Jeremy Lin is one of the most talked about players in the NBA and that is one reason why the Houston Rockets point guard sat down for an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" as the team is preparing for a playoff push as the postseason is two weeks away.
According to CBS News, Lin sat down with Charlie Rose for an interview and a story that is set to air on Sunday and it includes reports on his life story as well as how he struggled to get a college basketball scholarship out of high school. The interview has Rose speaking with Lin about the idea of an Asian stereotype in basketball and how that may have affected the scholarship as well as the NBA draft. Both Lin and NBA Commissioner David Stern said that the stereotype was a reason and the report also talks about his amazing run in New York last year that sparked the "Linsanity" craze in Madison Square Garden.
Rose is seen asking Lin about possible scholarships to UCLA or Stanford, which were nearby his high school, where he was named player of the year while leading his Palo Alto High School team to a California state championship. He also commented on how ethnicity is linked to athletic ability by some people that he was looked at differently by scouts due to his Asian ethnicity.
"Well, the obvious thing in my mind is that I was Asian American which, you know, is a whole different issue but...I think that was a barrier."
Lin went to Harvard and played for a few years, but he wasn't drafted by anyone in the NBA and Stern mentioned that there is a chance that race played into it. Lin took the long route to NBA stardom, riding the bench and playing in summer leagues before catching on with the Knicks and taking over New York. The team was expected to retain him, but he signed a larger deal with the Rockets that the Knicks could not match.
Rose talks to Lin's family and parents in the profile and it talks about his run this season with the Rockets. The team is currently 42-33 and has won three games in a row after a 112-102 win over the Kings that saw Lin score 15 points with 10 assists, while Chandler Parsons led the way with 29. The team has been excellent on offense through Lin this season, ranking first in scoring and fifth in assists with over 20 per game.
Lin struggled earlier in the year, but he has since been playing much better and has the Rockets in the seventh spot in the Western conference ahead of the Lakers and just behind the Warriors as the playoffs get closer.