I’m comfortable saying, “Oh yeah, that was Linsanity.” That shows you where I stand on that.
Originally I thought I’d never do anything close to Linsanity. I don’t want to do a documentary or anything or go back in time.
But then I thought, I have no problem with that. I would really like to do it because it was a special moment and also because now we have to talk about it. Linsanity has become so much more important and valuable to me.
You just mentioned that we need to talk about this. Why is that?
This was a special moment for Asian Americans and minorities. That’s because there are so few of those moments. That’s because society doesn’t usually celebrate moments like this. And because we don’t see that kind of success in people who don’t look like it.
What is the biggest misconception about this period of your life?
The way I left New York and the attacks on my character. I don’t mind getting criticism for my game. Or when I look in a certain direction. If I play a certain way or whatever. But when you talk about my character, it hits me differently personally.
I remember the vast majority of fans weren’t mad at you for joining the Rockets. They were mad at the Knicks for not keeping you.
Yes and no. There were definitely a lot of people who were mad at me, but the narrative that came out was that I went to the Rockets first to ask for more money and that I purposely put New York in a bad spot. That’s the narrative that was spun onto me and called like, you know, certain things or chasing the money.
The real story is that I actually went to my agent and said to him, “Can we go back to the Rockets and ask for a less lucrative offer? Because I actually want to go back to New York, and I really want to go back to New York. And I don’t want there to be a poison pill.” That’s the real story. But that’s not the story that was thrown out there.