Jeremy Lin: Knicks Must Sign PG to Avoid Disappointing End to Next Season

If the New York Knicks don't want to see their 2013 season end in disappointment just as this season did, they need to do whatever it takes to re-sign Jeremy Lin.

Lin's agent recently said that it is not a forgone conclusion that the international phenom will be back with the team next season.

Money is not an object here, as the Knicks cannot be outbid for Lin's services. According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, it is a "virtual certainty" that the Knicks will match any offer from another team if the NBA Players Association is able to win its arbitration hearing.

If the arbitration hearing is won, Lin's Bird rights will be restored, meaning that the Knicks will be allowed to go over the salary cap.

The Knicks ultimately control Lin's destiny because they cannot be outbid. And if the Players Association wins its arbitration hearing and restores Lin's early Bird rights, it is a virtual certainty the Knicks will match any offer, because the Bird exception means teams can exceed the salary cap to re-sign players.

Let's try to push the possibility of Steve Nash coming to New York to the back of our minds and concentrate with the guy who started 25 games for the Knicks and pumped life back into Madison Square Garden. Lin gave us nine-straight games of absolute pandemonium in New York City from February 4 against the now-Brooklyn Nets to February 19, when he shredded the Dallas Mavericks.

Lin did too much for the Knicks, both on and off the court, to be let go this offseason. He lured fans back to the Garden and single-handedly saved Mike D'Antoni's job, albeit not for good.

He gave the other players on the team a much-needed shot in the arm from the day he started getting starters' minutes. Not only did he impact the situation on the court, he brought the Knicks' marketing department into uncharted territory, expanding their influence all across the globe.

That last reason alone is enough for James Dolan (or "Great Leader") to bring Lin back simply as a marketing device.

However, if Knicks management chooses not to fork over the necessary cash to bring Lin back, we have a huge problem on our hands.

Everyone knows what the problem was in the playoff series against the Miami Heat. It's a discernible fact that if the Knicks had a true point guard, not Mike Bibby's walking corpse or the king of running jumpers, Toney Douglas, that series wouldn't have ended in embarrassment.

Lin has plenty of learning to do, but there's no denying that he can one day become a top-tier point guard in the NBA. He performed remarkably well upon being thrust onto the biggest market in the world, and while he tailed off in the few games leading up to his season-ending knee injury, he'll come back in 2013 looking for more.

You can question his ability to mesh with Carmelo Anthony, but that's nothing a full offseason of practice can't fix. Mind you, these two had never set foot on a basketball court together prior to Anthony's return from injury. They will click from the outset of the 2013 season, and the Knicks will thrive because of it.

Go ahead and question his heart because he didn't make a return for the playoffs. But I ask, would you put your career and livelihood in jeopardy for a series that probably wasn't winnable by the time he could have returned?

Don't forget that Lin takes a pounding every single time he drives to the hoop and springs right back up and does it again the next time down.

You can't question his talent, though. It's impossible to doubt his ability to create off the dribble and draw the defense away from his teammates. His turnovers will decrease with experience, and once those are down to two or three a game, the Knicks will be a serious contender in the Eastern Conference just as they should have been in 2012.

If the Knicks let Lin walk this offseason, expect it to come back and bite them in the near future. Dolan needs to bring the 24-year-old star back to New York if he wants the team to live up to the hype that they have received in recent years.