Jeremy Lin eyes playoffs for Houston Rockets

Jeremy Lin eyes playoffs for Houston Rockets

 HOUSTON, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Houston Rockets' new starting point guard Jeremy Lin said Monday his goal this season is to help his team make the playoffs.

The rebuilt Houston Rockets met with the media on Monday before heading south to begin training camp.

At the news conference Monday, 24-year-old Lin described himself as a work in progress, saying he still has a lot to improve.

"I played in 50 career games. For me, I see it as a beginning. I'm very young in terms of learning," he said.

"Everyday I make a lot of mistakes in practice. As I continue to cut down on those and hopefully grow my game I'll be able to evolve as a player," Lin said.

The goal of the Rockets in this season is to make the playoffs and as for himself, his goal is to help the team make the playoffs, Lin said.

Rockets coach Kevin McHale also said the team is trying to make the playoffs. "That's our goal. You can't do anything special in our league until you're one of the final 16 teams playing in April. Inside that, we have to get better every month."

However, McHale admitted that the team will have to rely on scrappiness and guile¹ to stay afloat this season, with most of the nucleus² of last year's team, Kyle Lowry, Courtney Lee, Goran Dragic and Luis Scola, gone to other teams.

Lin is hardly a seasoned veteran with only 25 starts in the NBA. Aside from him, the 2012-13 Rockets' roster³ is rather bland⁴ as well as young. Eleven of the 20 players are rookies or second-year players.

"We have a lot of young guys. We have to find a rotation⁵, we've got a lot of stuff to do," said McHale.

Lin conveyed a positive outlook on the lack of veterans on the squad⁶, saying that the young team's shortcomings in experience could be overcome by young players' qualities such as speed, quickness, strength and athleticism⁷.

Lin was waived⁸ by the Rockets last December, then picked up by the New York Knicks.

The Harvard-educated guard and the first American-born NBA player of Chinese heritage became an overnight international sensation, with his skills, humour and work ethic⁹ during his short career with the Knicks.

Lin averaged 22.1 points and 9.2 assists, making 47 percent of his shots, in his first 12 starts, keying a seven-game winning streak¹⁰.

The Rockets pays a hefty sum to get Lin back. The team's three-year deal with Lin worth about 25 million U.S. dollars and the third year is worth about 15 million.

1 guile   

n.诈术

参考例句：

• He is full of guile.他非常狡诈。
• A swindler uses guile;a robber uses force.骗子用诈术；强盗用武力。

2 nucleus   

n.核，核心，原子核

参考例句：

• These young people formed the nucleus of the club.这些年轻人成了俱乐部的核心。
• These councils would form the nucleus of a future regime.这些委员会将成为一个未来政权的核心。

3 roster   

n.值勤表，花名册

参考例句：

• The teacher checked the roster to see whom he would teach this year.老师查看花名册，想了解今年要教的学生。
• The next day he put himself first on the new roster for domestic chores.第二天，他把自己排在了新的家务值日表的第一位。

4 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

5 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

6 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

7 athleticism   

n.运动竞赛，崇尚运动，竞技热

参考例句：

• He brings defense. He brings talent. He brings athleticism. That's a lot. “他带来的防御，他带来了人才，他带来了身体，这是很多”。 来自互联网
• Each of these sports isn't won through sheer athleticism alone. 每个体育项目无法凭借纯粹的运动能力而获胜。 来自互联网

8 waived   

v.宣布放弃( waive的过去式和过去分词 )；搁置；推迟；放弃（权利、要求等）

参考例句：

• He has waived all claim to the money. 他放弃了索取这笔钱的权利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I waived the discourse, and began to talk of my business. 我撇开了这个话题，开始讲我的事情。 来自辞典例句

9 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

10 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？