NBA Free Agency 2012: Who Needs Jeremy Lin More, Rockets or Knicks?

By midnight on Tuesday, the legend of Jeremy Lin in New York will go one of two ways. 

Knicks GM Glen Grunwald will either match the three-year, $25 million and heavily back-loaded offer sheet that Lin was offered by the Houston Rockets, or New York will let him walk and go with a tandem of Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd at point guard next year. 

That said, who needs the man more?

The Knicks could definitely use Lin from a marketing standpoint.  Linsanity energized the fans and even when Mike Woodson took over as head coach midseason, he managed to be a valuable contributor in the offense. 

He built great on-court relationships with Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, and Anthony has said that he would "love" to have Lin return, per ESPNNewYork.com.

Now let's have a look at Houston, with a glaring need at the point now that Kyle Lowry has been dealt to the Toronto Raptors and Goran Dragic has signed a new deal with the Phoenix Suns. 

The only true experienced point guard the Rockets have on the active roster now is Toney Douglas, and he's more of a shooter than he is a point man.  Lin gives Houston a tough and gritty team-first player who will get the ball to the scorers and, when necessary, sink the occasional three and drive hard to the basket. 

He also has shown great abilities on defense.

That being said, looking at both teams' systems, I (painfully, as a longtime Knicks fan) believe that it is the Rockets who need Lin more.  The team has talent in Kevin Martin, Chandler Parsons and the three first-round rookies, but they are all worthless without a man to run their offense and get them the ball.

Sure, the Knicks could definitely use Lin, but Mike Woodson's system isn't one in which he would necessarily star.  His offense is one that utilizes stars, and with both Anthony and Stoudemire on the roster, there is little room for Lin to grow as a player.  His job would be to get the ball to them and only shine if there was a golden opportunity.

Houston would be a place for Lin to be one of the go-to people, especially since the Rockets are in the mix to acquire Dwight Howard.  That pairing could be a formidable one-two punch if the trade goes through, and Lin has shown that he can be a great scoring point guard as well as a distributor.

More importantly, Lin going to Houston could automatically put the team back in contention.  By building relationships with the rookies and the rest of his teammates, there would finally be a reliable floor general on the team.

On top of that, the point guard free-agent market is starting to thin.  If the Knicks do match the offer by midnight, the Rockets could be hard-pressed to make a trade for a true point man and may have to rely on the untested Courtney Fortson, or even Douglas.

Simply put, the Rockets' future could very well be riding on Lin.  If that isn't need, I don't know what is.