Jeremy Lin fesses up in an upcoming magazine cover story he not only wanted to remain in New York the next three seasons, he wanted to retire a Knick.
Lin, who will be on the cover of November’s issue of GQ, is in training camp with his new team, the Rockets, but in his most emphatic remarks on the subject, he said he preferred New York.
“You can’t ask for a city or a fan base to embrace somebody more than they embraced me,” Lin said in a 4,300-word piece hitting newsstands today. “I know it’s kind of silly to talk about it with only two years under my belt in the league, but going in before free agency, I was like, ‘I want to play in front of these fans for the rest of my career.’ I really did.
“I really wanted to play in front of the Madison Square Garden fans for the rest of my career, because they’re just unbelievable.”
It didn’t happen that way. After Lin and Houston general manager Daryl Morey ramped up the initial three-year offer sheet by backloading it more severely, the Knicks, furious at the change, balked and obtained Raymond Felton. The final year of Lin’s $25 million contract was raised to $14.5 million, and it scared off owner James Dolan because of the new luxury-tax penalties.
“The Rockets thought I was going to be a Knick,” Lin said. “They told me when I signed. We think it’s an 80 to 95 percent chance of that happening.’’
Lin is averaging 5.3 points in 22 minutes in three preseason games, shooting just 21 percent (4 of 19). He has averaged a respectable 4.7 assists, but reports suggest his defense is lagging. Last week, Lin admitted to Houston writers his knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus has left him not fully 100 percent. He sat out last night’s exhibition game in Dallas.
“I’m healthy but in terms of me having all of my speed, everything I had before, that’s still slowly coming back,’’ Lin said last week. “But I’m close. … Hopefully by the time the season comes I will be more explosive, faster, quicker than I was last year.’’
Lin told GQ he was forced to return all of his Knicks gear and has no memorabilia left — except for Linsanity shirts fans had given him.
“I’d be a huge liar if I told myself, I knew I could do that,” Lin said of last season’s heroics. “That’s not realistic. Let’s just be honest. I had no idea I could play like that.’’
Lin figured his return was secure after coach Mike Woodson flew out to Los Angeles in late June to take Lin, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler out to dinner.
“I walked away, like, ‘This is sweet,’ ” Lin said. “I was thinking, ‘I’m excited.’ Before that dinner, I had reservations. Afterward I was like, ‘Yeah, this is going to be good.’ ”
Lin also floated the possibility that organizations, perhaps the Knicks, subconsciously aren’t yet sold on him because of his heritage. The 24-year-old Lin had a storybook 48-day, 26-game run last season, ending in surgery. Only Houston made him an offer.
“There’s a lot of perceptions and stereotypes of Asian-Americans that are out there today,” Lin said. “I’m going to have to play well for a longer period of time for certain people to believe it, because I’m Asian. And that’s just the reality of it.”