Study before basketball.

*Mom Lin related that she loves music, but regretted that she didn’t want to play piano when she was young, often pretending to lose her sheet music before coming home. That’s why she wanted Jeremy to have a chance. Jeremy appreciates the fact that he can play and now practices on his own.

*They didn’t spank their children for bad grades.

*Host was impressed that Jeremy plays the piano. There was a brief insert of Jeremy playing from one of his videos.

*On being an underdog: Jeremy used to get angry when people looked down on him. He realized now that people’s opinions waver, and they are not worth playing for. He just ignores them.

*Host emphasized: “You’re you, and they’re they. Just because they say you can’t play does not change your ability”.

*Host confessed he had always wanted to play with an NBA star, but when Yao Ming was there, “forget it. When he stood in front of me, I couldn’t even see the net”.

*They messed around and shot some 3-pointers to finish the program.

I emailed  my HBO colleague asking him if there was any chance Klitschko could lose to his opponent. (Klitschko hasn't lost a fight in nine years, but he's 39)

Hi Nat,

Klitschko is rightly a huge favorite, but very few fighters in history have mowed down top contenders, without losing, for as long as Klitschko has during this current streak. One off night in the heavyweight division is all it takes.  Jennings has to hope Klitschko has one and has to be emotionally prepared to take advantage if he does. 

Wladimir is 39 years old. Until Foreman KO'd Moorer (1994), 39 would've been the oldest heavyweight champion in history. No one goes on forever. 

Otherwise, Klitschko is much bigger, much, much more experienced, much better pedigree, better boxer, better puncher, etc., etc. 

Best,

Max

Scott coached three teams before he came to the Lakers. He got fired each time. What was said about him after each firing sounds eerily familiar to Lakers fans, and particularly as it relates to Scott's use of Jeremy Lin. 

I took short clips from newspapers in each city the day Scott was fired. Here's a sampling: 

NJ Nets, 2004: "... the Nets lost a 47-point decision to the Memphis Grizzlies and Kidd screamed at Scott and the coaching staff in the locker room after the game - adding fuel to the rumors and reports that the All-Star point guard didn't think much of Scott as a coach."

New Orleans, 2009. David West: "I just think that we had gotten to the point where things that we were doing just weren't working...Amongst the team I think there was a sense [that] a few guys weren't trusting what we had in terms of our system and our ability to know what we were going to get every single night from our system."

Cleveland, 2013: "Scott came under fire for a number of in-game decisions about substitutions and timeouts, among other things. His team ranked last in defense...his team blew leads of 27, 26 and 22 points in losses to Miami, Phoenix, and New York, respectively."

It certainly looks to me like Scott has not learned a thing since his first firing in 2004. He's making the same old mistakes with the Lakers. And after all these years, he still doesn't know how to relate to players not named Kobe. His handling of Lin alone is enough reason to show his ass to the door. 

It won't happen this year, probably not next. But eventually Scott will get fired because he's a serial team killer. And that's the one thing Scott does best: kill teams. 

This was part of transcript of Charlie Rose interview with Mark Cuban: 

Rose: One basketball question. I’m doing a profile of Jeremy Lin. What do you think of Jeremy Lin?

Cuban: The Mavs were the first team to sign him as a free agent, and we loved him. He’s a kid that was fearless. He was obviously smart having got into Harvard. He was a lot more athletic than people expected. We really looked at him as a potential as another Steve Nash. We wanted to sign for summer league, wanted to sign him to a contract for the Mavs, but he wanted to go play close to home and he grew up in the Bay Area so he went to sign with the Golden State Warriors and the rest is history.

Rose: Can he be another Steve Nash?

Cuban: Yeah, he absolutely can. He’s that good. He’s got that type of talent. But, part of what made Steve Nash great, when Nash went from the Mavericks to the Suns and became MVP, it was a system that he just excelled at. So, Jeremy has got to play in the right environment with the right players and he can be a star.

