The Kaohsiung Steelers have confirmed rumors that they are trying to recruit NBA star Jeremy Lin for next season, admitting they face challenges, but saying they are not giving up.
Steelers general manager Kenny Kao told the Central News Agency in an interview in Taipei this week that the Steelers are trying to enlist Lin, but face competition from other P.League+ clubs.
“If you have a great talent, you have someone that’s a legendary figure and likely the best Asian basketball player ever, and you don’t pursue that kind of talent, you’re not doing your job right,” Kao said.
Photo: AP
Lin rose to fame in 2012 as a member of the New York Knicks when, as the first American of Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA, he unexpectedly led the Knicks to a winning turnaround and inspired the “Linsanity” craze.
He has been a hot topic on the Internet with fans and media trying to guess his next move, as he has not yet been signed by any club in the Chinese Basketball Association, where he played last season for the Beijing Ducks.
Hence, fans and media have speculated that Lin might play in one of Taiwan’s professional leagues, just like his younger brother, Joseph Lin, who plays in the P.League+ for the Taipei Fubon Braves.
Commenting on such speculation, Kao said that every general manager of a club in the P.League+ is trying to enlist Jeremy Lin.
“If you ask any general manager of this league: ‘Are you trying to get Jeremy?’ If he says no, then there’s two possibilities — one possibility is he is lying, the second possibility is that he is going to get fired,” Kao said.
One of the challenges the Steelers face when competing with other teams for Jeremy Lin is the imbalance of resources between northern and southern Taiwan.
“The north maybe can say that it has more hipper things than we do, but that’s no reason to get upset and stop trying. So, like I said, if we don’t try for it, we are neglecting our fans’ wishes,” Kao said.
Apart from trying to recruit the former NBA sensation, Kao said that another goal he has is to build the right culture for the club, so Kaohsiung residents would identify with the club and be proud to tell people they are “Steelers fans.”
He hopes to achieve that by showing everyone the dedication of his staff and the passion of his players when competing with their hearts out on the court, he said.
“I think the fans will appreciate that and I hope they will appreciate the struggle too, because it’s not going to be an instant success. In basketball it’s hard to get instant success because everything is accumulative,” Kao said.
Echoing Kao, Steelers head coach Slavoljub Lale Gorunovic said that he has big expectations for next season.
“I hope next season will be much better than last season because we have more time for preparations and I hope our roster will be stronger,” the Serbian said.
The Steelers were one of two teams, the other being the Taoyuan Pilots, that did not advance into the playoffs last season. The Kaohsiung team finished fifth in the six-team league’s regular-season standings with a 9-20 record.
For some, Cristiano Ronaldo remains the essential spearhead for Portugal’s FIFA World Cup bid, while others believe his presence would prevent Roberto Martinez’s strong side from flourishing. The debate around the five-time Ballon d’Or winner rages on, as it did at UEFA Euro 2024 and four years ago in Qatar — yet Ronaldo endures, ready to play in a record sixth World Cup. The 41-year-old remains a global superstar despite swapping the European elite for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr, and is the leading men’s international goalscorer with 143 strikes. With 25 of those coming in 30 games under Martinez, the coach
Taiwanese tennis star Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles at the French Open, after she and German partner Mark Wallner defeated Slovenian Andreja Klepac and Briton Lloyd Glasspool in straight sets, despite temperatures exceeding 32°C in Paris, while Taiwan’s top men’s doubles player Ray Ho also reached the second round. Hsieh, who made it to the semi-finals in the mixed doubles at Roland Garros in 2024, and Wallner defeated Klepac and Glasspool 6-3, 7-5 in just more than an hour, converting three of five break points, while holding their opponents to just one conversion
FAST AND LOOSE: Despite command struggles, Ohtani has pitched his way out of trouble after falling behind in counts, which manager Roberts credited to his velocity Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday night tossed six innings of no-hit ball, gave himself an early lead with a home run and still was not satisfied with his performance. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way superstar dropped some expletives that were picked up by the on-field mic as he struggled with his command in a 4-1 win over the Colorado Rockies. He struck out seven, walked four and gave up an earned run in the fourth inning while visibly fuming on the mound. Ohtani (5-2) earned his third consecutive victory. “Just command was off, and I just felt like I was battling the lack of
Taiwanese sprinter Chen Yi-cen on Friday won the silver medal in the women’s 400m final at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, with a time of 53.16 seconds. Chen, 15, was the youngest among the eight finalists, and her performance also met the qualifying standard of 53.50 seconds for the Nagoya Asian Games in Japan in September and October. Chen first made her mark at the National Games in Tainan in 2023, at the age of 13, winning the women’s 400m final in 55.55 seconds to become the youngest gold medalist in the history of the event. Meanwhile,
RSS