Jeremy Lin: Raymond Felton Will Fill in Just Fine If Knicks Let Lin Leave

The New York Knicks are on the verge of letting an international superstar leave for the Houston Rockets.

Jeremy Lin inked a three-year offer sheet with the Rockets worth roughly $25 million. Early reports (via ESPN's Marc Stein) suggested that the Knicks "will match any offer on Lin up to $1 billion."

More recent information has been released that the Knicks are leaning towards reaping the benefits of his newest contract in Houston, rather than in Madison Square Garden, via ESPN.com:

"

The Knicks are still deliberating whether they can pay Lin more than $25 million over three years, but two sources within the Knicks organization tell ESPN's Stephen A. Smith that the Knicks will not match the offer.

"

The Rockets were able to offer the world-renowned star a third-year salary of $14.8 million thanks to a "poison pill contract." If the Knicks were to match the offer sheet, they would have $75 million invested in Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler and Lin by the time the 2014-15 season rolls around.

Owner James Dolan has never had a problem paying the luxury tax before, but the system that will be instituted after next season is far more punitive towards organizations that are repeat offenders in surpassing the salary cap than it has ever been before.

For once, in a move that we hardly see carried out by Dolan and the rest of the Knicks' front office, there is some basketball intelligence being exhibited. The best way to describe the possible decision not to match Lin is frugal, a stark contrast to the typical method of operation in New York.

Here is Anthony's take on Lin's new contract (via ESPN.com): "It's not up to me. It's up to the organization to say they want to match that ridiculous contract that's out there."

Of course, calling out your teammate's new pay day doesn't exactly scream "consummate professional," but it's true. The contract is ridiculous.

The Knicks will be just fine with Raymond Felton taking the reigns of the offense after returning to the Knicks via a sign-and-trade with the Portland Trail Blazers.

By no means has Felton been as brilliant throughout his NBA career as Lin was during that stretch of games in February, but he's been brilliantly serviceable as a court general.

The best 54-game stretch of his career came in 2010-11 when he masterfully ran the pick-and-roll with Stoudemire to the tune of 17.1 points and nine assists per game.

He averaged 11.4 points and 6.5 assists in 60 games with the Trail Blazers last season, totals that are a far cry from his New York numbers. However, the Knicks don't need Felton to be as good as he was under Mike D'Antoni.

The more the point guard has the ball in his hands in an offense with Anthony, the less value Anthony has to his team. At the very least—and I mean the very least—Anthony is a top 10 offensive talent in the NBA. The less he has the ball in his hands, the more useless he is.

That's why Felton is the perfect middle ground between having a bad point guard, and having a point guard like Lin who is far from a pass-first point guard at this stage in his short career.

Head coach Mike Woodson just needs Felton to run the pick-and-roll with Stoudemire sometimes. He doesn't need the new arrival to command the offense and orchestrate some meticulously crafted attack. All he needs is for Felton to facilitate the offense half the time, and let Anthony play his game for the rest.

There's no reason to believe that Anthony won't curtail his game to accommodate a new point guard for the betterment of the team. Now that LeBron James has won a championship, Anthony is all the more eager to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy himself.

It doesn't make sense for Anthony to be less involved in an offense, especially one that isn't as point-guard friendly as D'Antoni's was. Dolan gutted half the team nearly 18 months ago to bring in one of the most sought after superstars in recent memory. He needs to be the guy in this offense, with or without Lin.

Felton doesn't have to be the reincarnation of his 2010-11 self—and he probably won't be. All he needs to do is keep his turnovers down and find the open man.

That doesn't seem to hard, does it? Of course, it's easier said than done, though. Only time will tell if Felton is the right man for the job.