My point was: Lin was given a huge contract he had no control over and now it's hard (at least for now) for him to live up to that contract and he gets all the blame and ridicule. He is in a sad situation and I feel for him. In normal situation, when you negotiate a contract with an employer, you ask for the money you want to get paid. A) If you have leverage, i.e. there are other employers that want your service, you demand current employer to pay what you want. If you don't get it, you leave for another employer. (For example, Dragic didn't get what he wanted from Morey but the Suns could provide him that, so he left.) B) But if you don't have any leverage, i.e. no other employers interested in you other than your current employer, you accept whatever money your current employer offered to you. If you demand certain amount of money to be paid to you, then you are expected to perform at that pay level. If you fail, more blame should be placed on you. But if your employer 'offered' a certain amount which you didn't demand/ask for in the first place, shouldn't the employer be blamed more for their 'over-generous' contract if it turns out you didn't perform at a satisfying level in your employer's eyes? Lin's situation was like the latter. He did not ask Morey to pay him 25 mill. Morey offered him, to be more accurate, Morey 'offered that huge amount in order to scare the Knicks'. The contract is more aimed at the Knicks with Lin merely being the benefactor. Heck, Morey even changed and decided to add the amount without Lin even being present in his office. All Lin later did was to show up in Las Vegas and sign that paper. Now Lin is not performing at 8 mill level, he gets all the blame and ridicule. If anything, shouldn't Morey be the main culprit and more blamed for his over-generousness than Lin? Get real, dude. Lin didn't have an offer from the Knicks at that time, the Rockets' offer was the only offer in front him (Other teams showed interest but Lin chose not to meet them). If he didn't sign that paper, he might well be jobless. Although Knicks always said they would want Lin, but who could guarantee that? (It turned out Knicks didn't keep their words.) Wow, if your employer told you, go out and find another employer to see what money they like to pay you, we will match. Would you say to your employer: No, I don't think that's good idea and I don't want to do that. Just pay me x amount, I will stay here. Really? If that's your way of doing things in real life, I don't know what to say to you because then our definition of common sense would be so different that it would be useless to make this post reasoning with you. Plus, even if Lin had asked for 3 mill to stay, what if the Knicks privately only wanted to pay Lin 1-2 mill due to their huge tax concern? Would that be fair to Lin? All I'm saying is: Knowing Lin is not a money-hungry person, I guess if he had choice, he probably would rather be paid less money simply playing basketball not under such enormous pressure that comes with his huge contract. Unfortunately he didn't have any choice. Unless you think being unemployed in this league is also a choice. By the way, my first post didn't try to make excuses for Lin's bad performance and I have been all along in my recent posts saying he is not playing well. In fact, my post has nothing to do with excuses for his play just some background info to understand where he came and how he got himself into this so called 'undeserving or overpaid' situation as far as his huge contract is concerned.
You are correct, with one caveat. The actual rule is that RFA's with 2 or less yrs in the NBA may not be offered more than $5M in the first two yrs of a new contract offer. This isn't an issue for 1st round draft picks usually, since their rookie scale contracts can be locked in beyond this point. But 2nd round draft picks like Asik, or undrafted players like Lin, there is no standard contract length. So, technically, it's possible that such a player may be come a free agent after 3yrs in the league, and not after 2 years. Say, if they never stuck, and just acumulated 3 separate 1 yr contracts with different teams. Or if Lin had chosen to take the Knick's Qualifying 1 yr offer at minimum salary and gamble to push his free agency window ahead by a year. Had that been the case and Asik, Lin, or any 2nd year or undrafted player became a free agent after 3 yrs in the NBA, they would not be limited by the Gilbert Arenas restriction. In which case, any team can offer them whatever is max for their experience level, so that they would be making a lot more than $5M in their 4th yr in the NBA. And the exact figure under the Gilbert Arenas restriction isn't exactly $5M, but whatever the NonTaxpayer MLE is for that year, which is approximately $5M but scheduled to increase each year. But other than that inconsequential nitpicking, you are absolutely correct about the way things played out.
That is a good question that I never got a definite answer. From my reading of different people, I guess if the Knicks really wanted Lin but at the same time didn't want to pay him big money, they could have tried to make an offer before the free agency started. The dilemma for the Knicks would be they didn't know what was Lin's market value. If they offered too high, they probably would feel he's not worth that, if too low, they would come off as low-balling Lin and his agent. So the decent decision for both Knicks and Lin would be let Lin try to test the market to get a gauge of his value. That's the reason why Lin chose only one team, the Rockets, to meet although he had several teams interested in him. Because he only needed to know his market value and one team's offer would provide enough info for the Knicks to make the decision. Also because he was led to believe all the way that the Knicks would match, so why meet so many teams when he already got his market value info? Maybe Torocan can give more info about RFA receiving an offer sheet from original team.
