For a couple months in 2012, Jeremy Lin was the toast of New York. Almost appearing out of thin air, Lin went on a tear over the month of February and much of March, leading to the invention of the term "Linsanity" and the positioning of Lin as the Knicks superstar point guard for years to come.
That didn't happen, of course, as Lin left to join the Houston Rockets in the offseason and has carved out a decent, if unspectacular, career as a slightly above average point guard, but Linsanity will forever be a part of Knicks lore. And while Knicks brass said at the time that letting Lin leave in free agency was strictly a financial decision, stating they weren't prepared to match the three-year, $21 million deal the Rockets gave Lin, comments from Lin's then teammate, Amar'e Stoudemire, paint a different picture.
With Stoudemire, now a member of the Miami Heat, in New York to take on the Knicks Sunday night, he was asked about the Linsanity years, and had a strange answer.
"If he stayed it would've been cool. But everyone wasn't a fan of him being the new star," Stoudemire told ESPN. "So he didn't stay long. But Jeremy was a great, great guy. Great teammate. He put the work in and we're proud of him to have his moment. A lot of times you gotta enjoy someone's success. And that wasn't the case for us during that stretch."
Apparently, while Lin's run provided Knicks fan with moments they probably won't ever forget, the rest of his team wasn't feeling his sudden success. Was Lin cocky about it, and rubbed teammates the wrong way? Was Carmelo Anthony not feeling another player stepping in to his spotlight? We'll probably never know, but Stoudemire's comments put a new spin on the whole Linsanity era.
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[Via @NotoriousOHM]
