Emotional Jeremy Lin: the NBA has given up on me

[ederson]

He was surprisingly bitter, he also stated that if he had a son he would tell him not to be an NBA player. It's just very bizarre, I'd absolutely tell my son to join the NBA if it meant earning 50 million throughout your career and still have a top university degree to fall back on after it.

Yeah, plus Lin has one of the most unique NBA experiences ever. He went from taking over the nation with Linsanity to bouncing around a few teams as a good back-up to becoming an injury-prone yet solid starter to finally not getting minutes on his team in the Finals.

Weird experience, especially considering his high school and college experiences

Yeah, I really wouldn't have been too bitter about such a career if I were him. 50 million in career earnings and an NBA championship in a 7-8 year career is really nice lol.

Trying to be in his shoes he is just 30yo and could have 3-4-5 years more of this. Getting emotional like this is a bit too much but i can understand the frustration

[PAOBoston]

What a drama queen. Yes, it’s hard to find a job. Only so many spots in the NBA. This guy has made over $40 mil in his career, has a degree from Harvard, and just won a championship. He’d get a contract in Europe or China pretty easily if he wanted to go.

[Somebody]

What a drama queen. Yes, it’s hard to find a job. Only so many spots in the NBA. This guy has made over $40 mil in his career, has a degree from Harvard, and just won a championship. He’d get a contract in Europe or China pretty easily if he wanted to go.

He'd probably get a 10M contract in China too, with only a 25% tax!

[Muzzy66]

1. Harvard education
2. $65 million in career earnings doing a job you truly love and are passionate about
3. Multiple years as a genuine global celebrity
4. By the age of 40 you can retire with enough money to ensure nobody in your family ever needs to work again in their lifetime

Sounds like a really sad, depressing life man...

What an entitled little prima-donna, seriously.   

I'd estimate that about 95% of the people on this earth would give just about anything if they could experience the type of financial, educational and career success in their lifetime that this guy has already experienced by the age of 30.   He seriously has the nerve to complain?

I understand that everybody has ambitions and goals, and everybody has the right to feel disappointing when things don't turn out the way you like...but for goodness sake, keep it to yourself.  Think about the billions of people in the world who are struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on the table before you go on publicly airing your entitled little emotional breakdowns.

[RJ87]

I'll always have a soft spot for Lin because me and my nephew met him randomly during the height of Linsanity and he couldn't have been more gracious and humble. He's still one of my nephew's favorite players. I've worked with enough athletes (and their "people") to know that's not always the case.

I hope he lands on a team soon and continue to show that he's passed that patella injury.

[gouki88]

1. Harvard education
2. $65 million in career earnings doing a job you truly love and are passionate about
3. Multiple years as a genuine global celebrity
4. By the age of 40 you can retire with enough money to ensure nobody in your family ever needs to work again in their lifetime

Sounds like a really sad, depressing life man...

What an entitled little prima-donna, seriously.   

I'd estimate that about 95% of the people on this earth would give just about anything if they could experience the type of financial, educational and career success in their lifetime that this guy has already experienced by the age of 30.   He seriously has the nerve to complain?

I understand that everybody has ambitions and goals, and everybody has the right to feel disappointing when things don't turn out the way you like...but for goodness sake, keep it to yourself.  Think about the billions of people in the world who are struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on the table before you go on publicly airing your entitled little emotional breakdowns.

I get that Lin has the finances and material wealth to outdo almost everyone in the world, but I don't know that he can't complain because of this.

In my experience people's happiness seems to be mostly determined by what they do, rather than what they have. And he's unable to do what he loves despite him thinking he's still able. That's gotta be a very hard thing to try and process.

Plus, if he's truly over his injury then I think he's right. He was giving Toronto and Atlanta solid production (even if he went through a cold spell from 3 in Toronto)

[Muzzy66]

1. Harvard education
2. $65 million in career earnings doing a job you truly love and are passionate about
3. Multiple years as a genuine global celebrity
4. By the age of 40 you can retire with enough money to ensure nobody in your family ever needs to work again in their lifetime

Sounds like a really sad, depressing life man...

