Is It Linsane Not to Match?

UPDATE: The New York Times is now reporting that, as of 4 PM today, the NY Knicks have essentially decided to not match the Rockets' offer.


In one man's opinion, well not just one as there's Stephen A. Smith (wait am I about to agree with Stephen A. Smith. *Shudder* Momma. I feel so cold. What's happening? Were the Mayans riight??), it is not, in fact, linsane.


First and foremost, for a Harvard guy of (apparently) good, moral, Christian upbringing, it is hard to believe that Lin was stupid enough to take Jim Dolan's assurances that the Knicks would match back to the Rockets in hopes of getting more money. I mean, don't get me wrong, in general this is a smart business move to leverage whatever information you have in order to further solidify your position and get more money. ShaoLin, however, was dealing with Jimmy Dolan. So go ahead and throw "general situations" out the window. OF COURSE, Dolan was going to take that personally as a breach of trust. He's a selfish, solipsistic man-child. Further, it backfired. Lin made no more money, I believe the offer actually went down from a balanced $28 million with $9 million a year, the Rockets just went the "poison pill" route and backloaded his contract in hopes that the Knicks would not match because of that monstrous $14.9 million (or whatever) third year. This would put the Knicks far over the cap in Lin's third year and cost them an additional, roughly, $35 million in luxury tax penalties under the new CBA.


Despite Bill Simmons' opinion, I don't think a ton of the actual Knicks fans care that much. Casual fans surely will be disappointed (only so many players have caused people's moms to comment on the Knicks; "How 'bout that Jeremy Lin, huh?"), but they'll also move on within a couple of days. Sure, Linsanity was an exciting run, but it was also a run primarily under Mike D'Antoni. There is no guarantee that Jeremy would be anywhere as good under Woodson's ingenius(ly repugnant) continuous Carmelo Iso, especially considering what a turnover machine Lin was. Unlike Jason Kidd, Lin doesn't have the cache to direct Melo; as any Knicks fan saw on more than one occasion last year. Simply put, the sample size was far to small to dedicate this type of money to the kid. As much as I despise everything about Dolan, and despite how much I distrust the front office to do anything that makes a semblance of sense, I cannot blame them from deciding against making what amounts to a $40 million gamble. And, yes, I hear y'all saying that worst case scenario is that Lin gets traded in the 3rd year as an expiring contract but who says that will work out. And who are the Knicks going to get in return so that the contracts work out? The league's love of expirings does little to take away from the gamble. 


If it's true that Lin is gone, I wish him all the luck in the world. He seems like a good dude and a hard worker, so I'd like him to succeed. But all the screeching from various sectors about how this is more Knicks front office ineptitude, or that Knicks fans should switch allegiance to Bk if Lin isn't resigned (ahem, pump thebreaksGrantland, ahem), needs to stop. If nothing else, you are not really a Knicks fans if you can't let front office ineptitude roll off your back like so many rain drops off a duck's and just hope for the better. And if Lin IS back. Eff it. Kidd's going to mentor him and we'll figure out year 3 later. Woot. Let's roll into '12/'13 'Bockers.


At worst, I can just continue to nourish myself on the Jimmy Dolan haterade. 

In recent days, two people briefed on the Knicks’ deliberations said it was unlikely the team would keep Lin. Yet both cautioned that the decision was not final and would ultimately be made by one person: James L. Dolan, the Madison Square Garden chairman.

Either way, win-win for me.


UPDATE: For a conflicting but still astute take on the now confirmed decision to not match the Rockets' offer to Lin, check out Jay Caspian Kang over at Grantland. We both agree though, wholeheartedly, that Jimmy Dolan, like many trust fund babies, sucks at life.


IMAGE: NBA.com