This was BEFORE Rockets acquired Harden. Now they have Harden and Howard. Very different scenarios. Priorities changed. Les has also said multiple times that he is big on winning championship. Before Rockets got these two, Lin made sense business-wise. The team would be lucky enough to even fight for a playoff spot in the West. This was also at a time when Rockets had hoped that Lin could replicate Linsanity, which would keep his market value high. Two years down the road, 1) Team is trying to contend for a championship. 2) It is clear that we are not getting Linsanity like production from Lin. It does not make sense for Les to hold onto Lin when he can get better fitting pieces in return for Lin and business wise Rockets would benefit more from winning a championship. Les was hoping for Linsnaity from Lin (which would equate into on court production and thus $$ from marketing as well). He is not stupid. Even he can see that he is not getting what he paid for. PS. One of the worst kept secrets in the NBA is that Rockets have been trying to off-load Lin and Asik. Again, if you want to live inside your own bubble and pretend that that has not been happening, then that is your choice.
Why is that a hard truth?? I would Love to a) Be in the NBA and b) Make 4 mil a year - I'm sure Lin would be just fine with that as well. He strikes me as a guy who just loves to play and if he can do it for a comfortable living, awesome.
This sounds a workable trade only on the point of view of the team that will get Lin. But then again, what are they giving up for Lin? You got to think about it from the Rocket's point of view : 1. We do not want long term garbage contract, so anything with more than 1 year left is not an option. 2. We still need help on the PG position, unless we will get back a solid PG from this trade - I doubt any teams will trade any solid PG of their own for Lin, otherwise we will need to consider to use whatever cap number we saved to sign another solid PG. This is pretty difficult under this situation. So at the end, I tend to agree with some of the posters, Lin could stuck with the Rockets next year probably till the trade deadline. Like it or not. However,
Based on his recent performance, the minimum.....and I'm serious. Playing in a roll tailor made for him....maybe $3-4 million
OK. Let us make something clear. Lin is not going to be traded. His contract is running out in the summer of 2015. He will likely not be resigned. So why would you start a question asking about a moot point? Bored?
Pretty much spot on. I would add that $3M to $4M would have to be a short K, maybe a two-year deal with a team option in the second year.
Off court value to Rockets: 10 mil or so On court value to Rockets: 4 mil Off court value to team that is a better fit for Lin: 15 mil or so On court value to team that is a better fit for Lin: 10 mil Off court value to team that is a worse fit for Lin: 4 mil or so On court value to team that is a worse fit for Lin: 1 mil
You can't really blame Morey on giving him this contract. And you can't really valuate him properly. When Morey signed Lin it was cause we were a terrible, probably tanking team and he signed him to get people to buy tickets and let Lin grow as the primary ball handler and maybe he becomes an all star level point guard. But right when that Harden trade went through, everything changed. Lin is not worth 8m to a team if he's playing off the ball. If Morey had the option of doing that deal again if he knew we were gona get Harden he would never do it. Right now he's a 13 ppg player off the bench and the fact of the matter is Morey could probably get a $4-5 M player to do that. It probably hasn't hurt them financially because of the marketing dollars, but Lin is not worth $8M for this team at all. On another team he might be, but not this one
Lin's marketing appeal and Asian influence is overrated. Yao had big Asian following and marketing appeal but Yao was a damn good player. Lin is so inconsistent, its hard to have much value to a team if your not consistently helping that team win.
I don't know if you really meant it or were being sarcastic, but I love the subtitle design in the video.
Yao has a VERY different fan base than Lin does. Lin has cross cultural appeal that Yao doesn't have due to differences in background. It would be foolish to underestimate his ability to draw seats, especially in cities with larger Asian populations.
I wonder how much additional revenue a player from Asian descent brings in for Les. It could be many, many times more than his contract.
I understand Lin has a sort of cult following which differs from Yao. I still think his value is overrated because of his inconsistencies on the court. Teams would be stupid to overpay for Lin. There's a reason teams wont trade with the Rox for him.
I wonder about Lin's health. Apparently, Lin's recent poor play has been in part due to lingering effects of the back injury. If he has a bad back, then he is arguably a minimum wager. If he can play like pre-injury Lin, he can be worth somewhere over $8 million. In other words, the number remains very much in play. I think it's too early to peg him to a specific figure (i.e., a salary rounded to the nearest million). I think you can round to the nearest million or two with guys like Beverley, but Lin is all over the place, depending on the scenario. Too many variables still in flux.
