You are right that we have no way to tell if any other team wanted him. So I was incorrect in concluding that no one wanted him. Would you agree that he had to sign here because we have a good offer, not that he CHOSE to sign here?
Lin likely wants his own team. No proof, just speculation. I speculate that's why he signed with Houston in the first place.
He had only one offer. He had no choice. He said himself he wanted to sign with Knicks even after we made the first offer (not the poison pill one).
But you might be right: He actually chose to try out in Houston first. And he said in Taiwan that he thought he was going to save Houston basketball.
If your theory is right, then it's very unfortunately for him that no team would offer the same amount of money and a desired bench role. He reluctantly took more money even though it meant he would start.
Where do these ideas that Lin was unwanted come from? The Knicks had every intention of resigning Lin. Rockets first offer was for four-years, $28.8 million. Which the Knicks unwisely publicly said they would match. The Rockets came back with $25.1 over three years offer. With the poison pill in the third year. The reason Knicks didn't match wasn't because of the amount but because it would have triggered an enormous luxury tax for them in the third year. It was reported Dolan felt betrayed and angry that Lin dealt with Houston on a second offer. Other teams didn't make offers, because, at that time, no one dreamt that the Knicks would let him go. (Morey's said the same thing.) Even with the luxury tax hit, which was crazily high, Dolan's decision to pass on Lin was very controversial in New York, and only justified on the ground of the luxury tax hit. People see Lin's poorer play from the first half of last season when he was coming back from surgery and assume Linsanity was some mirage, and talk about it like it was a 2 week wonder. The 7 game win streak was 2 weeks. Lin played for the Knicks for almost two months, through a coaching change to someone much less conducive to his style, and alongside Melo (ball demanding). And he was still effective during that whole span. (with the exception of that infamous Miami game, when the Heat at their height zeroed in on him) Regarding coming to Houston, although he would never come out and say it, it was clear he was happy to sign with the Rockets. Because Houston's style of play, fast, ball movement oriented, is Lin's style of play, and he's suggested as much.
He didn't have to sign here. Jeremy Lin, like any other logical person, wants to make money. He signed a contract that gave him more money than any other team was willing to offer. He chose to sign the contract with Houston, he could always have waited longer for another offer to come along that would have offered less money. But he didn't, that's fine, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to make money.
Luxury tax hit for the Knicks to keep Lin would have been $35 million. And many still thought the Knicks should have kept him, and saw it as another example of Dolan's incompetence. Here's Howard Beck's breakdown of what went down. http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/questions-abound-with-lin-in-the-balance/?_r=0
Dafuq are you people even talking about anymore? Just because 'Jeremy Lin' is in a thread's title doesn't mean every one of them is a dumpster ground for anything and everything about him. Try to stay on topic for once. If that is possible.
HAHAH EXACTLY, I had to read and re-read the Title every now and then lol I'm not too sure anymore... all the threads are having the same conversation!
So out of 2077 total minutes Lin played last season, only 333 was without Harden on the court, or 16%. As a 6th man, depending on how many minutes Lin averages this year, expect that percentage to rise to anywhere between 30% to 50%. That should have a material impact on his usage rate overall. We'll see how this affects his impact on the game.
Harden is going to be on the court, at a bare minimum, 35 minutes per game (he was at 38 minutes last season, and does anybody realistically think McHale will force him to sit on the bench?). That leaves only 13 minutes where Lin is supposedly going to be the ball-dominant guard on the floor. Even if you reduced Lin to 20 MPG, that still means at least 1/3 of his time is going to be spent with Harden. These guys have to learn how to play together. They figured it out last season while having one of the best offenses in the league. They'll be fine this season, especially since Lin worked on his catch-and-shoot and 3-point game.
A few more numbers: If we discard the games where Harden was not playing, then Lin averaged 29.2 minutes playing alongside Harden and 3.9 minutes playing without him. If we assume that, on average, in games without garbage time this season Harden plays 38 mpg and Lin is on the floor every minute Harden is not, that's 10 minutes a game for Lin without Harden.
I don't think I understand how they are creating the per 36 numbers there... it almost seems like they are multiplying total minutes played by .75 to get per 36? nbawowy says 2724 total minutes played for JLin, 2281 w/Harden, 443 wo/Harden, which works out roughly to the numbers you have for minutes...
