I think we can all agree on these things about Lin
1. While Lin's departure by itself won't have a huge, if any impact this season, it makes you question the way this organization is run. People still think that this was either for basketball, money, or that Lin "didn't want to be a true Knick". All signs point to either of these things, or both
A. Dolan was prepared to match any offer, but he thought Lin "betrayed" him, and his pride got shattered. He wasn't going to "give Lin what he wanted" even though that's an idiotic way of thinking. Then again, it's James Dolan
B. The Knicks didn't value Lin highly in the first place, and they were only going to match a lowballed offer.
2. Felton will have a better, or at worst equal season to Lin. This isn't Lin's fault, but look at the roster in Houston. That teams ceiling is 25 wins and it's floor is 15. Lin will be the #1 option when K-Mart get's traded, and while Jeremy Lamb has a chance to be a star he's not going to be an all star the first season. I love White, but I think his ceiling is what Odom was on the Lakers which isn't bad, but not #2 option material. Jones is good as well, but I don't see him being any better than a rotation player is on a championship team. Anyone expecting big things out of Lin this year, besides maybe ppg is crazy. Asik is no Tyson Chandler, you put peak CP3 on that team and they struggle getting the 8th seed.
3. While Carmelo/JR/Woodson/Isiah etc might have to do something with him out, we'll never know. I doubt Carmelo would have wanted him gone. I could understand him being mad at the "Can Carmelo play with Lin?" and not "Can Lin play with Carmelo?". I would be too, but if he thinks that Lin would ever be the main star on this team and/or close games he's an idiot. I don't think with 10 seconds left and down by one, Woodson would've ever told Lin "alright Jeremy we're running an iso for you" unless Carmelo was injured. While I have some suspicions about JR not wanting him here[he RT'd ESPN saying that the Knicks will not match Lin officially, then he tweeted a line from Jadakiss about loyalty right after], he has no good reason to be angry at Lin either. What does he have against him, he hates Chinese people?The person that probably had the biggest hand in letting go of Lin, if anyone, was Dolan
4. People need to understand, most of us aren't complaining just from Lin. We're complaining because from all reports, we lost him because of our owners pride, and not for basketball reasons. The only person who reported that the Knicks let him go for concerns about his knee was Berman. Unless you think he's a credible source, there's nothing to it. There's so many good articles/posts disproving that Lin was greedy and all that garbage anyway[Clyde_Styles thread, the ESPN 6 part article, the SI interview with Lin, etc]
5. People aren't angry at this team, or Dolan just from this. Here's some facts about what has happened since Dolan took over
1.
http://dimemag.com/2012/07/all-25-playe ... emy-lin/2/ for all of the god awful contracts he's given out
2. Gave Stoudemire the max
3. Haven't made a second round or conf finals since 2000
4. Have won one playoff game in 11 years
5. Lost the most games out of any NBA franchise since he's taken over
6. This is our best team in 13 years, and imo it has no shot to beat Miami/LA/OKC[with or without Lin btw] barring an injury
7. Something must have changed with him, unless you think Lin was lying. Unless Dolan was bull **** to Lin about the "don't rush back, we have big plans for you" thing, there's no reason why he went back on his word besides his pride being hurt
8. It's pretty likely he'll make a few more dumb moves in the next few years[give JR a big contract, trade Shump]
He's pretty clearly the worst owner in pro sports, and he knows we won't do anything about it because he picked the most loyal fanbase in sports as well to **** over time and time again
I'm not as angry about this as I was let's say 5 days ago, Felton has been saying and doing the right things, losing weight, and I never doubted he never wanted to leave this team anyway. But, there's still question marks about him. This is far from the roster he had when he was here before, he won't handle the ball as much, he probably can't take 30 games to click with the roster again considering we're in a "win now" mode. I don't doubt he can do big things for this team, but some nights he'll be the #4 option depending on how JR is feeling on his shot that night.
Another thing is, the "100% healthy Knicks" will likely never happen. We have two players under the age of 28, and one of them just got injured[on the way to recovery though thankfully]. The vets we have aren't iron men, Carmelo got injured, Stoudemire has been injured the past 1 1/2 seasons, etc. The 100% healthy Knicks are probably as likely as "Healthy CP3" at this point.
