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  • Alright everybody! Welcome back to the Asian Guys Talk About the NBA!

  • The Jeremy Lin edition.

  • In Charlotte North Carolina

  • This is part two.

  • Watch part 1 in the description below.

  • Alright. We're gonna talk about some more fun stuff for you kids

  • Because this is really dope for us

  • Wanne be NBA geeks.

  • A lot of people on the Internet are saying

  • Yo Jeremy! What's up with the hair?

  • You look like a...

  • Asian bowl cut. Some people will more go like GOHAN

  • And then next game you went with GOKU

  • And I feel like the Mohawk right now is this

  • It's like a kind of punk rock

  • Like Sum 41

  • First of all, I'll give you guys nice look of my hair

  • OH! MY! GOD!

  • So, I've been surprised how much attention my hair has got

  • Basically, how it all started was me and my little brother

  • If you watch the way we dress

  • or some of the things we like to do

  • Sometimes a little off the wall

  • Just express yourself and have fun with it

  • So um, my little brother has a rattail

  • I've had a Mohawk before

  • I wear some little bright loud colors and clothes

  • We're sitting there one day this summer, and I was like "Hey man"

  • "I really want this for my hair style."

  • And I'm not gonna say what it is. I can't.

  • And he was like "What?"

  • "I was thinking the same exact thing!"

  • And I was like, alright, we're going together

  • And we're like "Alright, cool!" But then

  • We end up getting five other people to join us

  • My trainer's doing it; my cousin's doing it.

  • My agent's doing it

  • There's gonna be seven of us doing it

  • The problem is: This awkward middle phase.

  • I mean, people who like to make fun of my hair are like

  • Men, you know, you don't think I wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and be like

  • Yo, what is this?

  • Obviously, I think it's terrible, too!

  • I've had a mohawk for another five years!

  • Can I suggest some...

  • Cause I kinda have a little long hair. I got the pompadour. If you ever think about it

  • Let me know. I'll cut you.

  • What in you opinion is your signature move?

  • My signature move is my hesitation right

  • I just come up

  • I hesitate

  • I pause for a little bit

  • And I just keep on going to the right

  • It's a very very simple move, but

  • If you can get the deception down

  • The change of speed, it should work pretty well

  • Oh I know. We gotta talk about you going to Adidas.

  • You've been to Adidas for how many years?

  • Um. Like a year and a half or so

  • I'm in the Crazylight Boost

  • I got the player edition

  • So I got to design them

  • They put my logo on there

  • And I got to choose the material

  • like the sole, the way it looks

  • Just the colorway

  • The new ones is about it

  • So that was pretty fun

  • I saw you recently posted the ones with the ice blue sole

  • Yeah

  • The ice clear sole

  • That's the one that you design

  • Yeah, I designed that one and I'll probably post it soon 'cause I just got it a couple weeks ago

  • I worn them in my most recent game but there is a galaxy edition that I make

  • 'Cause I was like, "Purple and teal."

  • I have a backpack that's kind of purple and teal, so I was like, "Let's make a galaxy shoe."

  • So you played in the Bay, you played in New York, you played in Houston, and LA.

  • Those are huge Asian markets.

  • You are now in Charlotte. I believe it's 4% Asian.

  • What are you gonna miss?

  • I'm definitely gonna miss seeing Asian people

  • 'Cause like, I grew up with a lot of Asians, in family, in church

  • So I definitely miss that

  • Last year, it's like, oh you want bubble tea, you want dim sum

  • Well yeah you can like Korean BBQ or good sushi or whatever, it's not like Chinese food, but it's Asian

  • You know, out here I'm like, "I don't even know if I'm gonna eat sushi out here."

  • Let's just eat sandwiches. Yeah.

