The phrase I keep hearing is “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
It’s a Tuesday in February in Toronto and I just attended the most-attended recent basketball media event anyone in this city can seem to remember: Jeremy Lin’s press conference. It was held in a room last used for this purpose when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and the returning Chris Bosh were here last season. But that was postgame. This is unprecedented.
I arrived at about 10:15. All the cameras in the above picture were set up, but there were only about 15 of us there. That number would multiply quickly. As we waited, people talked about how nuts this is and shared pictures of Lin’s SI cover on their phones.
“It’s only been five games.”
“Imagine if he’s out of the league in a couple of months.”
The first sentiment isn’t getting any less amazing. The second is something I find hard to fathom, but we’ll leave the speculation and talk of actual basketball for now.
Mike D’Antoni started his 10:45 AM press conference with the same joke Dwane Casey used at practice yesterday: “Are we into the playoffs now?” He talked for six minutes about Lin, emphasizing that it is not easy for anyone to deal with this hype but that he’s not worried about Lin because he’s such a good kid. He did not answer a reporter’s question about his favorite Lin pun.
The good kid was next, and he had to talk about himself more than he wanted to. He deflected a question about Floyd Mayweather’s tweet and how his race impacts how he’s viewed, he gave credit to God and his teammates wherever possible. There was an odd moment where a reporter gave him a gift “from his Canadian fans” — he accepted it with a smile and a thank you. He also obliged when asked by that same reporter to give a message to his fans in Mandarin. The message? Simply “thank you to everyone for watching us play basketball.” His use of us is instructive — it’s never about me with Lin. Just over a week removed from his first breakout game, it’s awkward to steal the spotlight from proven stars. It’s uncomfortable to have all of these cameras on you. He didn’t ask to be the biggest story in the NBA, but he’s dealing with it as best he can.
Many reporters aren’t covering the game tonight so much as they’re covering the circus around the game, myself included. CBC interviewed four different New York beatwriters. The Asian reporters in attendance found themselves supplying quotes for others. There was an actual scrum around Frank Isola. Let’s just say none of this happened when I was here to cover the Timberwolves last month.
