Rest in Peace Linsanity
On Tuesday night, the New York Knicks decided not to match
the Houston Rockets’ 3-year, $25 million contract offer to Jeremy Lin, allowing
the restricted free agent to head deep into the heart of Texas. Was it sound
business strategy? Was it another fuckup from Knicks owner James Dolan? Is
Houston going to regret this contract? Are Rockets fans ready for yet another
Asian basketball player? Will Boyd stop asking questions? As the sports
contributor to HJFHS and a Knicks fan, I believe the team made the right move.
I was a huge fan of the Jeremy Lin era in NYC, all 25 games
of it. I even wrote about it (http://handjobsforhamsammies.blogspot.com/2012/02/you-cant-avoid-boyd-insert-generic.html)
during its apex. He rejuvenated a franchise that needed excitement. It was the
best I felt as a Knicks fan in years. An injury derailed the rest of his season
and we never knew how far Lin could have carried the Knicks. Well, I knew. We
might have taken the Heat to six or seven games before bowing out to them in
the first round. No one can deny what he did last season when he played, but
let’s explore why the Knicks made the right move in letting Lin go.
The contract was insane for New York to match. Lin is making
$5 million this year, $5 million next year, and $15 million in the last year of
the deal. Due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and the Gilbert
Arenas provision, the Rockets’ salary cap will be hit with the average of the
deal over the next three seasons (approximately $8.3 million). If the Knicks
had matched the offer, the Knicks’ salary cap would be hit with the actual
amount of each year, and Lin would cost the Knicks $15 million in 2014, plus
luxury taxes the team would be hit with. This is what people in the industry
would call a poison pill.
The Rockets weren’t stupid when they made their offer. They
didn’t inadvertently stumble on these figures. They knew the Knicks would be
paying the luxury tax in 2014 since they have Carmelo Anthony, Amare
Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler all under contract for big money. They knew Lin
would actually cost the Knicks around $30 million in 2014 after luxury taxes.
$30 million is a lot of invest for the enigma that is Jeremy Lin. Will Lin
continue his torrid pace and become an elite NBA player? Is Lin a flash in the
pan and justify why he wasn’t drafted and bounced around the league for a few
years? Time will tell, but the Knicks didn’t think it was worth the gamble.
The Knicks are Carmelo Anthony’s team. You can’t argue that.
You may disagree that Anthony and his ball chucking skills shouldn’t be the
face of the Knicks, but it was built that way. Every team has an alpha dog and
Carmelo is the Knicks. We saw what happened in Miami when LeBron James and
Dwyane Wade tried to share the spot. The team struggled in big moments until
Wade deferred to the King and Miami won it all this year. You can only have one
alpha dog and the rest of the team needs to compliment him. Lin and Anthony
never had good chemistry. Sure, Lin made everyone else better, but Carmelo
Anthony is the sword the Knicks are going to live and die by.
Intangibles. While mulling whether to retain Jeremy Lin, the
Knicks reacquired Raymond Felton. He was a much cheaper option, but one can
argue how much of a drop off there is between the two. Some say Felton is
better than Lin, while others say Felton is eating himself out of the league.
Felton played great in his first stint with the Knicks. Who knows if Felton can
play as well the second time around, but the Knicks are paying less to a more
consistent player who will not turn the ball over as much as Lin. Second, word
on the street is many on the team were put off when Lin didn’t dress for Game 5
of the 2012 playoffs. He claimed he was only “85 percent” at the time. Many in
the media argued 85 percent was healthier than some of the guys who actually
played in that game (including Amare “TKO” Stoudemire) and began to question
Lin’s heart.
The Knicks didn’t need Linsanity as much as people made it
out to be. When Jeremy was Linning in Gotham, his jersey sales went through the
roof, the team saw more national exposure, and Knicks tickets exploded on the
secondary market. Jersey sales are shared among all the NBA teams, so the sale
of any future Lin jerseys will still be distributed round the league. The
Knicks are already exposed nationally. They get more than their fair share of
televised games on ABC, ESPN, and TNT. Also, the Knicks always sell out their
games. The secondary market doesn’t affect them; it affects the original ticket
owners who profited off of the hype. While Dolan and the rest of the Madison
Square Garden stockholders saw Jeremy Lin affect stock prices accordingly,
Dolan knows how to get the stock on the rise.
The Knicks need to start winning more games. Nothing else
matters in New York than winning. Dolan needs to continue tinkering with the
team until it becomes a steady contender. Lin could have been a part of the
solution, but Dolan and associates believed the cost was too much. They
couldn’t justify spending approximately $40 million based on a career of 25
starts, no matter how much exhilaration it brought to the Garden. Lin could
have opened other revenue options with his popularity, but the team determined
it was worth letting Lin walk.
I don’t blame Lin for taking the money. He is going to make
He certainly didn’t owe the Knicks anything and vice versa. The team couldn’t
have offered him much due to the CBA. As a fan, I didn’t want to see Lin leave,
but I realize there is a business side to the sports world. I understand that
money talks and bullshit walks and most athletes will never turn down a bigger
paycheck. I am not the biggest James Dolan fan, but I think he made the right
move here. He’s not pinching pennies as he’ll still be still paying a hefty
luxury tax in 2014, but he figured he’ll spend it the way he wants to spend it.
-Written by Marcus Boyd
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