SPORTS
August 4, 2014
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 9
Asians in American sports w Asian Americans in world sports
Lin and Spoelstra face new
NBA challenges next season
By Mike Street
Special to The Asian Reporter
t was a good, but not great, year for the Asian-
American standouts in the National Basketball
Association (NBA), but better days should lie ahead.
Sparkplug Chinese-American point guard Jeremy Lin
and the Houston Rockets reached the playoffs but lost in
the first round, while Filipino-American coach Erik
Spoelstra and his Miami Heat made the NBA Finals for
the fourth straight season, but lost for the second time in
that span. Both men will face new challenges next season,
as Lin will play for a team in his home state of California
while Spoelstra will try to replicate his success without
his team’s — and the league’s — best player.
After Lin’s breakthrough season with the New York
Knicks in 2011-2012, he signed a three-year, $25-million
deal with the Houston Rockets. They expected Lin to
electrify the moribund Rockets with his “Linsanity,” since
the team had failed to reach the playoffs for three straight
seasons. That first year, Lin started all 82 games as the
team’s point guard, but he didn’t build on his numbers
from the year before; nearly all of his stats remained the
same, while his assists and points per game declined.
Lin still had value to the Rockets, ranking third on the
team in points and 22nd in the league in assists, but he
also ranked 19th worst in the league for turnovers and
was not considered a strong defender. Feeling his skills
were too similar to rookie superstar James Harden,
Houston moved Lin to the bench last season in favor of a
backcourt of Harden and Patrick Beverley.
Even as a bench player, Lin still scored the fifth-most
points on the team last season while improving his
performance at the free-throw line and beyond the
three-point arc. But the Rockets wanted to clear some
salary cap room to pursue free agent Chris Bosh, and
many expected Houston to trade their Asian-American
star.
Lin got the clearest sign of his future when free agent
Carmelo Anthony visited Houston, and the team posted a
huge sign of Anthony in a Rockets jersey near the
entrance to the arena. The sign showed Anthony wearing
number 7, his current number in New York — and Lin’s
current number in Houston.
In the end, Houston traded Lin to Los Angeles, who
already have an aging point guard in Steve Nash, but
Nash only started 10 games for the Lakers last season due
to nerve problems in his back and legs. His mentorship,
and any more time lost to injury, could allow Lin to return
to the starting lineup and dish to superstar Kobe Bryant
and free agent acquisition Carlos Boozer, all under the
watchful eye of new head coach Byron Scott. A fresh start
could be just the thing to inspire Lin to his former glory.
While Erik Spoelstra wasn’t looking for a fresh start for
his Miami Heat, a lineup shakeup seemed inevitable after
Chinese man brings gay
conversion therapy lawsuit
Continued from page 4
not offer,” said Li. “The
staff told my client the
electric shock felt like
‘being bit by a mosquito,’
but it turned out not to be.”
A man at the clinic in
southwest Chongqing city
said he had no comment
and hung up. Baidu said in
an e-mailed statement that
it doesn’t comment on cases
that are in the legal
process.
The lawyer said they
were asking for compensa-
tion of more than 14,000
yuan ($2,300) to cover the
cost of the therapy, the
plane journey to Chong-
qing, and lost earnings due
to the trip. In addition, they
are demanding an apology
on the websites of both
companies, he said.
Li said a judgement
should be given within six
months.
A man from the court’s
duty office said he had no
information about the case
and referred calls to the
general office where no one
answered.
The Beijing LGBT Cen-
ter organized a demonstra-
tion outside the court
ahead of the hearing, with
a handful of people holding
banners
with
slogans
including “Homosexuality
is Not a Disease, We Don’t
Need to be Cured.” Xin
played a doctor who
pretended to give another
demonstrator laying down
on the sidewalk electric
shock treatment.
Chinese society is in-
creasingly accepting of
gays and lesbians, al-
though same-sex partner-
ships are not recognized
and no laws outlaw dis-
crimination against sexual
minorities.
AP researcher Fu Ting in Shang-
hai contributed to this report.
the San Antonio Spurs dominated the Heat, four games to
one, in the 2014 NBA Finals, winning those four games by
an average of 18 points. Miami, for its part, won its lone
game by just two points and generally looked like the
challenger instead of the defender of back-to-back
championships. A three-peat had seemed inevitable for
the Heat’s star-studded lineup.
In 2010, Miami orchestrated a sign-and-trade deal with
the Cleveland Cavaliers for LeBron James, basketball’s
best player. James joined point guard Dwyane Wade and
power forward and center Chris Bosh, both regarded as
among the top players at their positions.
Blessed with such a trio, Erik Spoelstra faced heavy
expectations to not just win, but dominate and take home
a championship. The team reached the NBA Finals in the
first season with the Big Three, but fell to the Dallas
Mavericks. This created a mini-crisis for Spo, whose
contract expired at the end of the 2010-2011 season, and
some wondered if the Heat would keep the league’s first
Asian-American head coach.
Heat team president Pat Riley, who has also served as
Spoelstra’s mentor, showed his continuing confidence in
Spo by inking him to a two-season extension. In those two
years, Spoelstra led the Heat to back-to-back
championships, and no one was surprised when Miami
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AP Photo/Michael Conroy
AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens
I
OFFSEASON ACTIVITY. Jeremy Lin (left photo, #7), a Houston
Rocket for the past two seasons, is now a Los Angeles Laker. Erik
Spoelstra (right photo), head coach of the Miami Heat for the past six
seasons, remains at the helm while the organization endures the loss
and gain of players during the offseason.
signed him to yet another extension last year, one that
Riley said would make Spoelstra their coach for “a long,
long time.”
That confidence is sure to be helpful after this year’s
disappointing finish to another excellent season.
The biggest question after the Spurs won the
championship was the fate of LeBron James, whose
contract was ending. Rather than continue with his
talented teammates in Miami, James chose to return
home to Cleveland and help rebuild the Cavaliers.
Scrambling to shore up the team in his absence, Miami
quickly re-signed Chris Bosh to a five-year deal, beating
out a lucrative four-year offer from the Rockets. Then they
inked Wade to a two-year contract, ensuring that two of
the Big Three would return for Spo’s next season.
Spo and Riley have further choices to make, like
re-signing free agents Michael Beasley and Greg Oden,
but they are ensured the services of excellent role players
like Chris “Birdman” Anderson, Mario Chalmers, Luol
Deng, and Udonis Haslem.
Most of all, however, they have the steady hand of Erik
Spoelstra at the helm, who has 314 victories in six seasons
with the Heat. At that rate, he could become the team’s
winningest coach by 2018, possibly passing Riley’s 454
Miami wins. Bright futures like this will give Asian-
American sports fans plenty to look forward to from Lin
and Spoelstra in 2015 and beyond.