Sometimes you come up against a mountain and you end up making the mountain seem bigger than God.
You can try to call it coincidence, but at the end of the day, there are 20, 30 things when you combine them all that had to happen at the right time in order for me to be here. That’s why I call it a miracle.
In many ways, the longer I live, I understand that there are so many things outside my control. That’s why I believe faith is such a big part of the story. There are so many things that were orchestrated by God, that were put into place to make this perfect storm, that created Linsanity.
I just want people to respect the privacy of my relatives in Taiwan. ... They need to live their lives as well.
It's really important to me to go to church, which is sometimes tough when I get back from road trips late on Saturday night, but I try to make it a priority to go every week.
I've learned that social media and our private lives, you know, our private lives are not so private anymore, so it takes a little bit of getting used to.
For me, when I get knocked down, I really try to get back up and go at it again. I don't like to give up.
Not sure if that will benefit me or hurt me, but I know I have the skills and am ready to play in the NBA regardless of my ethnicity.
God loves me, and that he has the perfect plan for me. His plan will take me through a lots of ups and downs, but if I stay faithful to him that in the end he will work everything for my good. Now when I play basketball, I don't play for anyone else, I only play for God. That's the type of purpose that he gave me, and once he gave me that purpose, is when I found my peace, and once I got my peace, that's when I got my joy.
I want to be a representative and be a role model for the Asian American community.
With all the media attention, all the love from the fans, I felt I needed to prove myself. Prove that I'm not a marketing tool, I'm not a ploy to improve attendance. Prove I can play in this league. But I've surrendered that to God. I'm not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore.
I'm going to be honest, playing in D-League games is tough.
I just try to play as hard as I can every possession. If you're aware and you're high-energy, the ball will eventually bounce your way and you'll be able to make plays.
I realize I had to learn ... to stop chasing the perishable prizes of this earth ... and give my best effort unto God and trust Him with the results.
If you look back at my story, it doesn’t matter where you look, but God’s fingerprints are all over the place.
Stuff about me dating Kim Kardashian - I have no idea where that came from and all these other rumors. I don't think I'm that type.
Coming out of college into the draft, being Asian-American and being from Harvard, that's not going to be an advantage because of stereotypes.
When I’m on the court, I try to play with all my emotion and heart.
I'm not playing to prove anything to anybody.
New York is fast paced, with enthusiastic fans and lots of media attention. Houston's slower paced, and there's more of a southern culture to the city. But both cities have unbelievable food.
I'm not like the next Michael Jordan, but I'm also not what everyone saw me as before I started playing in the NBA, either.
I have an economics degree with a minor in sociology. The reason I have that is because I want to do a ministry in urban areas and help with underprivileged kids.
Every day in practice I have to lead by example. But at the same time, when people aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing, you're responsible as a player. You can't rely on the coaches to say everything. The players have to be responsible and take ownership of the team. Every day in practice there are situations where you need to say something and get a message across, but do it in the right way.
The way you talk to your teammates and push them and the way you treat them is important. There is a fine line between trying to help your teammates and criticizing them. The toughest part for me is how to keep my teammates accountable but at the same time do it in a loving way that doesnt judge or condemn them. It's definitely been a struggle and I'm trying to learn how to lead consciously in a way that honors God.
I absolutely would not have liked playing in Spain or somewhere like that, so I was just gonna do it a year. Then I was gonna be done.
I grew up in the church, and I always kind of knew Bible stories and knew the Sunday school answers, but when I was a freshman in high school I joined youth group, and that's when I started to see radical love; that's when I started to see what Christian community is supposed to look like and what fellowship is supposed to look like.
Tim Tebow is one of my biggest inspirations. I actually want to be able to do some of the things that he does in terms of the amount of charity work and the non-profit work, and the way he impacts people off the field. I think that is what is most inspiring to me about him.
My best career decision was probably not giving up when I wanted to. God as well as my family and friends were there for me during my toughest times.
The change that I never fall into is the, 'I'm-above-you-look-at-me-do-stuff-for-me change.' The change that I'm hoping I get to is where I become wiser, smarter - where I put myself in situations that don't have a huge potential for disaster.
I've always been a target. Everyone looks me and says, 'I'm not going to let that Asian kid embarrass me. I'm going to go at him.' That's how it's been my whole life.
If I had a day to myself I would just play video games with my brothers.
I love my family, I love my relatives. One special request I have is for the media back in Taiwan to kind of give them their space because they can't even go to work without being bombarded and people following them.
And people are always saying he deceptively quick, deceptively athletic, and I don't know if that's just because I'm Asian or what it is, but obviously there's going to be stereotypes that you have to fight.
Well, I'm not here to live up to anyone else's expectations-I'm here to live up to mine.
There is so much temptation to hold on to my career even more now. To try to micromanage and dictate every little aspect. But that's not how I want to do things anymore. I'm thinking about how can I trust God more. How can I surrender more? How can I bring him more glory? It's a fight. But it's one I'm going to keep fighting.