  • I miss being close to my friends 'cause a lot of my friends are Asian

  • and so, you know when they come visit, it's a lot harder to fly across the country than just go to LA

  • I guess one question I had was, and this is just from the people that I grew up around

  • I don't think they understand it. I think that I have an understanding now especially meeting you, just kind of following your career

  • They're like, why doesn't Jeremy want to try really hard to adapt to or be ultra cool in the NBA.

  • You know what I mean

  • Essentially like a Jabbawockeez but a NBA player, or you know Jay Park, a K-pop rapper type thing

  • More urban

  • You know I'm a big fan of just being who you are

  • People can't always understand 'cause they see one side of me and they're like, "Alright that's one side of him."

  • But then they see something else and it's like, oh man, he plays basketball so he is probably like this

  • But then, he went to Harvard, oh shoot! Now I'm really throwing off.

  • And then like, he likes gaming, and he plays video games and watches Naruto, that's pretty Asian

  • And then it's like, oh man he just put out a youtube video where he is like hanging out with all these NBA guys

  • For me it's like, I don't like being put in a box, and I don't like having people put other people in a box

  • because, like, i've already been put in a box enough growing up and just like

  • Oh you're Asian American, you're not supposed to do this, you're supposed to do this

  • Everything about that has always bothered me

  • So for me, I'm always just like, dude I wanna be myself

  • And as long as I treat people the right way, as long as I earn their respect

  • Then they'll respect me for who I am and I'll respect them for who they are, and that's kind of what it boils down to

  • Right, 'cause a lot of people do think if you hoop, you can't watch Naruto and play DotA

  • Yeah...it's like, no, you can. Because once you finish the game you can go home and then you watch Naruto.

  • That's how it works. You're not mutually exclusive.

  • Well, I mean, you got to do it, too. If you look at the youtube thing, it's like

  • Alright, well, today's people see youtube a certain way, but then some of the stuffs you guys talk about, or some of the things you try to do

  • they go a different direction. So why do you do that? It's because that's who you are, that's what you love doing

  • and like, you wanna challenge the whole notion of like, Asian American youtube celebrity, like, what does that mean

  • Eat cinnamon.

  • The point is like, dude, stop trying to tell everybody what an Asian American youtube celebrity supposed to be

  • Take each individual for who the individual is, and you gotta push in that same value in the different way

  • I appreciate that, man. To even, for you to say that about us, man. When you doing what you're doing, man. I appreciate..

  • Was it at all a process for you got arrive at this conclusion where you like

  • You know what? I'm just gonna be me and break the stereotype with my own way by liking what I like

  • Or was there a point where you thought

  • Oh maybe I should just trying to combat every single one. Or was it just very organic..

  • No, like, when I first started I was like

  • Man, there is so much pressure, I gotta do this and...

  • everyone's gonna think this. And then after a while I was just like

  • It's not even making me happy, like, I put so much pressure on myself

  • to try to be who everybody wants me to be, that's like...

  • That's kinda dumb, that doesn't even make sense, like

  • The whole reason why everyone cares about my story is because I did it the different way

  • So why all of a sudden now that I'm in the NBA, why do I have to...

  • try to do it the way everyone else wanted me to do all of a sudden (crafted in some sort of picturesque way...)

  • Exactly! For me it's like: 1. That's fake. 2. It's not a happy existence.

  • Now, I actually have a strong desire to change the whole perception of gaming, too. 'Cause it's like...

  • Oh my goodness! He is good at gaming! He must be a skinny, Asian kid, in the basement of his mom's apartment, wear glasses, and eating hot pockets.

  • It's like...What? No, there are like so many different gamers. Stuff like that was just like....

  • Do you think when you first came in the league, you'd be like, "Nah...I'm not into that...nah I'm not into that stuff..."

  • Or would you be like, "Oh yeah that's cool, yeah I'm in."

  • I would be like, if people ask me about it I'd be like, "Yeah that's awesome, DotA is awesome, Halo 3 is awesome."

  • You know, like, I would say that, but I wouldn't go to a DotA tournament like I just did.

