Knicks Rumors: Should New York Match Jeremy Lin's Offer Sheet?

After agreeing on a contract with veteran point guard Jason Kidd, the New York Knicks must decide if they want to keep last season's point guard sensation, Jeremy Lin.

Per Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld.

"

The New York Knicks are expected to match the four-year, $30 million offer sheet that Jeremy Lin will sign with the Houston Rockets.

— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) July 5, 2012"

Matching this offer sheet is a bad idea for the Knicks. It would add another good-sized contract to a Knicks team that already has several large contracts on their payroll for the next several years.

Let's look at why matching Lin's offer sheet is a risk for the Knicks.

Financial Reasons

Matching Lin's offer sheet would have an impact financially on how the Knicks could improve their roster during the length of the deal.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports shared some information about what the Knicks' salary picture could look like in a few years.

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New York has $64M committed to four players in 3rd year of Lin deal when he'll be on books for $9.3M -- which doesn't include Jason Kidd.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 5, 2012"

If the Knicks want to have a bench that will give them the depth needed to win a title, they need enough cap space to sign impact players. Not star players, but quality veterans who can play an important role.

Having to add role players for the veteran's minimum or the mini mid-level exception won't get the Knicks much closer to a championship.

Basketball Reasons

Lin had a good season for the Knicks last year, but has he shown enough to prove that he's worth over $7 million per season?

His defense still isn't that great, and offensively his game still has concerns. He was a 79 percent free-throw shooter last year, which isn't bad by any means, but you want your point guard to shoot a higher rate since he's likely to have the ball in his hands a lot late in games. Lin also made just 32 percent of his three-point shots.

Having Kidd mentor Lin next season would certainly help, but it won't make a significant impact in his development as a player.

Lin is also recovering from a knee injury that prevented him from contributing in the Knicks' first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat.

Lin is a good player, but matching his offer sheet is a risk not worth taking for the Knicks.