Jeremy Lin: Andre Iguodala Puts Foot in Mouth with Disrespectful Comments

Jeremy Lin's race is being talked about more than his play on the court. 

The latest person to get involved in the "Lin being Asian" talk is Philadelphia 76ers small forward Andre Iguodala.

Here is what he said to John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer about Lin:

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“When you see the majority (black players) doing it you say, ‘ah, he’s been doing it since he was a kid. It’s in his blood, whatever,'" Iguodala said. "You see (Lin) doing it and you say, ‘you’re serious?’ It’s kind of like seeing a black hockey player doing well. Race does play a role in it but at the same time you have to respect it, that’s how I feel.  You have to respect it whether you like it or not. It’s a feel-good story.”

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Compared to what Floyd Mayweather and Jason Whitlock had to say about Lin, Iguodala's comments are tame. 

However, there was no reason at all for Iguodala to get sucked into the race talk. All he had to do was say that Lin is a good player. That's it. 

Has anyone actually stopped to think that Lin is getting all this hype, not because he is Asian, but because he plays in New York and the team is on a seven-game winning streak?

If Lin were putting up the numbers he has and the team was losing, would anyone care as much? Of course not. 

The hype machine is coming because of the New York factor. Mayweather and Whitlock started the race talk, and everyone wants to jump on that bandwagon now. 

Iguodala should have thought twice before talking about why everyone is so infatuated with Lin at this moment. 

Not every success story in sports has to be followed up with talk about someone's race, religion, creed or anything else. Just enjoy the player while they are on the court or field, and stop making things into a bigger deal than they are. 

Lin is not the best player in the league, but because he was undrafted out of college, was cut by the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets before the New York Knicks took a flier on him and is now thriving, he is the best story. 

That is what we should be talking about, instead of spending so much time trying to figure out if Lin's race is a big deal or not. 

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