If Jeremy Lin becomes the consistently productive and imaginative floor general he was during his short stint as a Knickerbocker, the circumstances that allowed him to become a Rocket will be regrettable.<\/p>\n
But as it is now, you can\u2019t blame Jim Dolan and the Knicks for letting Lin walk despite having the right to match Houston\u2019s three-year, $25 million offer sheet.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s overly simplistic to say Lin\u2019s controversial exit played out in a way only the Garden could botch.<\/p>\n
Really it was Lin himself who ended up controlling the next step of his out-of-nowhere career by inking a document containing what\u2019s referred to as a poison pill.\u00a0 With $15 million back loaded in the third year of a proposal tailored to trigger luxury tax headaches for Dolan, Lin and the Rockets cut a deal that both parties knew would likely end Linsanity at the world\u2019s most famous.<\/p>\n
Lin pocketed about $6 million additional guaranteed by signing up for the re-worked Houston offer.\u00a0 But by doing so, Lin sealed his exile to a city with zero basketball buzz.\u00a0 What Lin gained in additional total salary from Houston would\u00a0have been\u00a0dwarfed by the value of lost endorsement opportunities\u00a0should he manage to push the re-start button on the set of skills he displayed in half a season as a Knick.<\/p>\n
Maybe Lin knows he\u2019s not for real and wanted every last penny before the bubble bursts.\u00a0 Or maybe (as I suspect) he projects it impossible to succeed\u00a0in a lineup that is\u00a0saddled with\u00a0Carmelo Anthony\u2019s me-first act.<\/p>\n
Once Melo\u00a0got D\u2019Antoni fired and prompted management to\u00a0put pushover Mike Woodson in the driver\u2019s seat, perhaps Lin knew the ball-sharing style of play he so successfully orchestrated would be impossible.\u00a0 Remember:\u00a0 Linsanity blossomed while Melo sat with an injury.<\/p>\n
I was in a banh mi joint in Queens Wednesday night and one of the items on the menu was the Lin Sandwich.\u00a0 He captured every corner of this city\u2019s imagination and made watching the Knicks a lotta fun.\u00a0 Dolan will likely never get in front of a microphone and explain his decision, but the stiff luxury tax formula included in the new CBA means the Knicks would be on the hook for about two bucks for every dollar\u00a0over the cap in 2014-15.<\/p>\n
Even without Lin in the picture, the Knicks are projected to have a difficult time staying under the cap given the bloated max-out commitments to Stat and Melo.\u00a0 That\u2019s not Lin\u2019s fault, of course, but you can see how that third-year spike in Houston\u2019s Lin offer would be problematic.<\/p>\n
Dolan\u2019s math with luxury tax included made Houston\u2019s offer sheet exorbitant even by the Garden\u2019s standards.\u00a0 The decision to let Lin leave drives Knick fans crazy because of all the bad money thrown after bad up until now.\u00a0 But if you assess this move in isolation, the Knicks probably did the right thing given the distinct possibility that Lin doesn\u2019t pan out long term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If Jeremy Lin becomes the consistently productive and imaginative floor general he was during his short stint as a Knickerbocker, the circumstances that allowed him to become a Rocket will be regrettable. But as it is now, you can\u2019t blame … Continue reading