 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.
