Jeremy Lin hopes lower profile will aid him in second season with Houston Rockets – ESPN

HOUSTON — Jeremy Lin said he failed in handling the huge expectations that were placed on him following his breakout season with the New York Knicks and hopes a lower profile in his second season with the now star-studded Houston Rockets will help him.

Jeremy Lin said it takes time to learn how to manage expectations.

A year ago, Lin was the focal point when the Rockets opened the season after they signed him away from the Knicks. But he struggled in his first full season as a starting point guard, and the Rockets have traded for James Harden and signed Dwight Howard since Lin’s signing. That has made the team a contender and taken some of the burden off Lin.

“Learning to manage and deal with expectations and which voices to tune out takes time,” Lin said at Rockets media day Friday. “You have to fail at it to get to where you want to get to.”

Lin was frequently critical of his performance last season, when he started all 82 games and averaged 13.4 points and 6.1 assists a game. He was constantly chasing his five-week run in 2012 in New York and the famed “Linsanity.”

With Howard and Harden, Lin is now more focused on being the role player he ended up becoming when the Rockets made the playoffs last season.

“From a personal standpoint, there’s a lot less pressure this season,” Lin said. “I’ve had such a wide spectrum of literally no expectations to having every expectation. Now it’s kind of going back down to some lower expectations.”

via Jeremy Lin hopes lower profile will aid him in second season with Houston Rockets – ESPN.