I used to cover Princeton basketball when I was with The (Newark) Star-Ledger and they were coached by future Hall of Famer, Pete Carril, inventor of the Princeton Offense.  I got his phone number and called him. He's 84 now. We talked about Jeremy Lin, the Princeton Offense, and Byron Scott.  Carril told me he copied the Princeton Offense from watching two teams: Bill Russell's Celtics, and the (1969-70) Knicks with Bill Bradley. 

NATHAN GOTTLIEB: Would you have recruited Lin when you were coaching at Princeton?

PETE CARRIL: Absolutely, no doubt about it. The thing I like about him is he comes to play every night, and he's always happy to be on the floor doing anything he can to help the team win. He's not a superstar, but he's awful damn good. He had so many things to overcome and he did it. It's not easy to make it to the NBA.

NG: What  is your opinion of him as an NBA player and as a person?

PC: I've always liked Lin. I actually met him once in California. I was coaching a team in a summer league and we lost three straight to this team from Taiwan. Lin played with them and he was killing us.

NG: Byron Scott said in training camp he was going to run your Princeton Offense with a few changes. Have you seen the Lakers play, and do they run the Princeton?

PC: Yes, I've watched them, and so far I haven't seem them run the Princeton. In today's NBA, people say you're running the Princeton if you make two passes (laughs). If you watch the Spurs, they come close to running it with the way they pass, the way their players move. But they run more than I did at Princeton. The thing I did as a coach with my offense is after I'd seen what my players can and cannot do, then I'd adjust my system to them.

NG: What do you think of Scott as a coach?

PC: Well, he made the Finals twice with the Nets. But the thing with Byron in New Jersey, he had players like Kidd who could run, pass, and move the ball. Byron knows how to do it (uptempo). But when you have ball stoppers you can't do it.

NG: Kobe Bryant is a ball stopper, don't you think?

PC: (laughs) I take the fifth (amendment) on any controversial questions. (laughs)

NG: Some of my Lin friends want to see him sign next year with the Knicks. The Knicks run the Triangle Offense. Would Lin fit in the Triangle? 

PC:That's hard to say. He's really good in the open court, so to the extent they'd get him the ball in open court, he'd be fine. It's not a perfect fit for him, but Lin can fit in any system. He's a winning type kid, that's why.

NG: Do you think he'd fit in with San Antonio?

PC: Yes, I do with the way they play.

NG: Anything else you'd like to say, Pete?

PC: If you see Lin, tell him I hope he keeps doing good work.

Nat,

Thanks for the note. 

I think Lin will do fine playing for the right coach; he's a drive and kick or else shoot the 3 (spread pick and roll) type point guard, and while most of the rest of the league is playing that way, the Lakers are not. 

Hope all is well. 

Very best,

Max

Today, Lakers "coach" seemed  set to rest Kobe tonight. So Lin fans are in high gear speculation mode:

Will Lin start? Will Lin get more PT? Will Lin get chance to breakout?

Lin fans are clutching at straws. The only relevant questions is will Lin be set free and traded before February deadline? And who will he sign with in free agency.

Because folks, barring a major injury to Kobe (and I don't wish it, believe me), this will be a lost year for Lin. Oh sure, he will learn from his experience in a bad situation, as he always does. He will come out of this LA fiasco a stronger person. But there are 58 very painful games for Lin fans to watch until the season is done.

This is a lost year for Lin, 26. In his prime. Up against yet another idiot coach like McFail, both control freaks, who don't like creative players who go outside their rigid system. Unless their last names are Harden and Kobe.

If it wasn't so painful for Lin fans, we could laugh at the absurdity of the way Lin, with all his potential, is used and abused by Scott. What sane coach wastes a player who can do so much for a team if allowed to? What sane coach benches Lin to start Ronnie Price, a 32-year-old career marginal point guard (I use that term loosely)? What coach with a brain sees Lin have a great first half with 10-12 points and 5 assists, and benches him for much of the rest of the game?

Many subplot issues here. #1: Tanking?

If you are in stealth tank mode, as the Lakers are in order to keep their top 5-protected pick the Suns have in the horribly failed Nash trade, do you use let Lin help you WIN games? I think not.

