That's the thing, though. Many of Lin's most irrational critics have turned this all into their personal drama about the persecution of being called a racist by the all-powerful Asian horde of Lin fans. Firstly, many of Lin's fans are not Asian. Not that his fanbase should lose any credibility for being Asian, but if you go to any comments section of a Lin article where people have FB accounts or other real IDs, many of them are not Asian. Secondly, just because some nutty fan lashed out at you doesn't give you free license to despise that player unfairly. Saying that Lin was a mostly average player in Houston is not unfair criticism; saying that he cost the Rockets a playoffs victory, a potential championship, and is worth paying to get rid of is indeed unfair criticism.
It's not crazy at all if you understood Asian American culture and the stark difference between an Asian and an Asian American. Yao Ming is a 7'6" giant who was born and raised in Communist China, was trained by the Chinese government, and couldn't really speak English when he first came over. Jeremy Lin is a regular-sized guy who was born and raised in Nor Cal, had the American college experience, and is a native English speaker.
Lin has been terrible the last two years in the playoffs. Nope, an overwhelming majority of Lin's fans are Asian. Nope, Lin did cost the Rockets 1-2 playoff games against Portland with his poor decision making at the end of games. Does that mean he is the only reason? Of course not, but making mistakes at the end of games will stand out. Jeremy Lin will most likely have a good statistical season in Los Angeles. He is a marginal NBA rotation player than gets more attention than he deserves and also gets more scrutiny than he deserves. I wish him the best in the future as an NBA player but I am glad he is no longer a Rocket.
Lol at still supporting that scrub. He's a Laker now. I'm not supporting Parsons either. Hopefully they both have their worst seasons of their career.
I do think it's true that Lin has a lot of Asian fans, but a lot of those fans specifically stem from his Chinese/Taiwanese heritage, especially internationally. Same thing with Yao, since he's a national hero from China. Even comparison to other Asians, having the Chinese market becomes a huge advantage business wise. A Southeast Asian doesn't get that same marketability. People in the USA generally focus too much on race, and don't understand the differences between nationality vs ethnicity.
If you're a true Rockets fan then you would of course not want him to do well, the Lakers are also in the West...nature of the biz. The irony is that Lakers fans tend to be bandwagoners so heck he belongs there and so do his devotees. Houston, we're going to be ok - stop yelling apocalypse. It's addition by subtraction.
Could not agree more....it's going to be tough adding an all star talent with what's left after this offseason. Hoping, but not sure Phoenix is going to give up Bledsoe for a potential pick next year.
Why is this still an issue? If you evaluate the Lin trade out of context, yes it was probably a really crappy trade. But if Morey had landed Bosh, the forum would be blowing up with how this is a brilliant salary dump... We shouldn't be having an argument on Lin, what we should be having an argument on is when do you stop gambling? Morey got 2 superstars. Do you quit while you are ahead and build up the role players or do you keep going for that 3rd? With 1 superstar, everyone agrees you should probably gamble for another. But with 2? For example. Morey could've took the team option on Parsons and potentially signed turner, ariza, etc. to go for a championship this year. In fact, he could've still dumped Lin but at a lower cost than what Lakers end up extracting (because Lakers knew Morey had like 1 day to sign Bosh and match Parsons). Instead, he opted to gamble. I'm not sure what I would've done actually. Hindsight is always 20/20.
This should not matter anymore He's no longer a Houston Rocket -- same like Chandler Thread needs to be closed so everyone can just move on
Can someone please lock this thread? He is gone... End of story. It doesn't matter how much we debate he isn't coming back so let's all just agree to not post anymore. Please?
ABSOLUTE CLASSIC! Your abhorrent idea that Yao is less worthy of support because he is a "giant," from a Communist country, and "couldn't really speak English." Which of those things makes him any less worthy of support than any other player??? We at ClutchFans were embracing Yao while you were considering him a weird, giant, Communist foreigner. Your frank discrimination is astonishing. Of course you like "regular-sized" guys (6'3 is regular?) more than "giants." That's who you are. Of course you like Nor Cal guys better than Chinese nationals. That's who you are. Of course you like native English speakers more than people who "couldn't really speak English." That's who you are. CF embraced Yao without regard for his size, nationality, or native language. You go on discriminating in favor of "regular" Nor Cal native English speakers; it's not my business. But you have exposed--with astonishing simplicity--your own discrimination based on size, nationality, and language.
Going to miss JLin rockets season is over without him parson and asik we will not go anywhere..if jLin and kobe team go to the playoffs a lot of JLin haters here going to cry
So now we are making a big deal about a late first round pick? Why do we need 2 first round picks. We have enough young players and Morey prefers early 2nd rounders to late 1st rounders anyway. The same people who are crying about us trading a first round pick are the same people who claim all of our young draft picks and the bench suck or are overrated. Lin had already cried about his jersey being on Melo and had been openly dangled. It was time for him to move on and seize a new opportunity with a fresh start. Get over it!