共產檔
MISH - MASH
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」林書豪震撼美國職籃NBA，不過林書豪24日在記者會上表示，他同意他的血統是讓他被低估的原因之一，但他也以身為亞裔美國人為榮。
林書豪來到奧蘭多參加明星賽周末，仍是最受矚目的焦點，從球迷到媒體，他所到之處都會讓人潮自動向他集中。
新秀挑戰賽賽前「理論上」不開放任何球員受訪，休息室也關閉，然後在教練賽前要向球員演講時，NBA竟然安排林書豪另外在媒體室接受訪問，而且長達15分鍾，反而讓他缺席全隊的精神喊話時間，他也是唯一獲得此待遇的與會球員，「豪小子」的媒體關注程度已經誇張至此。
以下是這次媒體聯訪的問答摘要。
媒體：全世界都看到你過去幾周內的成長，我們有些人同時也在電玩遊戲中看到你的成長(指遊戲中他的能力設定)，你知道你自己一開始被遊戲設定的排名嗎？
林書豪：我不是很確定真正的數字，但我想我一開始能力分數是五十幾吧(滿分為100)。
媒體：正確數字是53。
林：53？ESPN在季前的球員排名中，在500人裏，我好像是第467名吧。
媒體：你在遊戲中的能力數字一直提升，現在已經是75了。
林：我不會去擔心這些東西，不過確實還滿酷的。
媒體：你的大學教練曾說過，他被NBA忽略的其中一個原因，或許就是你的種族背景，教練還說，因為你看起來就不像個NBA球員，你認為確實如此嗎？
林：我想是原因之一吧，我不知道程度有多少，但是，身為美籍亞裔，我確實需要比一般人更多的證明自己；很多人說我「看起來快」、「看起來敏捷」，但什麽是「看起來」？或許就是因為我是亞裔吧。但沒有關係，我以身為亞裔為榮，而且讓我會更想證明給大家看。
媒體：事情發生這麽快，對你來說是否還有些難以置信？你在明星賽周末有自己的記者會！
林：對，完全就是這樣，任何記者會對我來說都已經很難得，更不用說是明星賽周末了，在這裏看到這麽多優秀球員，我還是不敢相信，我會非常珍惜這次經驗。
媒體：過去十幾、廿天以來，你的生活有劇烈的改變，突然變成大明星，你如何應對？
林：我隻想專心在籃球上，本季的賽程也幫忙不少，因為太緊湊，所以不會有太多時間去想；我也得感謝隊友，每天與他們相處，我們都隻想專心打好下一場比賽，持續進步下去。
媒體：歐尼爾(Shaquille O'Neal)在分隊選秀時挑中你，他有打電話給你嗎？
林：沒有，因為他缺席了早上的練球(笑)，我想他應該得接受我們罰款吧。
媒體：如果你沒被邀請來明星賽周末，你現在會幹嘛？
林：我本來就是計畫要去個溫暖的地方，海灘之類的，然後與家人一起度過，不過我還是很高興能來這裏。
媒體：看你打球，總讓我覺得你的球風裏有街頭籃球的影子，你有到紐約街頭籃球聖地Rucker Park打過嗎？
林：沒有，但我從小在加州長大，基本上我在加州所有地方都打過了。高中時，每個禮拜五晚上我都去史丹福打到早上2點吧，然後我哥去洛加大，讀書，我也會跟他去那邊打。隻要哪裏有籃球，我就去打。
媒體：如果今天你是在密爾瓦基打球、而不是紐約，你想情形會有不同嗎？
林：紐約當然是最大的舞台，還有廣大的球迷，大量的媒體，以一個平台來說，紐約絕對是最好的城市了；我很珍惜在這個城市打球的機會，這個平台，我希望能使用在正確的方向上，我希望能成為人們的模範，傳達我的訊息出去。
媒體：除了「Linsanity」外，你還想到什麽關於「Lin」的新單字嗎？還有，你父親教導過你最重要的事情是？
林：第一個問題，我沒有想過什麽字，「Jeremy」就夠了，我希望我永遠不會因為這些外在事情改變；第二，我父母總是教導我，不隻是籃球，人生所有事情都要全力以赴，追逐你的夢想，謹記上帝的指引。
媒體：你花錢買過最好的東西是？你最近買了哪些昂貴的東西？
林：沒有……(笑)，我仍然是最低薪球員啊，這並沒有改變。
