are people dense. Most contracts for a young player is based on potential, marketability, etc. and Lin has loads of that. Obviously now it doesn't seem like he's worth 15 million a year but he's definitely shown the potential for being a 5 Mil+ a year player. And with some improvement and experience that 15 mil in a few years might be on court justified. It's worth way more than that off the court for the Rockets. They'll make back their 25 million in the first 6 months with marketing etc. Easy business decision.
Agreed.
As a casual Knicks fan (was a much bigger Knicks fan in the 90's, and lost interest during the Isiaiah era), I enjoyed watching the Knicks play this last half a season. I felt like ball movement, defense, unselfishness and effort all improved while Lin was playing. Without any real tangible statistical analysis to back it up, it just felt like they were a lot more fun to watch. Fields, Chandler, Novak and most of the other Knicks were different players with Lin on the court. I realize they played a stretch of games against a lot of bad teams (in particular, Lin's 6 game win stretch, other than the Lakers), but it didn't matter to me, as they could just as easily have sleepwalked through those as well, which they looked like they were prone to do earlier in the season. After Amare returned, the hustle still seemed to be there, although he initially had a little trouble meshing. After Carmelo got back, it seemed to disappear, aside from an occasional short stretch here or there. It was back to a lot of iso and players holding the ball too long, like earlier in the season. Again, I stress that I only watched a handful of Knicks games here and there.
Do I have any illusions about Lin being a superstar - no. His most likely upside would probably be a good solid player - he's smart and he works hard. Do I care that he will make $8 million a year? No, not really, when you consider that his old teammate Landry Fields will make $6 million a year in Toronto, and that Steve Novak is going to make nearly $4 million a year with the Knicks, and Lin's replacement Ray Felton has been and will be pulling down $7-8 million a year. Is the fact that he's going to be overpaid really relevant here? I would rather watch Lin leading the Knicks at $8 mil a year, than Felton at about the same, and I would rather watch the Knicks lose and have fun, than have them lose the way they've been losing with Carmelo. At least then, I, the viewer, will feel like I got something out of it rather than just like I wasted 2 hours of my life. Besides, the Knicks would have made up Lin's salary just in Knicks paraphernalia that would have flown off the shelves worldwide.
Personally, I think the Knicks will regress this year, unless Jason Kidd finds a way to channel the Kidd of 5-10 years ago (he's not off to a good start in NY so far with the DWI). Both he and Camby (another Knicks acquisition) are players in decline, who probably cannot shoulder loads of more than 20-25 mins a game. Additionally, the loss of of an all-around "fill the stat sheet" hustle player like Fields will hurt them more than they think, and they've gone from one of the youngest and "smartest" backcourts in basketball in Lin/Fields (Harvard, Stanford, lol) to one of the oldest/heaviest PG tandems in Kidd/Felton (you can guess which is which). Re-signing players like J.R. Smith, and letting players like Fields and Lin go are also a step in the wrong direction as well. Between Carmelo, Amare, and Smith, will anyone else even get off a shot? And between those three players, will there be any defense played? I like Shumpert, and hope that he ends up with the starting SG job. But unless Woodson is a miracle worker, I don't see the Knicks being all that competitive this year (maybe a .500 team at best, 1st round exit if they even make the playoffs).