sinjz wrote:Does keeping Lin negatively affect our ability to sign players or make trades in the next three years? I'm currently of the belief that it does NOT. I think we are are pretty much set as a team for the next three years REGARDLESS of whether we match Lin or not; We are capped out regardless. If that's the case, I don't see why there is any debate over this, we would need to match Lin.
Does this push us from MLE to a MMLE? If not, then it looks like the only difference on the basketball court would be Lin or some guy off the street. If that's the choice how do you not choose Lin? At worse, if he sucks we trade him for a 2nd rounder or something. At best he helps us go for a championship. If he's something in between, he's a trade chip.
Off court stuff - if you complain about the luxury tax, you can't ignore the fact he'll bring extra attention and cash to the club; probably MUCH more than what the luxury tax would cost.
So basically can somebody explain to me basketball management wise, why we aren't bringing him back?
I will take a stab at this and play devi'ls advocate from management's propsective. FTR, I would match Lin but here are the reasons why I think they wouldn't.
1) Financially. Signing him will probably not affect future signings however it does hit Dolan hard in the pocketbook. We cannot assume that money means nothing to a billionaire, he got to where he is by making smart financial decisions.
2) Emotion. I am positive that management is still boiled over how negotiations transpired. They were banking on a 3rd year of 9mil and received a last minute jolt. Needeless to say they weren't too pleased with this and maybe felt like they were taken advantage of. Personally, I feel that the entire thing was handled wrong from the getgo and it just snowballed into something worse on both sides. But his is their way of getting back at Lin, his agent and the Houston Rockets.
3) Lin's relationship with Woodson, Melo and Stoudemire. It's no secret that Lin style is not complimentary to the others. Stat pushed hard for Nash, Melo's game has never gelled with Lin's and he even went as far as saying that his contract is 'Ridiculous'. Despite Woodson publicly saying that Lin would be the starter, anyone that knows his system knows that he's was itching to start Barren Davids over Lin last season and probably would even start Kidd over Lin if it was really up to him.
4) Control. Management probably felt that Lin was getting a little bit too big for his britches so this is their way of saying we control this team, not you.
There you have it. I believe this would be a huge mistake PR wise for the Knicks and only plays further into Lin's "underdog" story where nobody has given him a real chance including this instance here. I think that there will be severe backlash from the entire league and fans around the NBA. All they know is that Linsanity came out of nowhere, made a big splash and now is denied yet again another chance to prove himself.
As for Lin, he will have a lot less pressure on him in Houston and will have a better chance of flourishing there as well since they don't have any stars at the moment.
