Jeremy Lin got enough of the spotlight and attention last year in New York, thank you very much. As the NBA All-Star weekend is now in the books, Jeremy Lin has been telling anyone who will listen that he is happy he didn’t make the all-star game (by the skin of his teeth). Lin didn’t feel he was deserving this year to make the team. And although he’s right, you can’t help but sympathize with the guy that undoubtedly would have been skewered by the media had he received more votes than Chris Paul and made the all-star game. Something that would have been completely out of his control….
“I’m kind of thankful I didn’t get voted because when … I want to make sure I’m fully, fully deserving of it, when I play,” Lin said after the team’s evening practice on Monday. “And I didn’t feel like that was the case this year.”
Lin received 883,809 All-Star votes this season. He received the third-highest votes of any guard in the Western Conference. Kobe Bryant was first, followed by Chris Paul, about 45,000 votes ahead of Lin. Had Lin been voted in, Paul, the game’s MVP, wouldn’t have even been a starter in the game. He likely would have made the team as a reserve, though.
To put the number of votes Lin received in perspective, Harden was fourth among voting for Western Conference guards with 485,986 – or nearly 400,000 behind Lin. (via CSN Houston)
Given the festivities were in Houston this year, I’m sure there are a lot of disappointed Rockets fans who would have loved to see their two franchise guys playing, but Chris Paul deserved to start, and showed that in his MVP performance.
Maybe next year it will be Jeremy Lin’s turn to return to the NBA spotlight.
