The short-lived hysteria that brought Linsanity to the Garden and brought life back to the Knicks franchise, is now a distant memory chock-full of sold Lin jerseys and tee-shirts that are so out-of-date now it makes an old Rolling Stones album look brand spanking new.
On Friday, Lin signed his name to a poison pill contract with the Houston Rockets which will guarantee the point guard $25 million over three years, including $15 million in year three of the contract.
That is a complete reversal from the original contract offer that the Rockets had initially signed Lin that would have guaranteed $19 million over the life of the contract, something the Knicks were prepared to match, according to New York Posts' Marc Berman.
But if the Knicks had decided to match the latest Lin offer sheet, they would essentially blow up their salary cap for a player who played in only 26 games last season; moreover, the new offer sheet would have put the Knicks $17 million over the 2014-2015 salary cap, the final year of Lin's contract, with a total $75 million dedicated to four players: Lin, Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler in that same season.
In response, the Knicks agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Portland Trail Blazers for Raymond Felton and Kurt Thomas in exchange for Jerod Jeffries and Dan Gadzuric; Felton and Thomas are both former Knicks. Felton averaged 17.1 points for the Knicks during the 2010-2011 season before he was traded to Denver for Carmelo Anthony. While Felton succeeded in Mike D'Antoni's offense, it should be interesting to see how he does in Mike Woodson's offensive scheme.For Knick fans, they are sure to be torn over this latest move. It makes sense for the Knicks to let Lin walk. Even though he became an international sensation literally over night, he is still underdeveloped as a point guard, and 26 games is not enough of a history to determine how good he can really be. Keep in mind: Lin played progressively worse as teams began to figure him out.
Yet, the star factor and the fanfare that the Knicks enjoyed with Lin around, is sure to be missed. He lit a fire under a team that was dead in the water; he brought energy to the Garden that had not been seen in well over a decade, and his jersey became the hottest item on the market. The Knicks could have easily made up the money they needed to satisfy the luxury tax in tee shirts, jersey and ticket sales, as well as an increase in concessions, as if that weren't going to happen anyway.
Lin was marketable not only in New York, but internationally. People in Taiwan were glued to their TV sets to watch the Knicks play basketball; however, that won't be the case now for New York with Lin in Houston.
It's ironic that Lin should go to the Rockets, after all, Houston had cut Lin before the 2011-2012 regular season began, and showed no signs of believing in him at that time. They are lucky that Lin was willing to return to the franchise.
Does losing Lin mean the Knicks are less of a team? On paper, yes. Lin is a much better player than Felton, experience aside. The Knicks will have to hope that Felton is the same player he was before he was traded away to Denver, and the team has to hope that a 39-year-old Jason Kidd still has something left in the tank. It was assumed that Kidd would mentor Lin, that will not happen now.
That said, the Knicks still have pieces to compete. This was supposed to be Melo and Amar'e's team to begin with. Now, it will definitely be their team in 2012-2013.
Lin, we hardly knew ye.
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