Payton said he and Lin still exchange text messages, but never truly went head-to-head on the court in their training sessions.
The biggest question looming over the team right now is how he and Lin will coexist when the team's biggest gunner and resident alpha dog returns.
He noted that Lin was getting into similar trouble for New York, one reason he'd accrued so many turnovers.
He noted how Lin's performance in two unsexy statistical categories two-point field-goal percentage (a barometer of inside scoring ability) and RSB40 (rebounds, steals and blocks per 40 minutes) compared favorably with college numbers put up by marquee NBA guards like Allen Iverson and Gary Payton.
D'Antoni remains positive that the offense will hum when the Knicks are at full health, and he stressed that he didn't even realize Lin scored 38 against the Lakers because "he got 38 points in the context of team basketball, " which seems to indicate Lin could play well with anyone.
He emphasized how well Lin played in three nonconference games against big schools: Connecticut, Boston College and Georgetown.
Mr. Lin said he's a frequent flier-mile "junkie" himself who will turn over at least one card a year.
Lin said he and the team did everything it could to get him back to health, but he cannot cut or jump.
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As such, Shoemaker expects that Chinese fans will continue to support Lin when he begins playing for the Houston Rockets this fall.
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But if there's been a consistent thread in the basketball life of Jeremy Lin, it's been people telling him he wasn't good enough, and Lin going out and proving his skeptics wrong.
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In a 2008 game, said Mr. Loscalzo, he helped contain Mr. Lin to six points.
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Then there's the way Lin looks when he puts a tennis hat on.
After giving Lin rapturous applause during the player introductions, Raptors fans turned prickly in the second quarter, booing Lin every time he touched the ball.
"There's a learning curve for any new products, so our yield rates are increasing, " said Mr. Lin, although he declined to comment on any Apple products.
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"What I've done can't be compared to what he's done, " Lin said.
He's also hinted that Lin could be the new Steve Nash and that with the point guard position at last finalized, the offense will work itself out.
The night before he earned a spot in New York's injury-plagued rotation, Lin crashed on a teammate's couch because he had no apartment of his own.
Goswami had been scouting another young player when he became entranced by his opponent, Lin.
Nobody is going describe James as an underdog, and he has a decade head start on Lin as a global phenomenon.
He said police don't believe Lin's missing body parts are in the country's mail system, but they are working with postal officials to make sure.
After Monday's ugly loss to New Jersey, the Knicks are 7-2 in games Lin has started, and he's averaged 24.6 points and 9.4 assists in that span.
He will be at least as expensive as Lin, and most likely much more.
But several people familiar with Mr. Lin's apartment hunt said he had never actually lived there.
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He has started the last three games in Lin's absence but has recently been hampered by a string of injuries himself.
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"There are still some parts we are missing at this moment, " Lafreniere said, adding he did not want to be disrespectful to Lin's family.
Payton said Lin was frustrated by the poor decisions he sometimes made under pressure.
If Lin moves into the posh pad, he will join a handful of New York-area pro athletes, including several Knicks teammates.
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