New York Knicks

During a Q&A with the New York Post, Jeremy Lin talked about the end of his New York Knicks career and the beginning with the Brooklyn Nets.

Jeremy Lin and the Linsanity craze attached to him came and went after 35 games during the lottery shortened season of 2011-12. He’ll always be remembered for that stretch with the New York Knicks, and the unfortunate way it ended. Now he’s trying to create a new legacy as a starting point guard for the Brooklyn Nets.

Lin spoke to Steve Serby of the New York Post about the end with the Knicks and his future with the Nets.

After Lin left the Knicks as a restricted free agent, NBA people speculated as to why the Knicks didn’t match his deal. Per Serby, Lin was hurt over the way things ended in New York. If he had it his way, he would’ve retired with the team that gave him his shot.

“I was really, really sad. I was sad the way everything went down, ’cause nothing happened the way I thought it was going to. I had wished that they had offered me a contract just in the beginning, and that didn’t even happen. And then, when I found out that they weren’t gonna match, I was even more sad, ’cause honestly, I wanted to finish my career there.”

Many said the reason for Lin’s departure was due to do with Carmelo Anthony‘s jealously over the attention Lin received, a rumor seemingly confirmed by former teammate Amar’e Stoudemire. Lin however, said all the the right things when asked about Anthony.

“I never have had personal issues with him, I’ve never had any amount of conflict or disagreement or anything in person. I was a lot younger, a lot more naive with everything, and I was just trying to do my best to help us make the playoffs. So a lot of what people are saying, and what people have said, are kind of things that I’m piecing into the story as well. I’m not able to speculate on behalf of what someone else is saying, if that makes sense. I can only tell you my experience with Melo myself, and I’ve never had any issues with him.”

He clearly wants to put the past behind him and focus on the future on Brooklyn. He made it clear that he wants to separate himself from his tenure with the Knicks.

“This isn’t the re-creation of Linsanity (smile), this is, for me, just the next chapter. That’s all I’m gonna focus on. If people want to call it whatever they want to call it, they can go ahead and do that, but I’ve kind of set out to see how good I can become and see how good I can make this team.”

A large part of Lin’s decision to come to Brooklyn was their hiring of his mentor and former Knicks assistant Kenny Atkinson as head coach. Lin elaborated on why the two will be successful together again as player and coach.

“He’s a big part of my success in New York. I know the way he works, I know the way he views life, views the game. We see eye to eye.”

Lin signed a 3-year deal in Brooklyn for $36 million. He’s back to being a starter and he has the full confidence of his head coach again. The Nets may actually be interesting.

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I'm ESNY's Executive Editor for EliteSportsNY.com. I cover the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. Email: chip.murphy@elitesportsny.com Chip Murphy covers the NBA for Elite Sports NY. You can find him on Twitter @ChipperMurphy.