Ex NBA and MLB players get a lot of hype when they come to Taiwan. It’s the two most popular sport. Not that hard to get. Jeremy obviously gets a boost as his family is from Taiwan originally.
As for his hype, ask any Knicks fan what their best memory has been the last 2-3 decades. A lot of them will say Lin.
He’s been a true underdog story people like. He lead his team as the best player to win state in California and was all state as one of the top ranked players with not a single college D1 offer to play which is unheard of. He has a good college career and his tangible numbers are insane, he was the 2nd fastest player after John Wall that draft and yet he was not drafted. The path he took to the NBA for many is inspiring. So people like him.
He always played 11 seasons in the NBA. He might not have been a star the entire time but that’s rather amazing. The average career is 3-5 years. 10+ years is a solid career for the NBA.
So yes. People still really like him, especially fans in Taiwan that would love to see him in person at the end of his career.
He’s a Taiwanese hero. If he came out of retirement 20 years from now to play for a second-tier league in Taiwan there would be mania.
If your question is whether or not he should be a Taiwanese hero then that’s more legitimate. But an amazing half-a-season is far more than any other player of Taiwanese heritage in the history of the NBA.
I wasn’t in Taiwan at the time, but was there much hype around former No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett going to play for Kaohsiung last season and Hsinchu this season?
The interesting thing is that, as per local papers, this was originally published by a China paper. Hence, they are the ones having a laugh at Taiwanese expense, knowing which buttons to push for a reaction.
Taiwan does not get a lot of exposure, least to say positive news. Very few national heroes. And those few they have, usually turn on their heels and jump ship to China going after the big bucks, example: gold medalist in taekwondo.
Jeremy was actually pretty athletic & decent size (6’3 guard). The problem was, he’s not a pure PG but he can get buckets. Then again, there was, and still is, just too many good guards in the NBA, especially young guards coming into the league that can get you 10+ pts/game and can play good defense. That’s another reason Patrick Beverly won the starting job over Jeremy when they were in Houston.
China is a bigger market compared to Taiwan. I don’t blame them going after the $ bag. Afterall, your government don’t pay you (unless u work for the government)…they actually take money from you. Most people care more about financial stability over political point of view. I look at it as someone is trying to feed their own family and better their own lives. If the government or people are bothered by it, then make sure you pay them to stay where you want them to stay, and pay them more than the competition.
Every Knicks game shown live with inset live streaming from his grandparents living room.
J-Lin although not pure PG, is a ball handler. Think The Beard, Russ or Kyrie. Playing with Beard in Houston, Kobe in Lakers are not helping his case. He was injured badly in Hornets and too far in bench for Hawks and Raptors.
Because thank goodness the good ones have the US option and second, baseball is not big in China. It is a Japan/US export, therefore despicable in their eyes. Otherwise…
I think that is part of their allure of having J-,Lin there: he also serves as part of the propaganda of we are one people, Taiwan is part of China.
Artists, athletes, high tech talent, all is good for two reasons: the political value, then maybe their own value.
Jiang Taiquan (江泰權) and several others came to mind. Several players banned from pro-ball due to the game fixing scandal went to China to play or coach.
Seems like his Mandarin fluency improved drastically having lived in China for a couple of years. The ABC accent is strong in this one though, not that there’s anything wrong with it.
