Melo is just jealous and a hypocrite. His jersey don't sell as good as other players and this past Tuesday, he had the guts to say he wants Lin back knowingly the Knicks told him already they aren't signing him. Melo is the player who created these superstar free-agent problems by letting his team, Nuggets know before the season that he won't be signing an extension. You can ball, but it doesn't mean you can talk and ball especially from a guy who just had 1 year of college maybe got a free pass like D.Rose. Watch Knicks fans give Lin, a standing ovation when they play and Melo will probaly make up an injury to stay away.
I don't know about the race card here. I think it's more that Carmelo's just a prima dona than anything else. And a disillusioned one at that. Jeremy Lin needs to live up to the hype or the spotlight will go away, simple as that. I hope he holds up his end of the bargain! I think he will. At least I think he'll perform as well as Dragic did last season when he was given the keys to the car.
There was a great article about this, it's a shame I can't remember who wrote it, but it basically described in great detail how Lin didn't fit into Melo's vision of himself as the savior of New York and the leader of a renaissance of Knicks basketball. He felt threatened by Lin and his popularity, and the remarks about his contract make that more than obvious. He's a child and a team-killer. He couldn't lead s**t out of his own anus. He will wallow in mediocrity in New York and end his career with zero rings, deservedly so.
For what it's worth, I failed to finish my thought about this . . . The interesting thing about this situation is that the racism may be almost subconscious. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, maybe Melo or JR Smith thought in a systematic way . . . - Lin is asian. - the NBA "club" is for african americans - Since he's asian, it's ok for me to talk about his contract/money - I'm going to talk about his contract and money. Rather, what they said reflects how they feel -- which is emotional, and maybe not particularly well thought out. But how one feels can be grounded in some racism as much as what one thinks at a thorough at a deliberate, conscious level.
I guess I'm the only one who interpreted Anthony's "ridiculous" to mean that the 5/5/15 setup was ridiculous and not the amount of the contract? I honestly think it's absurd to think that he was talking amount the amount of Lin's contract. And this is coming from an Asian-American who hates Anthony with a passion.
For real. That was my interpretation from the very beginning. And this is coming from a Caucasian-American who still dislikes Anthony because he knocked UT out of the tourney.
I would never give Carmelo the benefit of the doubt. Assume it's the worst with him until proven otherwise. The guy obviously is a me-first chucker who wanted him gone. He got a coach fired after barely a year in NY and admittedly stopped trying. They are a horrible franchise with a horrible owner and horrible fans. People on their board get chastised for suggesting Durant > Carmelo. They basically got their pg of the future (and potential All-Star and cash cow) gifted to them and now have Raymond Fatty Felton and an old and drunk Jason Kidd as their point guards. How does that happen? Ultimately I think Carmelo, JR, and Dolan wanted players that played (and looked like) "Knick-Style" players (ie. iso-sets, no ball movement, volume shooters, etc.)
I initially had these thoughts but I now think is overblown. (At least on Carmelo's side) Everything I've read since this happened points to Melo and Lin being friends. Melo allegedly is the one who pushed for Lin to get playing time. He has said in interviews that he considers Lin a friend and that if anyone asked Lin he'd back that up. His explanation of the structure of the contract being ridiculous makes sense. I think this is more about him just being stupid and not knowing how the CBA works. The Rockets didn't structure this contract in a ridiculous way, the CBA sets up a structure that was harmful to the Knicks because of their salary situation.
Why is the set up ridiculous? In terms of cap numbers it means nothing to the Rockets and we are trying to sign our PG. This is the same franchise that played Jerome James $30m to sit on the bench and Eddy Curry something ridiculous. You don't see Carmelo calling out management or Eddy Curry. In fact I have never read anyone call out Eddy Curry's contract in the NBA. IF indeed that is the case it shows how LITTLE Carmelo understands the cap and if he is indeed trying to build a team in NY he needs to grow a brain. Also I personally think the worst of the worst is Stephen A Smiths article. And I quote: "Lost in all this Linsanity is the reality that the Knicks weren't entirely sure about Jeremy Lin -- at least not as much as Lin believed they were." "It was Lin who then sauntered around the rest of the season acting as if he'd already accomplished all that was required, as if he was the face of the franchise and the Knicks were supposed to feel privileged to have him on board." I have NEVER NEVER ever seen someone call out a player like that. EVER. IF he was JR Smith I can bet you my chops he wouldn't have written this article in this type of tone
I don't think the writer realizes how dumb Carmelo actually is. I occasionally watch his wife's reality show with my daughter and Carmelo reasons like a 3rd grader.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Carmelo is not well-versed in the finer points of the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement and Salary Cap. Honestly, it would be ridiculous to think that he was actually meaning that Lin didn't deserve the money. He was just talking about the structure of the contract.
That may be your opinion and that's fine. And that may be Carmelo's opinion and that's fine too. But why would Carmelo talk about it in public? That's the point of the article. The point is Carmelo broke the unsaid rule that you don't criticize a fraternity brother to people outside the fraternity. But Carmelo did, which leads to him not considering Lin as part of the fraternity.
That kind of comment and lack of knowledge only furthers how dumb the guy is. IF you don't know how it works I wouldn't make a comment. Isn't that why most of the guys don't comment on contracts anyway? JR Smith's comments clearly shows his not happy with how much Lin is getting paid. Heck I think we are slightly over paying for a in my mind a 50% unknown. It's not the point, the point is neither Melo or JR Smith would have come out to say that about say, Joe Johnson's contract. Or as someone mentioned before you won't find Stephen A Smith commenting on Javale McGee getting $11m Its just the way it is, for whatever reason these guys broke normal procedure when they are talking about Lin. Its not even about racism its why they would do that? I think it could be a variety of factors Jealousy Racism Bad fit list could go on
I am not to sure if JR is jealous per se of Lin's contract. I think he said what he said as a business move. If the Knicks had matched it would have affected JR's future pay day next year. The Knicks get JR's bird rights next season. So JR took a pay cut this year but he will be getting a pay day next season on a longer contract. If Lin had stayed on that would have decreased the amount of money JR could get because of Luxury tax. It is a business and JR made a business move to protect his future interests. Yes he threw his teammate under the bus. But the NBA is a ruthless business and you have to look out for yourself first and foremost. There are no loyalties in sport. I doubt JR meant any insult by it or was speaking from his own personal/honest feelings. He was just sending a message to management that he did not want that contract matched.
absolutely agree. Ive never heard another athlete publicly question a contract. its a unwritten rule IN ALL OF SPORTS. Its stupid to do so because YOU MESS WITH YOUR FELLOW COLLEAGUES & FUTURE COLLEAGUES COMING IN money. if Lin was black they would not have said a word about it. trust me.
It was the six part article up on ESPN.com titled "Six Degrees Of Separation: Jeremy Lin". It's a good read and goes into detail how this went down. Here's the link: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8180308/nba-jeremy-lin-six-degrees-separation-family
Obviously. When you put a minority in any majority either in Sports or any profession. This will always happen. This will go away depend on how Lin perform this year a full season. The only way for Lin to not give them more ammo to shoot at(you see we were right about Lin all along mentality) is to continue what he did in NY which I'm pretty confident he will excel after witnessing that small sample. I'm pretty sure his confident is still there and will improve his skills over the summer so he WILL be a better player than last season.