  • Why did I go to the international's is because, I think people need to see that basketball player, gaming, you can be both

  • You'll dunk on them, but then you just beat them at DotA 2. Oh, man!

  • I wouldn't say I'm gonna beat them. I wouldn't say I'm good at DotA, but I love DotA.

  • How do pre-existing DotA people feel about you entering the world?

  • It's not like all of a sudden I'm gonna 0 to 100 declare my love for gaming.

  • I always have for a while, it has just become a little bit more publicized recently

  • I think they're cool with it. I think they're cool with it as long as I know what I'm talking about, as long as I actually know the game.

  • When you start saying wrong thing. Yeah, if I'm like calling heroes the wrong heroes and making up names

  • They'll probably be like, "Alright he is just faking it."

  • I got a question about gaming, again.

  • A lot of people go to gaming to kind of get what you receive from basketball.

  • But you play ball, play sports, at an extremely high level, and then you game.

  • What do you get from each one that's different? Or is it a similar feeling somehow?

  • People always like, "Why do you love gaming so much?"

  • Especially girls, like my mom, my sister, my cousins. They do not understand why.

  • 'Cause I play, my brothers play, my friends play

  • And all the guys would be like, "Yes! We're gonna...."

  • And then all the girls are like, "Oh! So what are we supposed to do?"

  • You know, and they were like, "Why do you love it so much?"

  • And then I'm like, "Alright, well, if you think about basketball, it's five on five. DotA, five on five."

  • I didn't even know that.

  • Yeah, so it's like a five on five game, and you just work together, it's all about the team, you know like

  • For me, I grew up with brothers and I'm super close with my brothers so it's always been like, how we can do stuff together

  • Be a team, and like, play and fight for each other.

  • And that's like video games, and basketball as well.

  • Is there offensive and defensive schemes just like in the league?

  • Yeah, there are definitely offensive and defensive schemes.

  • So I just read this quote about how you were an economics major and a social minor.

  • And I feel like nobody really ask you to delve into your thesis or whatever you graduated with from Harvard

  • And it says here that it was about urban communities, non-profits, and all the different dynamics that are working in those systems

  • Is that something obviously you still really passionate about?

  • Yeah, 100 percent. Everything I studied in college was to eventually be able to help poor communities.

  • First of all, understand why they're poor, understand why they're in poverish, why there is high crime

  • why the kids, you know I love kids, so it's always been interrupting for me, why are these kids behind the eight ball.

  • Eventually, all my off the court stuff wants to go back into this non-profit philanthropic like underprivileged children avenue, and so

  • I have a long term vision for me, and for the J-Lin brand, for the J-Lin foundation

  • where everything we're doing is gonna eventually cater.

  • Even if you look at my endorsements now, every single one of my endorsements, every single one of my business

  • they all have a philanthropic side of it.

  • Because that to me is like, you talk about culture creation or breaking down stereotypes, too.

  • It's like, we as people need to be more concerned about other people.

  • We're in the US, where it's just like, "American dream, American dream, American dream."

  • It's kind of a winner-takes-all society.

  • Yeah, and you drive by ten people that you realized

  • Oh my goodness, they never even had the same opportunity I had as growing up, and like, ok how can I reach out and help out.

  • I don't know if you remember the parody videos we did of you and what Andrew impersonated you back when you were at Harvard.

  • We were trying to predict certain endorsements that you would get.

  • And we just wanna have run it by you and see if you have been approached by any of them.

  • I'm not saying that you took them. You don't have to say it if you're thinking about it.

  • Alright, this video is from five years ago. "Jeremy Lin Interview: Talks race, groupies, & basketball"

  • ...to take advantage of this great promotional opportunity?

  • Yes, definitely. I've been contacted by HTC, Kigumon, Qingdao, and Kaplan SAT prep.

  • And, you know, there's a ton more.

  • Lee Kum Kee, Rowland Heights, 99 ranch, Jay Chao.

