Jeremy Lin has recently stated that the primary reason why he took the offer of the Brooklyn Nets during the free agency was because of Head Coach Kenny Atkinson.
Atkinson was a former bench mate of the 27-year-old Harvard graduate on the New York Knicks bench before ‘Linsanity’ took the league by storm during the 2011-12 NBA season.
In a recent press conference, Lin said that if he is to be honest, if there was no Kenny in the Nets, he would not have even come close to consider joining the team. He explained that his relationship with Atkinson is one of the more special things he has developed as a professional basketball player in the league. He said that it is just something about going through the trenches together, notes the New York Post.
Right on the first day of the opening of the free agency market, Lin signed a three-year $36 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets.
Three deciding factors
While his statements back when he was still playing with the Hornets were alluding that his decision to pick his team has nothing to do with money, it is obvious that money is one big issue.
However, his foremost consideration has something to do with the fact that the deal with the Nets will have him becoming the starting point guard for the team, something which he cannot do with the Charlotte Hornets given the presence of the prolific and high-octane player like Kemba Walker.
Critics believe that Atkinson is perhaps only the third reason why Lin decided to join the Nets. As one of the more popular NBA players around the world, he obviously cannot say that his foremost consideration in deciding which team he will join is money because the politically-correct thing to say is he joined the Nets because of its coach and the opportunity to play as a starting point guard.
Although he has already signed with the Nets, Lin still prefers living in his home state of California on the West Coast and he has three reasons for that too and they are proximity to family, the beach, and the In-N-Out Burger.
The GM’s vision for him
Jeremy Lin also talked about the vision of Sean Marks, General Manager of the Brooklyn Nets, for him. He said that Marks wanted to see what he could do as a starter and what he could do with bigger roles.
He felt that it was a good choice for him because he is being given the opportunity to grow as a basketball player.
When asked if his decision also had something to do with his preference to be in New York or close to New York, Lin said that he really likes New York. However, he added that he will be spending more time in Brooklyn where there’s a lot more chill.
He said that he is not a total city guy like a Manhattan type of guy who is a really busy, busy, city type of person.
Jeremy Lin also recalled how he realized that he got a shot at the NBA when his Ivy League coach pulled him aside during his sophomore year where he was averaging 11 points a game. His coach told him that he can make it but he was a non-believer and said to himself that his coach might be out of his mind.
Two years later, after his game against UConn where he had a really good game, there were some top level prospects and he then realized that maybe he does have a chance, after all, details the Nets Daily.
Unfortunately, he did not get drafted despite his optimism that he had a 50% chance of being drafted. All those are history now as Jeremy Lin is on course to his seventh season in the NBA with the Nets as his sixth team. He had previous stints with the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Charlotte Hornets.
During the same press conference, Jeremy Lin also talked about the history of his hair and why he decided to go for braids.