What an entitled little prima-donna, seriously.   

I'd estimate that about 95% of the people on this earth would give just about anything if they could experience the type of financial, educational and career success in their lifetime that this guy has already experienced by the age of 30.   He seriously has the nerve to complain?

I understand that everybody has ambitions and goals, and everybody has the right to feel disappointing when things don't turn out the way you like...but for goodness sake, keep it to yourself.  Think about the billions of people in the world who are struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on the table before you go on publicly airing your entitled little emotional breakdowns.

I get that Lin has the finances and material wealth to outdo almost everyone in the world, but I don't know that he can't complain because of this.

In my experience people's happiness seems to be mostly determined by what they do, rather than what they have. And he's unable to do what he loves despite him thinking he's still able. That's gotta be a very hard thing to try and process.

Plus, if he's truly over his injury then I think he's right. He was giving Toronto and Atlanta solid production (even if he went through a cold spell from 3 in Toronto)

Everybody has things in their life that don't go / haven't gone as planned. 

Most of us also understand that that's life, and sometimes you just have to come to terms with what life throws at you and learn to make the most of your situation.

Most of us don't feel the need to go publicly whining about it when we know that we have been far more fortunate then most people out there, and that in the the grand scheme of things the problems we are complaining about are ultimately pretty [dang] petty compared to the things that most people have to go through.

Money might not buy happiness, but I can assure you it's very difficult to be happy when you don't have it. 

It's hard to be happy:

* When you can't afford to spend time with your family because you need to work 15 hours a day just to keep a roof over head and food on the table

* When you can't afford to send your children to a quality school so they can get a decent education

* When you you live in constant fear knowing that you couldn't dream of paying for medical procedures if (god forbid) anybody in your family ever needed to have them done

* When you're constantly at risk of having the electricity cut off because you can't afford to pay your bills on time

Jeremy Lin's $65M in career earnings may not necessarily be enough to make him truly happy - but it's enough to ensure that he (and the people he cares about) will never have to live through any of those life experiences from now until they day he dies. 

Many people need to work their fingers to the bone until they are 60+ years old in order to reach that level of comfort. Many (in fact, I'd say most) people in the world die having never been reached that point, and are still struggling with these stresses up until their last days. 

Lin is an incredibly privileged individual, and while he certainly may have reasons to be disappointed with his life, he really has no reason to be publicly whining about it given that 90% of the audience he's whining to has things a lot tougher then he does

[Somebody]

1. Harvard education
2. $65 million in career earnings doing a job you truly love and are passionate about
3. Multiple years as a genuine global celebrity
4. By the age of 40 you can retire with enough money to ensure nobody in your family ever needs to work again in their lifetime

Sounds like a really sad, depressing life man...

What an entitled little prima-donna, seriously.   

I'd estimate that about 95% of the people on this earth would give just about anything if they could experience the type of financial, educational and career success in their lifetime that this guy has already experienced by the age of 30.   He seriously has the nerve to complain?

I understand that everybody has ambitions and goals, and everybody has the right to feel disappointing when things don't turn out the way you like...but for goodness sake, keep it to yourself.  Think about the billions of people in the world who are struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on the table before you go on publicly airing your entitled little emotional breakdowns.

I get that Lin has the finances and material wealth to outdo almost everyone in the world, but I don't know that he can't complain because of this.

In my experience people's happiness seems to be mostly determined by what they do, rather than what they have. And he's unable to do what he loves despite him thinking he's still able. That's gotta be a very hard thing to try and process.

Plus, if he's truly over his injury then I think he's right. He was giving Toronto and Atlanta solid production (even if he went through a cold spell from 3 in Toronto)

Everybody has things in their life that don't go / haven't gone as planned. 