My family used to call me an oversized kid and I think that's pretty accurate in some ways.
I speak Mandarin and can read and write a little. I took a few classes at Harvard to get better in my reading and writing skills.
My identity is in Christ, not in basketball.
I think right now the way society's going, I think role models are important, and kids need direction. If I didn't have that direction growing up, who knows what I could be doing, because I've been lost many times in my life, and I've had to have someone guide me back on the right path.
Having small group once a week gives me a lot of encouragement and accountability. Even though I go to church, I don't really know many people there, but my real community is my small group.
I've surrendered that to God. I'm not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore.
Trying to make the NBA is one of the very few areas where a Harvard degree won't necessarily help.
The first time I went to Taiwan, there were cameras, paparazzi, TV stations outside my hotel twenty-four hours a day nonstop.
And when other people see me play basketball...the way I treat my teammates, the opponents, the refs, that's all a reflection of God's image and God's love so that's the stuff I try to focus on.
With pro-gaming that's one of the toughest parts - living game to game.
Just because I had a good game doesn't change who I am, my identity is in Christ and not in basketball, I love playing basketball and it's my job but at the same time I recognize that I'm a sinner and that's not gonna change regardless of how well I play on the court
I've learned how to be open and bold about my faith, but in terms of my influence, I just try to lead in a godly way. What that means for me is to serve them, whether it's just doing the dirty work, like cleaning up sweat on the floor, or deferring to other people, or carrying equipment bags.
This is my dream being lived out and I'm so thankful for that.
It seems like everybody's perception of me is very bipolar. To one group, it's overpaid, overrated; to another group, it's underpaid, underrated, underdog. It's funny to me because there's no real balance.
It's the off-the-court spotlight in terms of having people look at you in terms of analyzing every little thing you do in your life, or having less privacy in your day-to-day activities, that's an area I need to get more accustomed to.
I'm very humbled and honored. I'm very thankful to the Asian-American Community for all their support!
I was a big Michael Jordan fan growing up. I don't feel my game resembles his though.
I just try to make sure that when I get there on the floor, I play as hard as I can and try to do everything I can to help the team win.
I love eating junk food. I'm a huge snacker, chips and candy.
All these people, all these things came into my life, and they're all blessings from God. And now that I look back, I realize that these are His fingerprints all over my story.
You don't get respect for being an Asian-American basketball player in the U.S.
Faith, family, academics and then sports was the order of priorities in my family. My parents really stuck to these principles when raising me and my two brothers. As long as we took care of everything, they let us play as much basketball as we wanted.
I'm not playing for other people; if I start thinking in those terms I would put too much pressure on myself. I play basketball because that is what I love to do.
People started saying, 'Oh you know, he's quicker than he looks', and I'm like, 'What does that mean? Do I look slow, or I'm not really sure what that means.
I was shocked cause I didn't even know that they made my jersey. I didn't know that they made it so fast, so when I saw it I was like, I had to look three times and I was like, 'Did they customize that?' And then I saw a couple of other ones and I was like, ok, they must've made them overnight or something.
My first dunk ever was in middle school. We were playing, me and my church friends, and I dunked it, and I swear I could not sleep that night.
You have to be wired a certain way to be a professional basketball player, and the way my body grew, something happened genetically that allowed me to become a lot more explosive.
I had to learn how to give my best effort to God and trust him with the results. I have to learn to have enough faith to trust in his grace and to trust in his sovereign and perfect plan. I had to submit my will, my desires, my dreams — give it all up to God and say, “Look, I am going to give my best effort, go on the court and play every day for you, and I'm going to let you take care of the rest.
I would be a pastor. It is something I think about doing when my playing days are over.
I was playing garbage minutes the first two to three weeks. There was definitely a little bit of 'what's going on?' in my prayers.
I just really, really, really hate to lose. Really.
You don't get better if you win all the time. You look at yourself more when you lose.
I get scared of a lot of attention. I get scared of the spotlight. And I'm not talking about on the basketball court.
I just think in order for someone to understand my game, they have to watch me more than once, because I'm not going to do anything that's extra flashy or freakishly athletic.
I think one of the most rewarding experiences in life is to see people come to Christ and make lifestyle changes. When that happens, you definitely see God behind it. This year we've seen eight students make first-time decisions for Christ and when I see that, it's a great feeling. I'm really thankful that God is changing somebody, or sometimes he's changing me.
I'm a playmaker. I'm always attacking the rim and have somewhat of a reckless style. I try to be everywhere at once.
Just this whole journey [of life] has been a blessing from God, so for me to be here [on Earth] I'm just taking it one day at a time and really enjoying it.
People are moved by my story, but they're only moved by my story because of what I do on the court.
I have worked out with the Thunder, Lakers, Knicks, Grizzlies, Spurs, and a few others before the draft. I have worked out primarily against shorter and supposedly faster players in these workouts.
From the sense of being an ambassador for Jesus Christ, hopefully, through my story and through all the improbables and the miracles that happened in my life, people are inspired or at least a little bit warmer to the idea of exploring who Jesus is.
