President Obama was not as shocked by Linsanity as some.
In a podcast with Grantland.com, Obama said he had some advanced scouting on the Knicks breakout star from one of his advisers.
“And I knew about Jeremy before you did, or everybody else did, because Arne Duncan, my secretary of education, was captain of the Harvard team,” Obama said of Jeremy Lin’s alma mater.
“And so way back when, Arne and I were playing and he said, ‘I’m telling you, we’ve got this terrific guard named Jeremy Lin at Harvard.’ And then one of my best friends, his son is a freshman at Harvard, and so when he went for a recruiting trip he saw Lin in action. So I’ve been on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon for a while.”
Lin has led the Knicks to a 10-3 record since given significant time in the lineup, starting with a victory over the Nets on Feb. 4. The president, a noted Bulls fan, was asked why he did not tip off Chicago to Lin’s prowess.
“Well, we’ve got this pretty good point guard on the Bulls (Derrick Rose) as well. So he might not have gotten as much (playing time) as he did,” Obama said of Lin, who was waived by the Warriors and Rockets before landing with the Knicks.
Despite Lin’s success, Obama said he is not concerned about the Knicks surpassing the Bulls, who are second in the Eastern Conference behind the Heat.
“No, if you look at what has been happening with the Bulls, even with Rose out, even with (Luol) Deng out, [they’ve] still got one of the best records in the league,” Obama said.