Most of us also understand that that's life, and sometimes you just have to come to terms with what life throws at you and learn to make the most of your situation.

Most of us don't feel the need to go publicly whining about it when we know that we have been far more fortunate then most people out there, and that in the the grand scheme of things the problems we are complaining about are ultimately pretty [dang] petty compared to the things that most people have to go through.

Money might not buy happiness, but I can assure you it's very difficult to be happy when you don't have it. 

It's hard to be happy:

* When you can't afford to spend time with your family because you need to work 15 hours a day just to keep a roof over head and food on the table

* When you can't afford to send your children to a quality school so they can get a decent education

* When you you live in constant fear knowing that you couldn't dream of paying for medical procedures if (god forbid) anybody in your family ever needed to have them done

* When you're constantly at risk of having the electricity cut off because you can't afford to pay your bills on time

Jeremy Lin's $65M in career earnings may not necessarily be enough to make him truly happy - but it's enough to ensure that he (and the people he cares about) will never have to live through any of those life experiences from now until they day he dies. 

Many people need to work their fingers to the bone until they are 60+ years old in order to reach that level of comfort. Many (in fact, I'd say most) people in the world die having never been reached that point, and are still struggling with these stresses up until their last days. 

Lin is an incredibly privileged individual, and while he certainly may have reasons to be disappointed with his life, he really has no reason to be publicly whining about it given that 90% of the audience he's whining to has things a lot tougher then he does

Granted quite a number of those points don't really hold true in Taiwan lol, but agreed.

[Androslav]

NBA also gave up on me (I wasn't good), don't worry you'll get a hang of it soon Jeremy.

[ChillyWilly]

It's all about perspective. Lin grew up in one of the nicest neighborhoods in America. Both parents are well educated and hard working.

His biggest early life struggle was being the kid of successful immagrants. While his road to the NBA wasn't given to him his backfall options were pretty amazing. His parents knocked it out of the park setting him up for life.

To J Lin what's happening to his NBA career is bottom of his barrel. His perspective of what life gives is different from a kid who grew up in the ghetto raised by a grandparent who on SSI.

How anyone reacts to a situation is always about their perspective.

[dannyboy35]

   Yeah. Perspective is everything. I’m sure that I am unfair in my opinion of people born into immense privilege. I know it does t mean people don’t work hard. Can’t take that Harvard degree away. But I think when someone complains publicly this way it just shows a huge disconnect t. He’s not able to see that 99 percent of people reading what he said can’t relate to it and don’t care to. I’m guessing  the not caring part is harder for him to realize. It’s not necessarily selfish. It’s just extremely self centered. Not throwing that out as an insult. I don’t try to relate to people born into immense wealth. I have a pretty strong prejudice against the guy with the 200 dollar pair of sunglasses ( I don’t even know the price of expensive sunglasses. Lol) sweater tied around the neck, wearing salmon pants talking with his friends about their boats. I know it’s actually wrong of me. Those people have problems too. Maybe their are similar experiences we could relate to about but I’m guessing I won’t get there.  I don’t have any ill will but also don’t care to relate. Again, I know it’s not right but that’s where I am now.

[Somebody]

It's all about perspective. Lin grew up in one of the nicest neighborhoods in America. Both parents are well educated and hard working.

His biggest early life struggle was being the kid of successful immagrants. While his road to the NBA wasn't given to him his backfall options were pretty amazing. His parents knocked it out of the park setting him up for life.

To J Lin what's happening to his NBA career is bottom of his barrel. His perspective of what life gives is different from a kid who grew up in the ghetto raised by a grandparent who on SSI.

How anyone reacts to a situation is always about their perspective.

I disagree, if anything he should've known that he could've been in a situation that is much worse, instead of crying about how awesome the bottom point of his life is. I've met people who were born into similar or even better situations, and they don't whine like that at all when facing failure or difficulties. He's just acting like a privileged brat right now imo, and I'm not a fan of it.