#2 Kobe must star in every game. Let's be honest, we all know the only reason a retread, three times fired coach like Scott was hired was to insure, like a bodyguard, that nobody is allowed to star beside his Royal Highness. Scott is hired "muscle." He stands at Kobe's side with arms folded, face mean and menacing, a bruiser with small brain and big muscles, there to make sure this doesn't happen. And there are only two players capable of outshining Kobe on this team. Lin, of course. And Nick Young. Young can do it, but only with his shooting arm. And Scott knows that Young on any given night is liable to shoot himself in the foot and look bad by bad shooting. Lin is another story.

Lin can score, and make the kind of dazzling assists that Kobe CAN'T, and excite the crowd into a frenzy. In Kobe's World, that is a no-no. Only Kobe is allowed to ignite adoring passion in a crowd.

And so Lin is in a "damned if I do, and damned if I don't" world.

Is this fair to a player who defied all the odds, a Harvard (Harvard?) undrafted free agent, an Asian-American (do they play basketball?) who has destroyed every bias there is and excited the hearts of everybody who wants just a chance to prove they can be more than people think they can be?

Life ain't fair.

Lin knows that.

A lesser person would crumbled under the pressure of bias and abuse.

But Lin is a special person.

Let me get this straight. I am not arguing that Lin is an elite point guard or future Hall of Famer. I believe he is a B+ or A- point guard, which any Lin fan would be thrilled to see him credited as.

When I started covering the Knicks in 1979-80, I was just two years removed from being a crazy Knicks fan who could only afford to sit in the nosebleed seats. Never did I imagine that I would be not only covering and traveling with the Knicks as The Star-Ledger beat writer, but that after a practice when my idol, Willis Reed, would challenge me to a game of H-O-R-S-E and I'd get to play with him. I was star struck.

But after nine years as beat writer, and another 10 as a fill in Knicks writer, I became so jaded with the NBA game of basketball, that in 1997, when I left the newspaper, I didn't read another sports story or watch an NBA game until 2011, when the bitterness of dealing with arrogant, nasty players (there were many major exceptions) finally wore off. 

So I started watching the Knicks. They weren't better than a .500 team, but they were fun to watch as they moved the ball and played the game the way it was supposed to play. The Garden was energized because they played like the glory years Knicks team, without the great players.

And then came Melo. Four starters were traded for Melo by an owner, the son of a rich father who had never accomplished anything on his own, who wanted him as his love child.

The fun times disappeared for me.

And then came this player waived many times, reduced to the D-League, who somehow ended up on the Knicks bench, a third string point guard.

We know what happened. Linsanity. A thrilling, amazing sports story that excited not only the NBA, but international fans.

Which brings us back to the present.

Unfortunately.

Lin needs to ride this season out and keep his spirits up. I believe his faith in God and his inner competitive nature will allow him to. It's probably harder on Lin fans than Lin, to deal with this lost season.

But once we signed on for the journey, we have accepted that there will be peaks and valleys, and I believe that TRUE Lin fans will not abandon Lin in frustration.

"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

Psalm 23:4

Hang in there Lin fans. If you truly believe, then better days are to come.

I do.

In a 2012 interview with Charlie Rose: 

Rose: One basketball question. I’m doing a profile of Jeremy Lin. What do you think of Jeremy Lin?

Cuban: The Mavs were the first team to sign him as a free agent, and we loved him. He’s a kid that was fearless. He was obviously smart having got into Harvard. He was a lot more athletic than people expected. We really looked at him as a potential as another Steve Nash. We wanted to sign for summer league, wanted to sign him to a contract for the Mavs, but he wanted to go play close to home and he grew up in the Bay Area so he went to sign with the Golden State Warriors and the rest is history.

Rose: Can he be another Steve Nash?

Cuban: Yeah, he absolutely can. He’s that good. He’s got that type of talent. But, part of what made Steve Nash great, when Nash went from the Mavericks to the Suns and became MVP, it was a system that he just excelled at. So, Jeremy has got to play in the right environment with the right players and he can be a star.

