Jeremy Lin: Ongoing Battle for Early-Bird Rights Latest for Dysfunctional Knicks

The New York Knicks got a somewhat surprising bit of good news on Friday, but as seems to always be the case nowadays with the Knicks the good fortune that news brought with it may only be temporary.

Guard Jeremy Lin was granted his so-called "early-Bird rights" by arbitrator Kenneth Dam on Friday, a victory for Lin, the Knicks and the players' union that would allow the team to re-sign the 23-year-old to a new deal without using their mid-level exception, which would give the team significantly more flexibility in free agency.

In a nutshell, Bird rights allow players who have spent two or more years with the same team to re-sign with the team without impacting the salary cap. These rights transfer with a player when he is traded, but it was the NBA's contention that they were forfeited when a player is claimed off waivers as Lin was.

Dam, a professor of law at the University of Chicago, agreed with the union's opinion that players claimed off of waivers retain those rights, a decision that union executive director (and mortal enemy of Derek Fisher) Billy Hunter applauded, according to The New York Times.

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"Bird and early Bird rights are the linchpin of our soft-cap system, and we’re pleased that Professor Dam recognized that a player does not forfeit these important rights unless he makes an affirmative decision to sign with a new team as a free agent."

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However, NBA commissioner David Stern heard that applause, and as soon as he figured out it wasn't for him he set about stopping it altogether.

The NBA has announced that they will appeal Dam's ruling, and with free agency set to begin on July 1 a drawn-out appeals process could leave Lin, Knicks guard Steve Novak, Chauncey Billups of the Los Angeles Clippers and J.J. Hickson of the Portland Trail Blazers in a limbo of sorts, throwing the Knicks' offseason plans into chaos.

The Knicks would like to bring back Novak and especially Lin, who exploded onto the NBA scene and became a media sensation as "Linsanity" swept through the Big Apple upon his insertion into the lineup in February.

That said, the team would prefer to do so with both players having Bird rights, as the team could pay the players mid-level money (about $5.5 million a season) while keeping their mid-level exception. New York could then use the exception to pursue a big-name free agent such as Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, who has been linked to the Knicks in some reports.

However, if the NBA were to prevail in their appeal then the Knicks would be left little recourse save to use their mid-level exception to keep Lin, and it's unlikely that the low-level exception salary of around $2 million would be enough to keep Novak in town, much less attract a big-time free agent to the Big Apple.

The union has stated that they will press to have the issue resolved by July 1, either through an expedited appeal or a settlement with the league. With that said David Stern's idea of a "settlement" is usually to get his way, so it's far from a certainty that either will happen.

All this effectively leaves the Knicks twisting in the wind with one week before free agency begins, with no real idea of what sort of flexibility they'll have to pursue pieces to improve their team than they did before Friday's ruling.

This time the mess wasn't of their making, but it's a mess nonetheless, and the uncertainty of this situation could see free agency pass the team by as they're forced to wait on the outcome of an appeal, while the team's fans are slowly driven Linsane.

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