NBA Rumors: Jeremy Lin Must Focus on Showing Knicks Why They Made a Mistake
It's over, and no online petition or hopeless wishing is going to change it. Linsanity has come to an end—at least, the New York City edition has.
Last week, Lin signed the Rockets' three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet, and according to ESPN.com's Ian O'Connor, the offer is backloaded so Lin will receive $14.98 million in the third year. That could cost the Knicks over $35 million in luxury tax.
So, despite widespread assumptions that the Knicks would match the offer to retain Lin, they can't afford to. And in a twist nobody saw coming, the Knicks have lost their most lovable and unifying character.
To compensate, the Knicks signed Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd and declared themselves out of the running for Linsanity. They let one of the most exciting players to grace this team in recent history leave without getting a single thing in return.
Now, the New York Post's Marc Berman reports that Lin is experiencing a little bit of seller's remorse and doesn't want to leave New York. Lin's high school coach, Peter Diepenbrock, told Berman:
"He did not see this happening. He sounded surprised. He loves the New York fans. To have the experience that he had for the two months and for that to be over with, that’s quite a shock to the system. I think he really believed the Knicks would match whatever offer he got.
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Perhaps Lin should've thought of that, though, before he signed the Rockets' offer sheet. The way O'Connor tells it, Lin verbally agreed to a Knicks offer that would pay him just $9.3 million in the third year. The Knicks could stomach that.
But then, O'Connor reports, Lin used those numbers to negotiate with the Rockets and get himself more cash. What he got was more money and an offer the Knicks would be financially incapable of matching.
Both parties are at fault, here. The Knicks screwed up by failing to sign Lin right off the bat when free agency began. Lin screwed up by playing hardball and assuming his beloved team would match whatever offer he received, no matter how lucrative.
Now, nothing can be done. The Knicks have made their choice(s) in the form of Felton and Kidd, and Lin has signed away the next three years of his life to Kevin McHale and the Rockets.
Now, Lin has no choice but to show his old team what it's missing. The fans certainly understand the severity of the situation—according to the New York Daily News, they've started a petition to keep Lin—but perhaps the Knicks front office has underestimated just how much Lin revitalized the team.
He's not the kind of player who comes around all too often; his potential and his impact—on and off the court—can't be replaced by affordable veterans.
Lin can lament all he wants, but he's not coming back to New York. It's going to be a challenge to restore the Rockets to glory—they finished two games out of the playoff hunt last season and feature one of the youngest rosters in the NBA—but he might as well get started.
At this point, he doesn't have many choices other than to bring Linsanity to Houston and make the Knicks wish they'd handled things a bit differently this summer.