Excellent assessment of the problem for Lin in LA:

...Without the threat of the outside shot, teams can sag and clog the lane, thereby eliminating Lin’s ability to create off the dribble.

Coach Scott essentially agreed with Lin’s statement, even throwing a subtle jab at Jeremy by mentioning his need to “develop point guard instincts.” Here’s the rest of the related quote:

I think in the system he was in — in New York, the ball was in his hand 95 percent of the time, so he was able to run pick and roll and be able to get to the basket and get shots for himself. This system you have to get other people shots as well. You have to be able to do both. There’s a fine line at times.

While Byron isn’t incorrect, he’s failing to mention a very important facet of that offensive strategy — getting other people shots also involves them actually making them. Of players who have played more than 250 minutes this season, none are shooting 34 percent or better from the 3-point line. Only Kobe Bryant (47.1 percent) is shooting better than 40 percent from 16 feet to the 3-point line. How, exactly, would those “point guard instincts” help players like Wesley Johnson make jumpers?

What’s even more confusing to me is the fact that Lin is having a very solid year, with averages of 11.8 points, 5.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 30.2 minutes per game. Considering what he’s got to work with (and the difficult task of keeping Kobe happy), how is that reason for concern?

Lin’s game is largely dependent on players who can make jump shots, because one of Jeremy’s strengths is getting to the basket and finishing. He’s currently shooting 63.8 percent inside three feet (Kobe is at 54.2 percent for some contrast), but Lin is going to be increasingly less efficient there if the defense collapses because there’s no threat of consistent perimeter makes.

While I originally thought Los Angeles was going to be a spot for Lin to shine, it’s becoming apparent that it might not be a great fit. We saw what happened when Lin was surrounded by shooters and had a green light in New York. We saw how effective he could be in Houston with shooters, but without as much freedom.

If Lin can find a team with shooters that also allows him the full freedom to create and attack the basket, he could be right back to being one of the brightest young (ok, he’s 26) stars in the game.

Chapter 1

Brooklyn

The night was cold. Neighborhood risky. They couldn’t be caught here. Not with what they had in the car. It would be a death sentence.

The car’s heater was blasting as three young men in a Land Rover pulled up and parked in front of a pawn shop on Myrtle Avenue in Bushwick.

They were in Crips territory. A bad place to be if you were a Blood. Really bad.

That’s why none of them had worn their signature gang red clothes.

The driver, DeShawn, glanced in his rearview mirror to see if Tyson, the youngest of the three and the least experienced, looked ready. He didn’t like what he saw. The muthafucker’s wound up tight.  He ain’t up to this shit. I shoulda known.

 DeShawn looked at his bud, Marvin, riding shotgun. Now he be cool, thank god. Marvin had made this run with him many times.

As he turned off the engine, DeShawn noticed Marvin pull up one leg of his baggy jeans and unsnap the ankle holster holding his Ruger semi.

“Yo, Marvin,” DeShawn said. “Why you be unstrappin’? Told you ain’t going to be no trouble. Edgar’s cool with us.”

“Maybe so, but I still don’t trust him.”

DeShawn laughed. “Man, like, who do you trust?”

“You. Nobody else.”

DeShawn surveyed the street a minute. No Crips in sight. Good so far.

“Okay, let’s roll,” he said. “Tyson, you stay in the car. You see trouble, beep the horn twice.”

“Oh man,” Tyson griped, “why I gotta stay out here all by myself in Crips territory?”

“Cause somebody gots to protect our stash.”

Tyson blew out an anxious sigh. “Okay, I’m down. But, like, if I see trouble, do I shoot first or beep the horn?”

What a numbnuts. “Just beep the fuckin’ horn, okay, Tyson?”

“Got it, boss man.”

As DeShawn and Marvin stepped out of the hot car into the brisk night air, they could feel the cold cut right through them like a sharp knife.