To be honest, there were rumbles from NY stating that it wouldn't match such a deal before Lin even signed. I remember rumors coming out about houston offer and how NYC couldn't match even before he signed his contract. Don't make it seem like Lin didnt have any other options if he chose not to visit other teams that had interest (obviously Lin either wanted Houston or NYC). He is an adult and as such should live with the consequences of the contract he signed. That being said I still hope the Lin can improve during the off season and live up or even exceed his contract but maybe that's just the optimist in me
That's why it's called rumor, because mostly it turned out to be not true. After Lin signed initial offer (four years, $24.3 millio), Knicks coach Woodson said in the TV interview that Knicks would without doubt match Lin's offer. The second revised order which Morey changed (3 years, 25 mill) came in such a surprised and hurried manner that Knicks GM Grunwald was frantically avoiding receiving the offer from the Rockets during summer league in Vegas and trying to buy time to find Lin's substitute. If the Knicks planed all long that they wouldn't match, Woodson would not have been on that TV to give that interview that later would embarrass him and the organization. Lin's free agency experience was well written by some hoops observers. I suggest you read ESPN deep analysis articles on that issue: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8179341/nba-jeremy-lin-six-degrees-separation-lin-camp Also Lin himself telling the story: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/nba/07/18/jeremy-lin-exclusive/index.html From Knicks writer Jonathan Feigen: http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2012/07/anatomy-of-a-deal-how-the-rockets-landed-jeremy-lin/ What? I said Lin didn't have any choice when it came to how much the other teams want to pay him. I never said he didn't have any choice to meet those team interested in him. He just chose not to visit them except the Rockets. Of course, something special about the Rockets (maybe Rockets plan for him, maybe Morey is much nicer, maybe he just felt the Rockets were more sincere, etc..) must have caught his eye that led him to only want to visit Houston. Of course we all have to live the consequences of our choice. Does that mean we are not allowed to wish things were different?
Hm...i was always under the impression that the rumors of the Knicks not wanting to sign the contract came out before he even signed the contract but i guess i remember the entire situation wrong. You make very valid points. Would rep you if i could.
I have been here a Clutcfans for more than ten years, I have read a lot of ridiculous posts, but you are in a league of your own. Wow, it's hard to even take you seriously. Maybe I can't recognize a troll, and if that's the case, shame on me. You say Jeremy Lin is in this sad situation, because the Rockets had the nerve to make him a 25 million dollar offer. Yes, the Rockets and Morey have really done Poor Jeremy a real disservice. I only wish your hero Jeremy Lin could read your post. I think he would probably laugh, and then shed a few tears. Your views on this subject are both ridiculous and sad at the same time. I do feel sad for Jeremy Lin though. I feel sad that he has legion of fans just like you, fans that can't see things as they really are. Oh, and by the way, you say his contract is over-generous. But Jeremy Lin earned that contract with his play last year, and who is to say that by the end of this contract people won't say he's underpaid. I don't think I have ever said he is overpaid or not living up to his contract. In regard to this thread, I feel the way the contract is structured 5/5/15, may make it difficult to trade him as the contract nears its end.
wow, I'm done with you. It's impossible to reason with you. I didn't want to respond to you in the first place that's why in the beginning I simply put "You missed the point of my post". Only when you asked me to elaborate and you sounded sincere that I took the pain to explain some basic common sense. I regret I even took the time to type those words, so not worth it. Why am I even talking to poster who only uses+/- numbers to judge a player's? SMH By the way, as a 10 years veteran here, shouldn't you know more about the basketball that making than most newbies here?
Lin's free agency was filled with such dramatic events no wonder a lot of people get confused. By the way, I wasn't using the accurate word when I said he signed the initial offer (4 years, $24.3 mill). Actually after visiting Houston on July 4th, Lin verbally agreed the initial offer Morey made to him but Morey didn't give him the official paper until Rockets management revised the offer (3 years, 25 mill) and then Lin was asked to go to Vegas to sign. In all fairness to Woodson and the Knicks, they (even the league and Lin) never thought Rockets would revise the offer. Morey played the game well, genius.