[bdm860]

To me, it sounds like Jeremy Lin thought he had another NBA contract coming, and it's hitting him hard that there were no offers.  Personally, this is part of the reason why I feel a lot of athletes (and people in general) end up broke.  Now this doesn't apply to Lin specifically, I heard he's frugal/smart with finances, but the situation he's in is what gets a lot of people in trouble.

You look around the league, and there's always several players pushing 40.  From former superstars to career role players, and everything in between.  I think it's easy for guys to fall into the trap of living lavishly now, but think they'll start saving with that next big contract.  Only that next big contract never comes.

I bet Lin thought he had at least another $15m-$30m/2-3yr deal left in him, and couple of vet minimums after that.

We know Isaiah thought somebody was backing up the Brinks truck for him, was  probably expecting a $100m contract, and probably thought he could play till at least 35 back when he was in Boston.  Now after a couple of minimums, not even sure he'll be in the league next year.

Antoine was the same way.  I know he thought he had another big contract left in him, only to find himself bouncing around the G-League trying to convince an NBA team he could still contribute.

I'm sure a lot of the guys think, "if a guy like Kyle Korver is still signing contracts to play when he's 39, I'm better than Korver, I can play at that age too if I want, so those contracts will be there."  A few role players are able to sign decent contracts well into their 30's, so everybody thinks they'll be able to do it if they want.

So players are planning for that extra $20m, $30m, $40m+ in earnings that never comes.  And regular people do this too, think they'll be able to work until 65-70 (if they want), only to be laid off at 45-50 and then can't find anybody to hire them anywhere near their previous earnings.  It's a cold world.

[Somebody]

To me, it sounds like Jeremy Lin thought he had another NBA contract coming, and it's hitting him hard that there were no offers.  Personally, this is part of the reason why I feel a lot of athletes (and people in general) end up broke.  Now this doesn't apply to Lin specifically, I heard he's frugal/smart with finances, but the situation he's in is what gets a lot of people in trouble.

You look around the league, and there's always several players pushing 40.  From former superstars to career role players, and everything in between.  I think it's easy for guys to fall into the trap of living lavishly now, but think they'll start saving with that next big contract.  Only that next big contract never comes.

I bet Lin thought he had at least another $15m-$30m/2-3yr deal left in him, and couple of vet minimums after that.

We know Isaiah thought somebody was backing up the Brinks truck for him, was  probably expecting a $100m contract, and probably thought he could play till at least 35 back when he was in Boston.  Now after a couple of minimums, not even sure he'll be in the league next year.

Antoine was the same way.  I know he thought he had another big contract left in him, only to find himself bouncing around the G-League trying to convince an NBA team he could still contribute.

I'm sure a lot of the guys think, "if a guy like Kyle Korver is still signing contracts to play when he's 39, I'm better than Korver, I can play at that age too if I want, so those contracts will be there."  A few role players are able to sign decent contracts well into their 30's, so everybody thinks they'll be able to do it if they want.

So players are planning for that extra $20m, $30m, $40m+ in earnings that never comes.  And regular people do this too, think they'll be able to work until 65-70 (if they want), only to be laid off at 45-50 and then can't find anybody to hire them anywhere near their previous earnings.  It's a cold world.

Absolutely, I've seen this happen a lot to my parents' former colleagues. People just don't seem to realise that they're expensive but replaceable cogs in the machine if they don't manage to get into a top managerial role/set up an SME by their 40s or 50s.

[hwangjini_1]

Thats NBA life..one day everyone wants u, next day u are just a number..thats why all athletes in every sport should save some money cause u dont know what tomorrow will bring

true. and since lin has earned about $52,000,000 in the nba, he shouldn't have to worry much financially.

oh, and IT has made around $33,000,000. i should be enough to be comfortable on for life. and if not, then these poor souls may have to suffer the horrific and unjust fate of being like us and having to get a job.