Both were wearing brown cargo pants and black hoodies. But even without any red clothes, DeShawn still felt uneasy. The Crips knew what he looked like. He pulled his hood down over his face as far as he could and tied the string really tight. Then he lifted a medium-size black duffle bag out of the SUV’s cargo space and glanced up and down the street once more.

Still no sign of Crips.

DeShawn slung the duffle’s strap over his shoulder and walked into the pawn shop with Marvin. The walls were lined with glass cases filled with all kinds of bling. He didn’t get why people paid good cake for this used crap. When his bros wanted bling, they knew how to get it without paying jack shit.

DeShawn stared at Edgar, who was standing behind the bulletproof glass counter, until he caught the Rican’s attention. The shop owner had just slid a gold chain under the slot in his window to a babe packing the kinda sweet butt DeShawn coulda warmed up to.

Just not tonight.

This was business.

Spotting the two Bloods, Edgar turned away from the window to a woman examining a bracelet under a microscope. “Trini, take my place a minute.”

Then Edgar nodded to DeShawn before disappearing through a backdoor.

Here we go, DeShawn thought, and tensed up. Even though he was down with Edgar, he knew people did all kindsa funny shit when it came to money. Especially Ricans.

They walked to a steel door next to one of the display cases and waited for it to buzz. As soon as they walked through it, the door closed behind them. Taking a deep breath, DeShawn put his hand in his pocket to touch his Glock 19 for reassurance.

They found Edgar sitting behind his desk with both hands visible on top of it. Just as I told him to.

“Yo, Edgar,” DeShawn said. “We got some goodies for you.” He plopped his duffle down on the desk with a heavy clunk.

Five minutes later DeShawn and Marvin hustled out of the pawn shop. The black duffle he had carried in was gone, replaced by a green one. DeShawn fired up the engine, slapped it in gear, and drove off fast.

“How’d it go?” Tyson asked.

“No problem,” DeShawn said. “Two more stops, then we can get our butts home. Safe and sound.”

“Let’s do it fast,” Tyson said. “I be hungry.”

“You’re always hungry.”

“I’m a growing boy.” He leaned forward. “Yo. DeShawn. Put on that new Eminem CD. It’ll take my mind off food.”

“No music, Tyson. We working.”

As he drove, DeShawn looked around for signs of Crips. He didn’t see them.

He also didn’t see an old woman who stepped into the street from between two parked cars.

By the time he did, it was too late.

He smacked hard into the woman and launched her flying like a rag doll through the air. She landed on the roof of a parked car and didn’t move.

DeShawn stopped the Land Rover with a noisy skid, looked back at the lifeless old lady, and slammed his fist against the dashboard.

“Motherfucking stupid old bitch! She musta been, like, mental, ya know? Man, I hope she didn’t dent my front end.”

Marvin said, “Why you be stopping? Let’s get the fuck outa here.”

DeShawn burned rubber.

“Do you think anybody saw what happened, DeShawn?”

Before he could answer, they heard a siren behind them closing in fast.

“Aw fuck!”

In his rear view mirror DeShawn saw a black Chevy Caprice racing toward them with a red bubble light on its roof and its high beams flashing.

“Maybe it’s not for us,” Marvin said. “Let’s pull over and let them pass.”

“You whack? We ain’t stopping now for nuthin!”

 Not even red lights.

Just as DeShawn closed in on a traffic light, it turned Bloods red. He had no choice but to try and plow through.

And he almost made it.

But another SUV flying into the intersection clipped the rear end of the Land Rover and sent it into a wild spin. DeShawn tried frantically to straighten the car out, but it slammed hard into a parked truck and stalled out.

The engine wouldn’t kick over.

He kept trying.

No dice.

DeShawn  saw in his mirror that the pigs’ car had stopped twenty feet behind them. Three men in suits sprang out of it and crouched by their vehicle with guns raised.

A sudden, eerie calm came over him. He knew in an instant their fate had been sealed.

He looked at Marvin and then back at Tyson. They understood, too.

Only one option.

Slipping out his gun, DeShawn said, “Let’s do it!”

Chapter 2