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A thread for all the Lin fans to discuss where they would like to see their favorite player play next summer, assuming he opts out of his very friendly contract with the Hornets this summer and becomes a free agent?

Should he stay in Charlotte, either opt in to his 2 mil deal for one more year?
Opt-out, but resign with Charlotte on a longer, more lucrative deal.
Go anywhere that he is guaranteed a starting job, maybe with the Sixers, Knicks, Jazz etc...
Go to another playoff team, other than Charlotte, as a backup PG or 6th man, similar to his role with Charlotte now
Chase rings with the Warriors, Spurs or Cavs, regardless of role
Other ideas?

Alternatively, how much would you offer Lin and would you start him on your team?

I would like to see him resigned at Charlotte for about $6mill a year

Hopefully he can resign with Charlotte, he said yesterday he would take a paycut to stay there. A team with him as the primary ball handler likely wont be that great unfortunately

He would be a nice stopgap for the Sixers, maybe 3 year 21 mill.

Diop wrote:I would like to see him resigned at Charlotte for about $6mill a year

He's getting at least 10 - 12m per year.

The cap has changed, and the amount of teams with cap room compared to number of FAs is obscene. He could easily get a 2/24 or a 3/35 IMO.

My preference would be for Lin to sign with the Brooklyn Nets. They have a top 5 center in Brook Lopez which would allow Lin to play PnR...Lin has been at his best when he's paired with a very athletic big man. As a Knicks he had Chandler and Stoutrmire. In Houston, he had Howard and with the Lakers, he had Ed Davis but Byron Scott refused to play the 2 together eventhough they were already showing great chemistry off the PnR.

My feeling about Lin returning to Charlotte is very negative because his playing time will likely be cut because of the return of MKG and possibly a wing for the bench. That means Lin will probably be limited to playing Kemba's back-up minutes which would be so unfair to Lin. As a Lin fan, I would be very sad to see him be so under-utilize as a Hornets when he could go elsewhere and have a much larger role.

I just hope that Charlotte tells Lin that they don't want to take advantage of him and that he's too good to only play less than 20mpg thus letting him go as a good-will gesture and offer the back-up PG minutes to an inferior player like Gutierrez or maybe draft a young PG and let him play the 12-15 minutes that Kemba will not play.

Diop wrote:I would like to see him resigned at Charlotte for about $6mill a year

Do you have a good idea on the intentions regarding the other key free agents: Williams, Batum, Lee, Big Al? Because I've tried playing around with the numbers with the Hornets and part of me thinks the best move is to keep all the cap holds and stay over the cap bringing guys back and keeping the MLE in play. Lin could be a target then with the MLE. The downside to that is that the team only improves by the return of MKG and further internal development. Is that enough?

Back to Charlotte for the MLE I reckon. There are a few starting spots opening up like Brooklyn, Dallas and NYK so he can start for one of those but from what I hear and read, he loves it in Charlotte and prefers to stay.

I really like the Jazz fit.

He's exactly what the Knicks need, especially if we throw money at a SG.

hood30 wrote:My preference would be for Lin to sign with the Brooklyn Nets. They have a top 5 center in Brook Lopez which would allow Lin to play PnR...Lin has been at his best when he's paired with a very athletic big man.

yea but

Slava wrote:Back to Charlotte for the MLE I reckon. There are a few starting spots opening up like Brooklyn, Dallas and NYK so he can start for one of those but from what I hear and read, he loves it in Charlotte and prefers to stay.

Random thought, but will any team actually have a MLE this offseason with the rising cap?

King of Canada wrote:

Slava wrote:Back to Charlotte for the MLE I reckon. There are a few starting spots opening up like Brooklyn, Dallas and NYK so he can start for one of those but from what I hear and read, he loves it in Charlotte and prefers to stay.

Random thought, but will any team actually have a MLE this offseason with the rising cap?

probably the Cavs since everybody there makes at least 10 mil a year

King of Canada wrote:

Slava wrote:Back to Charlotte for the MLE I reckon. There are a few starting spots opening up like Brooklyn, Dallas and NYK so he can start for one of those but from what I hear and read, he loves it in Charlotte and prefers to stay.

Random thought, but will any team actually have a MLE this offseason with the rising cap?

There will be teams that won't want to renounce their free agents, so they will have to use the MLE.

King of Canada wrote:

Slava wrote:Back to Charlotte for the MLE I reckon. There are a few starting spots opening up like Brooklyn, Dallas and NYK so he can start for one of those but from what I hear and read, he loves it in Charlotte and prefers to stay.

Random thought, but will any team actually have a MLE this offseason with the rising cap?

I could see large market teams that need improvement using it once they've used all their cap space on free agent starters.

Bentley1225 wrote:

King of Canada wrote:

Slava wrote:Back to Charlotte for the MLE I reckon. There are a few starting spots opening up like Brooklyn, Dallas and NYK so he can start for one of those but from what I hear and read, he loves it in Charlotte and prefers to stay.

Random thought, but will any team actually have a MLE this offseason with the rising cap?

I could see large market teams that need improvement using it once they've used all their cap space on free agent starters.

if you use cap space you lose the MLE and get the smaller Room Exception. And for a team like the Cavs that may well remain over the tax line they get the Taxpayer's Exception.

I see Lin getting around $8M/year in Charlotte since it seems like he wants to stay. If he wanted to go start for Brooklyn he could probably get a couple million more, but i think hed rather compete in the playoffs.

Jwduff wrote:I see Lin getting around $8M/year in Charlotte since it seems like he wants to stay. If he wanted to go start for Brooklyn he could probably get a couple million more, but i think hed rather compete in the playoffs.

The problem is that there isn't a convenient way for Charlotte to pay Lin $8M/yr. He could get a ~$5.5M MLE deal but for Charlotte to pay more would require losing some other guys.

He's the best available FA back up PG in the league. Two options for him:
- Getting PAID to be a back up again. A large number of teams are looking for an impact back-up PG - Hornets, Bulls, Rockets, Pistons, potentially Wizards (if Sessions leaves), Jazz, Pelicans... He could get $8-10M from one of them
- Going for a starting spot - Sixers, Knicks, Nets, Grizzlies come to mind
If I was Lin, I'd go for the latter, on a long term contract

giberish wrote:

Jwduff wrote:I see Lin getting around $8M/year in Charlotte since it seems like he wants to stay. If he wanted to go start for Brooklyn he could probably get a couple million more, but i think hed rather compete in the playoffs.

The problem is that there isn't a convenient way for Charlotte to pay Lin $8M/yr. He could get a ~$5.5M MLE deal but for Charlotte to pay more would require losing some other guys.

why would they lose other guys?