  • You know, various engineer societies, business schools across the country, and basically higher education in general.

  • Wang Leehom...

  • Who approached you? Who are you with?

  • I would say about 75 percent of those have. We had discussions or...

  • Oh! Yes. Fortune tellers, man!

  • Can I do my Jeremy Lin impression...

  • You gotta go ahead and do it.

  • This I feel like, maybe even back then more? I feel like now you even loosen up and maybe open up more?

  • But back then you were like, "Oh yeah...um...just trying to really move the ball around...and um...just trying to make sure that everybody can get the ball..."

  • "It's just a...It's just a tough game."

  • Yeah, that's pretty good! You know sometimes I'll make fun of myself like

  • In an interview, I watched it and be like, "Why did I talk like that?"

  • It's like so serious you know, it's like a serious setting. And then, like you said

  • Recently I have just been like, "Uh...I'm just gonna loose it up."

  • I know you got chops, 'cause I know you said a couple funny things about Kobe back in the days.

  • Has anyone said that your interviews surprising? Like, for a Harvard guy, I kind of thought...

  • That's stereotypical, I mean, it's not like it screams Harvard sometimes in the Interviews.

  • 'Cause I know you're smart

  • No, there's no question, I mean, a lot of it, that's...you know.

  • PR where it's like, you got to understand, and then

  • Interview is like a lot of time after a game, where I'm just like

  • Alright, thinking about the game. I don't wanna talk about the game, we just played bad, I played bad, and we lost. What else do I need to say?

  • And it was just like, "Yeah, it was a tough game."

  • What is your favorite NBA celebration?

  • My favorite NBA celebration?

  • It used to be the three-point goggles, but then like, you kind of got to switch it up every once in a while, you know.

  • The three-point goggles, I can't keep using after a while. (What's a get scene, like, a certain number of games..)

  • What's your favorite from somebody else? Right now you're like, "Oh I like that. I wish I would've thought of that."

  • I think Wes Matthews had like a Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, where he goes like that

  • Him and...actually I think the whole Trail Blazers team is doing it, where they're like sharpshooter

  • We got to...let's brainstorm some potential 2015-16 Jeremy Lin NBA celebrations.

  • This is actually from a Taiwanese-American dance troop called Instant Noodles crew.

  • So let's say you hit your third three in a row, and if it's in the fourth, how about you run back down the court and you go..

  • You know how James Harden got the cooking, right. What's the Asian cooking?

  • So you hit him with the Wok.

  • I mean, you can even take one step further into the cooking. There are so much about Asian cooking.

  • You can hand-pull noodles. You can do this.

  • Confucius beard stroke.

  • Like, when you thought of a good player...and you're like, "Yeah, I got this."

  • A gaming one. What's a gaming movement we could do?

  • They're all the same! It's a mouse and the keyboard, but what's on the screen look different.

  • You hit your third three and then just

  • Alright you could do the one that breaks the stereotype.

  • When you drive it in hard and you hit the and one. You are like, "I can drive, I can drive, Asians can drive"

  • Well, you guys can hit that one like those stick shift too, right?

  • Andrew: Oh! Like Fast and Furious. David: Initial D.

  • I'm gonna take these ideas and really brainstorm them.

  • Alright, you guys, thank you so much for watching the very special edition of Asian Guys Talk about the NBA.

  • Try to catch up Hornets' games this year. If not, keep up with the highlights.

  • Thank you so much for sitting down with us, man.

  • Excited for this season, man.

  • Appreciated. Thanks for having me. I'm glad I can be on.

  • Thanks for you guys' support. You guys were there from the beginning. Appreciated.

  • Alright, you guys. Make sure you let us know at the comment section below:

  • What's your favorite part of this interview was? And your predictions for the 2015-16 NBA season.

  • And until next time we and Charlotte, North Carolina, we yell, "Peace."

Alright everybody! Welcome back to the Asian Guys Talk About the NBA!

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