Despite getting his big break through the Linsanity era when he was still with the New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin said he wants to move on from being labeled as a mere phenomenon. Now that he's with the Brooklyn Nets, the athlete noted that he is now more focused on his career and influence as a professional player.
Immediately after Lin announced that he will be joining the Nets, murmurs about the Linsanity phenomenon coming back started to emerge. After all, going to Brooklyn means he will be returning to New York, the place where his stardom as a player boomed.
The Linsanity phenomenon happened in 2011 as Lin was getting dangerously closed to being released by the Knicks. For 11 games during that year, Lin dominated in the court by making an average of 24 points per game.
But, despite saving his career and cementing his achievements in the league, Lin noted that being dubbed as Linsanity was difficult for him, NY Times reported.
"Everything happened overnight," he said during a news conference. "When [Linsanity] first started, I am not going to lie, it was cool. Then it became a burden because I didn't know what I had gotten myself into. I didn't know how big things had become."
Now that he's with the Nets, it's probably safe to assume that a lot of NBA fans will be expecting the return of Linsanity. However, according to Lin, he is now a different kind of player who is more focused on important matters, according to ESPN.
"I'm in a much, much different place mentally as a person than I was when I was with the Knicks," he said. "So when you talk about that platform, I want to embrace it. I am not just saying Asians. If you look at what is going on in the world and a lot of violence that is going on in the world in terms of the justice system and all of these different things that is real life."
"That is so much bigger than basketball," he added. "I have a voice because of basketball to be able to talk and influence [people] and do things that are related to things that are affecting people's lives every day."
