'Linsanity' still alive and well in China

Jeremy Lin, NBA star of the Houston Rockets, speaks to the media at Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai, Aug 21. Shanghai is the second leg of Lin’s Asian Tour 2013. He is scheduled to meet fans and attend promotional events during his two-day stay in Shanghai and then fly to Beijing for a basketball clinic. [Photo/CFP]

“I feel like in the last three years I haven’t been able to play to my full potential,” Lin said after the game in Shenzhen. “At first I was being crushed by the pressure. As I get older, I have slowly learned how to deal with it and really focus. When I completely do that, I think everything else is going to take care of itself.”

Hornets owner Michael Jordan has dubbed Lin the franchise’s most important acquisition of the offseason.

“It’s pretty cool,” Lin said. “It’s a unique opportunity (to be on Jordan’s team). He’s not around all the time, but it’s a tremendous honor to play for a boss like him.”

Jordan knows a thing or two about drawing a crowd in China himself — on his first visit, in 2004, he was confined to a Beijing hotel room after fans overrun an outdoor court where he was due to make an appearance.

Today, more than a decade after his retirement, “His Airness” continues to be worshipped by sports fans in the country.

“Man, I thought I was famous in China until ‘MJ’ made his way to the court,” Lin said in Shenzhen. “He seems like a god.”

Jordan, now 52, said ahead of the Hornets’ second game against the Clippers at Shanghai’s Mercedes-Benz Arena on Oct. 14: “It is always great for me to be able to come back to China. I want them (Chinese fans) to know their support is much appreciated.”

The Chicago Bulls legend, who won six NBA titles in the 1990s, said he continues to be impressed by the passion for the game in China.

“I’m always enthusiastic to come here and see the fans and how they support the NBA,” Jordan said. “The progression of basketball is unbelievable in terms of how the game has grown internationally. I think, as we’ve seen lately, China is among the fastest-growing (fan bases) in the world. Players enjoy coming over and relating with the fans and it’s good for the NBA’s global expansion.

“It’s great for players to get this type of exposure and respect,” he said of the team’s preseason China tour. “We’re still up and coming, we want to be the team that competes each night on TV and in the playoffs. Getting that exposure so that the fan base can reach out... not just from Charlotte or North Carolina, but outside of that.”

Lin, meanwhile, said he was making the most of his trip “home” to build chemistry with his new teammates, including taking eight of them shopping in Shenzhen. “It’s fun. They want to get a taste of China. It’s cool that they are willing to do that,” he said.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was pleased with the overall response to the preseason tour, but he said the greatest challenge to building the NBA brand in China was “how we translate the live experience.”

Since the first exhibition game featuring Yao Ming’s Houston Rockets against the Sacramento Kings in 2004, the NBA has brought 20 preseason games to China.

“There will be a day when fans in China can experience an NBA game as if he or she was sitting courtside (in the U.S.). We’ll replicate that feeling when you’re in the arena with 20,000 other fans while you’re actually at home,” said Silver.

In the short term, the league has discussed the possibility of playing some games at about 10 a.m. on the east coast to increase viewers in Asia.

“The main interest is to give fans the ability to watch games in prime time,” he said. “I’m a little concerned about our players’ performance levels (at that time of day) because their body clocks are used to playing in the evening or afternoon, but as viewers continue to grow here (in Asia) it’s something inevitably that we will take a stronger look at.”