Lin's departure a surprise to ex-coach, teammates MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Mike D'Antoni was there for the start of Linsanity, Kobe Bryant on the wrong end of its greatest highlight. Neither imagined next season opening without Jeremy Lin on the New York Knicks. "No. Not when the kicker was they can match. I'm thinking, for sure," said former Knicks coach D'Antoni on Wednesday before the U.S. Olympic team practiced. "Even when I was there, well at least we got him, we don't have to worry about him blowing up and us not being able to afford it." But the Knicks ultimately decided they couldn't or wouldn't. Lin became a Houston Rocket on Tuesday night when the Knicks refused to match a three-year deal worth about $25 million, ending a brief but amazing run as New York's point guard. The Knicks had repeatedly said they planned to keep the restricted free agent, and Olympians Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler both believed they would. "I know the Knicks organization wanted him back, I know his teammates wanted him back, I felt like Jeremy wanted to come back, but can't pass up what Houston threw out there," Chandler said. D'Antoni, who gave Lin a chance to play in February, resigned a month and a half later when the Knicks were struggling. He remains a firm believer in the undrafted point guard from Harvard. Bryant had no choice but to become one after Lin scored a career-high 38 points, outplaying one of the NBA's biggest stars during a nationally televised victory over the Lakers. "The plays that he was making, it didn't seem like he had too much of a difficulty making them. He seemed like he was pretty comfortable in making those plays and he was pretty consistent afterwards," Bryant said. "His numbers weren't 30 and 15 assists or whatever, but they were more than solid numbers. He can play, he's a very good player." How good is impossible to predict, because Lin made just 25 starts before his season ended because of surgery to repair torn cartilage in his knee. His numbers were already falling by then, a combination of fatigue and a lesser role in the offense once Mike Woodson replaced D'Antoni, who is now an assistant coach on the U.S. Olympic team. "I mean, I don't think nobody really has an idea what his ceiling is," Anthony said. "What he was able to do for that little stretch that he played before he got hurt, he was at the all-time high, from a game standpoint doing what he was able to do, averaging 20 something-plus points, almost 10 assists. I'm ready to see what's next." He would have seen it in New York, but the third year of the contract, worth nearly $15 million, could have cost the Knicks more than double that in luxury tax payments. "Houston threw something in the game that was kind of crazy," Anthony said. It's possible Lin may never live up to the deal, but D'Antoni refuses to rule it out. And he won't accept the idea that Lin was only a creation of his high-scoring offensive system. "First of all, I think that's not fair to anybody, I think especially not to Jeremy," he said. "For 20 games he was one of the best in the league and he was dominating from the headlines to even on the basketball court. So you can't discount that he'll never be able to do it, because not only did he do it, he did it at the highest level possible. "So I'm happy for him, I think it's a great contract for him and Houston could find themselves a very, very, very good basketball player. At least he's going to be a good player. The guy's got quickness and determination, so he's going to be good. Now it depends on what level, nobody knows that, but I wouldn't bet against him." Source: http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/art...-ex-coach-teammates-3716130.php#ixzz20zF0fmz5
New York brought a knife, we brought a gun. THAT'S the Morey way. My prediction is we fleece Orlando next.
If Mike D. is that big on Lin I'm sure we got a good player. The guy knows good players when he sees them.
Jeremy Lin will probably get a standing O. If anyone gets booed it'll probably be James Dolan. Jr Smith probably deserves it. Also Melo.
Crap, this forum will go through an influx of new members who know nothing about basketball and everything about how Lin is a prodigy and a savior and everybody who'll oppose their opinion will be labeled an idiot. Good times ahead.
that would depend completely on who you get in return wouldn't it? so what is your former (banned) user ID?
Vendors and Fans Begin Switch to Lin’s New Team BEIJING — As New Yorkers slept off the news that Jeremy Lin was departing for the Houston Rockets, the race to capitalize on the next phase of Linsanity was beginning in China. Just hours after the Knicks announced they would not match a three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet for Lin, and before the Rockets had added him to their Web site, online clothing sellers were advertising Jeremy Lin Rockets T-shirts with the No. 17. “I saw the news that Lin was going to the Rockets, looked up his number and posted the shirt on my site,” said a vendor in coastal Jiangsu Province who would only give his surname, Chen, tacitly acknowledging his latest product likely violated copyright laws. Chen was selling Lin shirts, in red or white, for about $10 each, including shipping. The N.B.A. is popular in China. The state broadcaster, China Central Television, shows games live, and player jerseys are common sights at markets around the country. The Rockets had a strong China connection with center Yao Ming, the country’s only N.B.A. All-Star, who played in Houston from 2002 to 2010. Lin is the son of immigrants from Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China considers a renegade province, and many Chinese basketball fans embrace him as their own. One sign of Chinese devotion is evident in the number of followers he has on Sina Weibo, the country’s most popular microblog service. Lin has 2.8 million followers on Weibo, compared with 844,000 on Twitter. Lin was quick to post word of his new job on Weibo, writing in Chinese that he was honored and happy to be returning to the Rockets. It is not clear if Lin himself wrote the message, given that it appeared in the middle of the night in New York. Throughout the day Wednesday thousands of Weibo users showered him with praise. One insisted he would no longer watch the Knicks, saying that the post-Yao Rockets would once again excite the Chinese market. Another wrote that he looked forward to Lin making the Knicks regret losing him. Chen, whose shop also sells shirts featuring cartoon characters and famous musicians, seemed ambivalent about whether Lin’s trade would boost business. Talking about Lin’s breakout season with the Knicks, he said he did well in the first month, “but there are too many people selling clothes online.” This time, he wasted no time getting a head start. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/sports/basketball/vendors-and-fans-begin-switch-to-lins-new-team.html?_r=1&smid=tw-share
I'm sure this is already answered somewhere, but I have a question. I read in the Chronicle that Lin's salary gets averaged out over 3 years for the Rockets ($8 mil per year) for salary cap and luxury tax purposes. But for the Knicks my understanding is that it would be a 5/5/15 cap hit. Why is that? And if Lin gets traded would the recipient have a cap hit of 8/8/8 or 5/5/15? What does it depend on? I'm lost.
Sam Amick From the emptying-the-Jeremy-Lin-notebook department, Houston GM Daryl Morey - who landed the former Knicks point guard last night - discussed his decision to cut Lin last December in an interview with SI.com. "Obviously the decision to release him had a lot of factors, including two very good point guards (Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic) and a guy with a guarantee on the team (Jonny Flynn) and us needing a center (the move was made so they could sign Samuel Dalembert). Part of that decision was that (Lin) would be a free agent. Whenever a guy is about to be a free agent, it means you'll get another shot at him. That did factor in. "I didn't think we'd have any chance, though, after everything that happened in New York. I thought the Knicks would hang onto him no matter what at that point."
And there you have it people, Morey didn't think for one second we would have Lin so what was his real plan? To get AB or have Douglas start??
I believe I saw you on the videos. Weren't you with your brother and mom or something? You must be real loaded to be able to afford near courtside MSG seats.
We'll never know. Knowing morey, he had a creative plan if this didn't happen. Can't bash morey for what he didn't do.
