Jeremy Lin embraces shift from NBA pioneer to Asian American mentor

San Francisco Chronicle​

4 days ago

Jeremy Lin says he learned the hard way what it means to be a pioneer.
His legendary two-week stretch off the bench in 2012 to turn around the struggling New York Knicks — famously dubbed 'Linsanity' — made Lin a global sensation. With the Raptors in 2019, the Palo Alto native, Harvard alum and former phenom closed his career by becoming the first Asian American player to win an NBA championship when Toronto beat the Golden State Warriors in the Finals.
For all his success, though, Lin still had one wish: to look around the court and see faces that looked like his. Lin and his business team took matters into their own hands when they decided to start JLIN NextGen Basketball Camp, a three-day, invitation-only gathering of 11 AAPI collegiate players at the top of their game. The camp ended Sunday.
'For me, it was two motivations. One was just to be able to kind of share what I've picked up through the course of my career, a lot of lessons I've learned the hard way. Things I wish I knew when I was their age,' the now 36-year-old Lin told the Chronicle. 'The second thing is, can we create community around this? It comes back from maybe me feeling the lack of that, of feeling the weight of being a trailblazer, or the weight of being 'the first' or 'the only.''
For camp participants, Lin was not just 'the only,' he was the blueprint. As much value as Lin finds in sharing his experiences, the players found it difficult to put into words what Lin's mentorship means to them. They say never meet your heroes. That didn't hold true for them.
'I went to the same high school as him, there was a life-size cutout sticker on the wall of him. So every time I had a practice or a game, I would look up and see him on the wall,' Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo point guard Annika Shah said. 'Being an Asian athlete myself, I really look up to him and everything that he's done in his career. It's just super inspiring. It makes me want to write my own story just like him.'
The effort Lin expected of the players he emulated himself — running up and down the court, shirt soaked just as everyone else's were. He coached as if the group were more than a three-day camp — the team might as well have been his own.
The participants didn't just receive coaching from Lin. They can accurately say they've hooped with him.
'As much as I can get on the court, at least in a small capacity, whether it's like just now, screening and rolling or sometimes I'm kind of a defender. I want to at least add a little bit of that,' Lin said. 'And I see everybody competing and working hard, it's like, man, I want to be out with them, too.'
Following the drills, the players took part in a friendly half-court game — and Lin was a part of the core. He set screens, tallied assists and even drove the ball to the rim a few times himself.
In one instance, Lin put up a 3-pointer. He and the other players shared a good chuckle when his shot bounced off the rim. Lin immediately returned with an effortless layup.
'It's just been cool to be on the floor with him. You know, him showing you moves firsthand, him showing you his techniques and tendencies,' said Stanford guard Ryan Agarwal. 'And just being able to learn from a pro that you grew up watching. It's pretty amazing.'
Lin says he remembers the small interactions he had with league legends early in his NBA career. He hopes this can be one of those special moments for the training camp participants.
Fifteen years later, Lin knows the professional basketball landscape. After nine years in the NBA, Lin left the United States in 2019 to sign with the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association. He quickly became an All-Star. Lin now plays for New Taipei Kings in the Taiwan Professional Basketball League.
But for how much longer, he doesn't quite know. What he does know is that his love for the game remains unchanged — and his desire to help his community remains firmer. While he has his eyes set on the present, his training camp may fit into his future plans.
'This (camp) is my first time being like a full-time trainer, per se,' Lin said. 'But now to be fully focused on the athletes and to not get any work for myself, I guess it's a transition to maybe the next chapter of my life. I'm just really grateful for the athletes coming out and giving me a chance to just be able to kind of share with them … so hopefully it just continues to grow.'