 Lin acknowledged the expectations and warned , " I won 't be an All @-@ Star this year . " He was appreciative of the support , especially from the Asian @-@ American community , but he preferred to concentrate on his play without all the attention when he had not " proven anything to anybody " . Smart saw that Lin was skilled at getting to the paint , but needed to learn to pass because , he said , Lin " couldn 't shoot the ball at all " . The coach also noticed that the player always arrived early for practice and left late . Lin studied and rehearsed Steve Nash 's and other top point guards ' pick @-@ and @-@ roll plays . Frank Hughes of Sports Illustrated wrote that Lin spoke with the occasional " seeds of self @-@ doubt " , which he said was uncommon to hear in the NBA . Hughes also found it rare when Lin compared himself to the Phoenix Suns ' then @-@ backup point guard Goran Dragić . " Neither of us is a freak athlete , but we 're both effective and know how to play the game , " Lin said . Lin and Stephen Curry , the 2009 – 10 runner @-@ up Rookie of the Year , received more interview requests than any other Warrior . Team officials regularly denied requests for Lin to help him keep his focus . He was approached to be the subject of documentaries . Smart planned to take pressure off Lin since Lin had a tendency to be hard on himself and get frustrated , but the coach admitted that he once succumbed to the home crowd 's wishes and put Lin into a game in the wrong situation . 
