Forbes magazine wrote an article about Jeremy Lin signing with the Houston Rockets with the headline: “Jeremy Lin May Be The Dumbest Harvard Grad Ever.”
Pretty harsh, right? But Forbes is a business magazine, and from a business standpoint, although Lin inked a three-year, $25-million deal with the Rockets, the money he lost in endorsements and sponsorships in leaving New York is immeasurable. He only accepted sponsorship deals with Volvo and Steiner Sports while in New York. He would have had an avalanche of opportunities had the Knicks matched the offer sheet he signed.
It is too late for Lin to go look back now, but he did look back on his mercurial rise in New York with the Knicks.
He admitted that he had trouble managing his explosion — called “Linsanity” — on the scene from an end-of-the-bench guy into an international figure – in less than two weeks, when he averaged 18.2 points and 7.7 assists.
“If I’m being honest, in some ways, yes,” Lin said. “I fought it every day. But I think subconsciously it had its effect, everyone catering to you. People were saying only good things for so long that when people said negative stuff, it was like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’ ”
He got exposed as something less than the player who was spectacular early in his emergence. The cynics have chided him for his lack of defense and propensity for turnovers, in particular.
“I will always, always have doubters,” Lin told the San Jose Mercury News. “But I really want to reach my potential to bring glory to God. That is more motivation than haters and doubters. I want to work just as hard, give just as much, whether or not I have haters.”
Some of the negative feelings Lin has receive stings the most; that he got greedy and left New York for the money.
“I didn’t go back to them and ask for more money,” Lin, 23, said. “It wasn’t like they gave me the choice to sign one of the two and I chose the one that would hurt the Knicks. I had one contract offer. That was it.”
By signing with the Rockets, Lin passed up millions in potential earnings, which inspired Forbes to write an online article titled,
“It just comes down to knowing who I am as a person,” Lin said. “People who know me know I didn’t want all this. I didn’t ask for this. It was uncomfortable.”
