Being able to play with or against an NBA player is a dream for many youngsters around the world who are hooked on the game of basketball.
Jeremy Lin of the Charlotte Hornets helped turned that dream into a reality with one local 14-year-old teenager when he recently went to Iceland to enjoy his vacation, now that his team has already been eliminated from the playoffs.
The 27-year-old Harvard graduate, who will soon be a restricted free agent with Charlotte Hornets, visited an ice cream parlor when Julius Orri Agustsson saw him.
Since the youngster was shy of approaching him, he requested his mother to do the talking to Jeremy. Subsequently, Julius’ mother asked Lin if he would be willing to play with her son in their backyard, to which the Hornets backup point guard said yes, details the New York Post.
Thus, the one-on-one ensued between Jeremy Lin and the impressive and tall Julius took place amid a snowy mountain backdrop in the land of the midnight sun.
Taking the NBA player to school
Shortly after the one-on-one between Jeremy and Julius, a video of their game was posted on Facebook where the two were seen trading shots.
But as it turned out, Lin was not prepared for Agustsson because he turned out to be the best basketball player in all of Iceland for his age group, even earning MVP honors during an Icelandic Cup title run during the past winter, notes Yahoo! Sports.
The youngster actually schooled the NBA player a few times on his way to a 3-0 lead but it was clear that Jeremy Lin was not giving it all in the friendly one-on-one game.
He then explained in the video that he has not played in a little bit so he was out of shape, which is normally every father’s excuse when his son starts schooling him to the rack in their backyard hoop.
Lin managed to score a point before the video ended and fans can only assume that he lost against Agustsson. But the Iceland Magazine lauded Jeremy Lin for being game enough to give in to the request of the 14-year-old Icelander native, without really knowing who or what he is up against. It only adds to his global popularity.
Likely to stay with Charlotte
After packing his bags playing for one season with the listless Los Angeles Lakers during the penultimate year of Kobe Bryant with the team, Jeremy Lin signed last year with the Charlotte Hornets to a two-year $4.3 million contract.
The amount is relatively peanuts for the $25 million three-year contract he got from the Houston Rockets after his short-lived but sensational stint playing for the New York Knicks during the 2011-12 NBA season.
He played the first two years of the multi-million dollar deal he got from the Rockets before the Lakers bought the remainder of his contract on its third and final year. Unfortunately, Jeremy Lin was a lost sheep under the system of former Lakers coach Byron Scott. He was not able to showcase his wares playing alongside Kobe Bryant too.
And in times when he was playing for the Lakers without Kobe Bryant, he was inconsistent, apparently unable to find his place in Scott’s old-school coaching methodologies.
So when he became a free agent after playing for one season with the Showtime franchise, it was off to the races and the free agency for Jeremy Lin. He actually got offers from eight different NBA teams but he decided to sign instead with the Hornets and a lower pay at that at roughly $2.2 million per year.
However, his two-year contract with Charlotte has an opt-out clause after one year and now that the season is over and the Hornets have already been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Miami Heat, the 27-year-old Harvard graduate is certainly entertaining the option to opt out of his contract.
It is not that Jeremy Lin wanted to play for another NBA team again. In fact, he really wants to return to Charlotte for next year or the next years to come.
That’s humility. Lin’s coolness is not just at home but abroad. How can you not respect, admire and love this guy?