Jeremy Lin had to turn down Stuyvesant High School students' plea on YouTube to speak at their graduation, but the Knicks basketball star hasn't left his fans hanging entirely.
Lin filmed a video response thanking the students at the competitive New York City high school for inviting him to their commencement ceremony. It was posted on YouTube Friday.
Bespectacled and playing up his trademark nerdiness that's been a hit with the brainy Stuy students, he encouraged seniors to "make sure you really have a lot of fun, you enjoy what you're doing, and you pursue your passion."
"I think the most important thing for me looking back isn't that I got to the NBA, it's that I enjoyed the path to the NBA, that I had fun playing basketball and now it's something I really love and still love doing," he said in the video.
Referencing his own long-shot rise to stardom, "Never let anyone tell you what you can't do... you really can accomplish a lot more than what other people think you can, and sometimes even more than you think you can yourself."
"When I'm done with my life, I don't want to look back and have regrets and wish that I had tried harder here, or I was more disciplined here, or had extended myself and done something a little outside of my comfort zone," he continued.
Lin, who is Taiwanese-American and a devout Christian, also reached out to those constituencies at the high school, telling the Christian club to "spread God's love" and adding a message in Chinese at the end of the video.
Local
The point guard has not been able to play since undergoing knee surgery earlier this month.
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