In a recent interview, Lin said that if he was 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. He said that it is just something about going through the trenches together.
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 a big issue.
However, his foremost consideration has something to do with the fact that the deal with the Nets will have Jeremy Lin 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 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.