Post#225 » by spaceballer » Sun Jul 15, 2012 7:59 pm
Just because I'm a New Yorker doesn't mean I have to be a blind Dolan follower.
This isn't a business or basketball move, it's because Dolan got his ego hurt. Lin easily pays for own salary and then some, and there's no reason to let him walk, since you can't spend his bird rights exception on another player anyway, and retaining him doesn't affect cap flexibility. It's all because Jimmy Dolan wants to play weekend GM and tie Grunnie's hands after getting peeved at Houston's last minute maneuvers.
That pretty much puts the lie to the line of "going all in." More like going "all in till Dolan's ego gets in the way" and he interferes again. There's no light at the end of this tunnel.
Fat Felton is not taking us to the promise land. And if the Knicks have proven that they're not in it to win it, but just to stoke Dolan's ego and have him capriciously dip in and out of mangling affairs, why should I follow along?
Especially when the FO isn't even playing fair. Look at Alan Hahns absolute reversal between yesterday and today in attitude. He gave his opinion about why he thinks we should retain and not let him walk for free, being rather neutral in his analysis. Then, today, he goes on a PR blitz trying to do a character assassination saying "Lin isn't humble" and "his teammates don't like him"(after trading away the guys who like Lin) and why the knicks shouldn't keep him....an absolute reversal of his earlier stance. It was obvious it was orders from high up to do damage control and get fans turned against Lin and in favor of ditching him. Especially since Alan Hanh was pretty much saying the reverse just the day before. Dolan trotting out his paid journalist to do a damage control campaign that involves character assassination is not my idea of something I should support.
Classless. Short-sighted. And moves that culminate in a pattern over the years that say Dolan isn't going to allow the FO to build a championship team without interference.
It's a repeat of the Isiah years. Felton shows up at Dolan's 4th of July party, schmoozes him, and gets Dolan to give him a job out of favoritism, bypassing the FO via the bbq party. Dolan plays favorites, doesn't think with his brain.
Screw it. Supporting the "Knicks" shouldn't mean I have to support Dolan and his antics, or the fact that they've proven they're more interested in ego than in winning.
If Lin walks because of Dolan's ego, I'm done. Call me when Dolan sells the team and we're actually interested in winning again. Even if we didn't have a chance to win, I would have been willing to go to war with the guys we had, but not when Dolan is going to let a young asset with heart like Lin walk and damage the team over Dolan's ego.
I'm done. Being a New Yorker doesn't mean being Dolan's battered wife. Time to walk away. When the Knicks are allowed to be the Knicks, instead Knicks fans being Dolan's b*tches, let me know.
Linsanity brought in a lot of fans new and old, even knicks fans who have drifted away. I'm sure a lot of long time Knicks fans will now leave in disgust as well. Not only over Lin being let go, but at the way it's happening. With Dolan's ego overriding the front office, and him sending his media minions (he does own a newspaper) to do absolute opinion reversals and character assassinations. The Knicks may still be a playoff team, but not a championship one as long as Dolan is stirring his finger in the pot. No point in continued heartache when the result is known.
I don't think I'll follow another team just because I'll stop following the Knicks. It'll be interesting to see if Fields can regain his touch in Toronto, or if Linsanity continues in Houston and how he grows, or any other number of curiosities, as a casual watcher who checks in every now and then but doesn't keep tabs. But I won't really be a fan of any team, and I might just stop following the NBA entirely. I do want to see if Lin is for real and can grow into a legitimate allstar, though.
I'm certainly not going to invest emotion into following the Knicks, now that we've seen how the Dolan Knicks operate.