Looks like my New York Knicks may not be Linsanity believers after all.
The Knicks have completed a sign-and-trade for Portland PG Raymond Felton for three years and $10 million. That gives New York at least two solid point guards (the other being future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd). This makes it highly unlikely that the Knicks will match the offer sheet the Houston Rockets made to Jeremy Lin.
Why, you might ask? It’s simple when you break down the math.
The Rockets’ offer sheet for Lin is a little more than $25 million and breaks down as so: $5 million in the first year, $5.225 million in the second and $14.8 million in the third.
Now ask yourself the following question: is Lin really worth $14.8 million dollars for a season?
After only starting 35 games? Really?
Plus keep in mind that this is the same cat who sat out of the playoffs despite being at, in his words, “85%”. Think the Knicks could have needed Lin against Miami in the first round? At least it would have been a more competitive series.
I don’t blame Lin for protecting his money, but why commit that much loot to a guy who said something like that?
Look, I was on Lin’s bandwagon last season. If the price was not so exorbitant (again, $14.8 million in the last year of his deal), I’d be clamoring for my Knicks to bring him back.
However, there is a time and place for common sense. Common sense dictates that a team should not commit that much money to a player based on a small sample size. Good luck to whoever has to trade Lin’s contract during the final season of the deal.
Besides, there is a player named Chris Paul who will be a free agent after next season who on more than one occasion professed his desire to play in New York alongside Carmelo Anthony. Ya think Paul is not an upgrade over Lin?
I’ll tell you what, Houston will have a big-ass egg on its face this summer when they realize they’ll have to pay Lin all that money AND miss out on Dwight Howard.
Categories: NBA, sports story
Houston made a bad basketball deal but a great financial deal. They have attracted a large Asian fan base due to Yao Ming. Now, they can keep that lucrative market. Will they be going to the Finals? No. But they will be happy when they go to the bank!
I get the feeling Lin didn’t want to play in New York just by the way the contract was structured. Either that or Houston has some super accountants working on their team and figured out exactly how much New York had already spent in 3 years time to make that 15mil impossible for New York to match without Lin and his agent realizing it.
Well, the way the Knicks tell it, Lin wasn’t a very good teammate anyway. So, this is their way of rationalizing the move.
Felton/Kidd will probably be a better fit. From what I picked up in pieces it seems like Felton has genuine chemistry with the team prior to being traded away.