Young people with dreams always have the hope of fulfilling their wishes, and they are fascinated by this, and they also take risks for this.
He was also confused, questioning whether it was a common thing in life, and whether the futile effort was caused by fate.
But he has not wandered, and the journey has been bumpy, and the man who has done so is a mediocre man.
Everything he went through before he finally got to the court was a love letter written by a teenager to basketball to be opened.
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Jeremy Lin practiced piano for several years as a child, but for him, the flying notes on the black and white keys of the piano could not withstand the crisp sound of basketballs wearing baskets into the net.
Influenced by his father, Jeremy Lin loved basketball from an early age and gradually revealed his talent. As we all know, this path is not easy. When Jeremy Lin went to the court with enthusiasm, he also knew that chinese players who could make a name for themselves in the United States might be rare, but he still had nothing to worry about.
Life is often like this, just for a moment, the first sight has been promised to live.
Love is the passion of love at first sight.
In high school, Jeremy Lin led Palo Alto High School all the way to the top of the competition and won the trophy in the California Intercollegiate League Ii, and with this performance, Lin was named the state's first team of the year and was named the player of the year.
Despite this, Jeremy Lin was not favored by various scouts after graduating from high school, and his applications to stanford and other basketball schools were rejected, and even Harvard University, where he was last enrolled, did not offer him basketball scholarships.
Bill Horton, then assistant coach of the Harvard basketball varsity team, after watching Jeremy Lin's game video, unabashedly told Palo Alto High School basketball coach Pete Dipenpello: "There is still a gap between him and the famous basketball school Stanford he aspires to. ”
Considering Jeremy Lin's excellent academic performance in high school, Bill Horton threw an olive branch to Jeremy Lin after repeatedly studying the competition video.
"I have no other choice, and if I want to follow this path, I can only choose Harvard." Jeremy Lin recalled.
This world-renowned institution of higher learning is not known for basketball, and Jeremy Lin, who majored in economics and minored in sociology, could have chosen another Yangguan Avenue, but he chose to work hard for the sake of basketball as always.
Love is a deep attachment.
After a year of grinding on the bench, Jeremy Lin, who was promoted to starter, began to shine. He was named to the Ivy League Team of the Year Second Team in his sophomore season, unanimously named to the Ivy League Team of the Year First Team in his junior and senior seasons, and especially in his senior year, he led the team to a record of 21 wins.
Countless Harvard people poured into the stadium in ecstasy to cheer Jeremy Lin, and even Steve Ballmer, the Los Angeles Clippers owner who graduated from Harvard University, lamented at the time: "I never understood why our school basketball team never got results, but fortunately, they have finally improved." ”
When Jeremy Lin graduated from Harvard, he was one of the best players in Ivy League history, but it was an academic-oriented Ivy League after all.
Only two players, Saul Maryassin and Ed Smith, landed in the NBA half a century ago, and their careers were as short as a dew. Even if Jeremy Lin dominates in the Ivy League, the Chinese player will have a hard time changing the outside world's prejudice against him. But the more so, the more he has to prove his worth. As Coach Bill Horton puts it: "He has the ability to keep improving, and the more he plays at a high level, the more competitive he is, the better he can get ahead." From the past to the future, he will always prove himself. ”
Jeremy Lin, who was well-known in college, was offered trials by eight teams before entering the draft, but his trial performance was not satisfactory. The trial session arranged by the team is mainly to examine the individual ability of the players, and Jeremy Lin, who is better at teamwork, is obviously at a loss for this, and he himself admitted after the trial: "One-on-one, two-on-two or three-on-three trial training projects are not what I am good at." ”
But Jeremy Lin's talent is no ordinary. He was tested during the Portsmouth Invitational, where three-quarters of the sprints were on par with the nationally acclaimed current winner John Wall.
Unfortunately, Jeremy Lin was left unattended on the day of the draft, and John Wall was cheered to become a new talent.
Jeremy Lin was disheartened for a moment, but he did not indulge in frustration, and he still searched hard for any opportunity to land on the alliance.
Love is the courage to face difficulties.
Dallas Mavericks general manager Downey Nelson was so discerning that he then invited Jeremy Lin to represent the team in the Summer League.
This was a unique opportunity for Jeremy Lin at that time.
He didn't live up to the opportunity given to him by Downey Nelson, and during his time representing the Lone Rangers in the Summer League, he did his best to perform beyond expectations. In addition to the Lone Rangers, teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors also offered him an offer contract after the summer league ended.
