"Linsanity" wasn't just pandemonium for basketball narratives, it also placed the value of Jeremy Lin at a much higher clip than what was reasonable. The Rockets forced the Knicks' hand by offering Lin a three-year, $25 million contract with nearly $15 million set on the back end.
At least for the moment, it meant that Jeremy Lin was the Rockets' franchise player, and he was certainly marketed and hyped that way. Not enough has been said for the relief the James Harden trade brought to town, not just in terms of competition, but deflecting from the glaring mistake that would've been Lin as the go-to guy.
The disappointment isn't lost on him either. These were some of his quotes at the “Dream Big, Be Yourself” youth conference in Taipei, Taiwan, via the Houston Chronicle.
“I was ready to invigorate the entire city of Houston. I was supposed to save Houston basketball."
“I became so obsessed with becoming a great basketball player … trying to be Linsanity, being this phenomenon that took the NBA by storm,” Lin told the audience. “The coaches were losing faith in me, basketball fans were making fun of me.”