After several considerations, Jeremy Lin chose to accept a two-year contract from his hometown team Warriors, which made him the first Chinese-American player in the league's history.
The Warriors' signing with Jeremy Lin was brokered by team owner Joe Lacob, who has favored Him since He led Palo Alto High School to the State Championship, and he has been impressed by Jeremy Lin's performance in the Summer League ever since.
It is worth mentioning that Joe Lacob, who served as the head of sports at Stanford University, was angry about Stanford's failure to admit Jeremy Lin: "Stanford was so stupid, this kid was standing in front of you, and you couldn't see his talent." ”
That being said, Joe Lacob also didn't offer the lost draft more opportunities to perform. Jeremy Lin was sent to the Development League several times by the Warriors during his rookie season, and although he was popular in the Bay Area, where Chinese-Americans gathered, he did not even make few appearances at that time.
Before Jeremy Lin entered his second year of career, the Warriors decided to remove Jeremy Lin on the first day of training camp to make room to chase DeAndre Jordan. Larry Riley, then general manager of the Warriors, said: "Boss Joe Lacob is the last person on the team to cut Jeremy Lin, he really doesn't want to do it, but we all know that the team has to do it." We needed a centre-forward and at the time we both thought the team had a chance to sign DeAndre Jordan. ”
Subsequently, the distraught Jeremy Lin had to bid farewell to the Bay Area and go ahead, and the Warriors ultimately failed to bring in DeAndre Jordan as they wished.
Love is a regret that passes by the wrong shoulder.
Jeremy Lin was dazed and confused, and at this time he did not know where he should go.
At this time, the Houston Rockets offered Jeremy Lin a signing opportunity, and he rushed to Houston to sign a contract with the team, but at that time, the Rockets were already overcrowded in the same position. Two weeks later, the Rockets cut Jeremy Lin to make room for center Samuel Dellemport, which was undoubtedly a clear thunderbolt for Jeremy Lin, who had just taken the team's makeup photos.
It happened to be Christmas Day, the streets and alleys were filled with a festive atmosphere, and the soulless Jeremy Lin became more and more sad when he turned around and waved away the noise of the city.
He recalls: "Being cut twice in a row by the team in two weeks was such an embarrassing situation for me. I even began to wonder if my insistence on choosing basketball was really the right one. ”
Fortunately, three days later, his career took a turn for the worse when the New York Knicks offered him an unsecured contract.
At a low point in his career, Jeremy Lin did not believe that he had a chance to stay in New York for a long time, and he did not even seek rent after joining the Knicks. His brother, Shuya Lin, was studying for a master's degree in the Department of Medicine at New York University, so he temporarily took a seat in the living room of Ms. Lin's apartment, curled up on the couch to survive the incredibly cold winter.
That year's harsh winter was also unusually difficult for the Knicks. Knicks defenders such as Byron Davis and Iman Shumpert were plagued by injuries, and the poor Knicks also lost, and Mike D'Antoni, who was the coach of the Knicks at the time, had no choice but to use Jeremy Lin.
"He was lucky." Coach Mike D'Antoni said bluntly.
But the Knicks will play against the New Jersey Nets in their next game, and Jeremy Lin will be paired with All-Star guard Deron Williams at the peak if he gets the chance, which is a serious challenge for any guard in the league.
On the eve of the game, Mr. and Mrs. Lin needed to entertain a number of visiting friends in the apartment, so Jeremy Lin had to stay at the home of teammate Landry Fields.
The long night is long, and the heavens and the earth are vast.
It's hard to sleep, it's embarrassing.
When he woke up from his teammate's living room couch, he didn't realize that the day's game was going to change his life. No one realizes that the only counterattack miracle in the history of the league is about to take place in the madison Square Garden, the mecca of basketball. Knicks' accompanying reporter Howard Baker even wrote in his press release: "Now that the trade deadline is approaching, if the Knicks have no intention of converting Jeremy Lin's contract to a full guarantee contract, then they will have to give him up." ”
This was true of all of us, and at the time it was only commonplace.
Jeremy Lin came to Madison Square Garden as always, participated in pre-game training with the team as always, and returned to the bench as always to wait for the coach's call.
Love is the answer to the opening of love letters.
He was like a young man with a dream, he never wasted years, nor did he live up to suffering.
Everything he experienced before the world went crazy for him was a love letter he painstakingly carved on the field, and when the world focused on him alone, he could finally give a deep cry to this arena -
"Basketball is the love of my life." （Tree）
Source: NBA official website