The tumult of NBA free agency is slowly coming to an end. Not to be outdone by the noisy neighbors the Knicks have kidnapped basketball related headlines- including anything having to do with USA Men's Olympic basketball- with their newest saga: the signing or not signing of Jeremy Lin. I need not explain who Lin is so, onward with the post.
Why Lin's future, or lack of a future, with the Knicks is even in question may be confusing to many. I'll admit that my initial reaction was to write the whole thing off as a ploy designed to regain control over headlines and fans' attention, specifically created to combat the Nets' early party. Well, now I am starting to doubt my hunch. On the Knicks roster there currently reside 3 point guards not counting Lin, Baron Davis, or the "That guy is still here?" guy Mike Bibby (he's a free agent), and excluding Iman Shumpert who at times played the position. One of the aforementioned PG's is the reacquired Raymond Felton who, I am happy to say, did a pretty good job the last time he wore orange and blue.
Being quite upset when he was dealt in that trade involving Carmelo Anthony was, and is, a point of pride of mine. A sort of underdog rebellion.
Fast forward to now and Felton seems to be waltzing his way into a starting role, and hopefully, for the benefit of the team, rekindling a flame he and Amare Stoudemire discovered two years ago. Do you remember that promising poem which made out of Stoudemire a legitimate candidate for MVP honors? I do. But, there is always a but, that was before the arrival of a Carmelo Anthony. The chemistry created by point guard and power forward was undone with the shipping away of point guard and the importing of Melo. Yet, with all of Melo's vacuum like persona, Felton found his way back to New York.
Now we can only wait and see if the offensive coda which is Anthony can coexist with the Felton/Stoudemire duo. Music will be made in the Garden again, I hope.
Losing Lin may upset many and it will surely bring on criticism from most. As a lucid human who watched the Knicks last season I cannot lie and say I was not impressed by Lin. I am, however, a skeptic.I am skeptical as to a couple of week's worth of stellar basketball being worth what the Rockets offered Lin. I am skeptical as to Lin's ability to play and be effective with both Anthony and Stoudemire on the floor. I am also a bit skeptical when it comes to Lin because of what the Miami Heat did to him during a regular season game in which they applied some pressure. I don't think you need reminding of his going 1 for 8 from the field coupled with his measly 3 assists. After the contest against Miami the Knicks beat Cleveland and went on to lose 6 straight, then win 5 straight, and finally Lin's knees gave out. As a starter Lin played 26 games of which 16 were won.
Every player can have a bad game or two so let's not focus on his performance against Miami, although the scouting report is out on him and the target on his back has grown tremendously.
Taking into consideration the shortened season and the lack of practice afforded to a recently revamped Knicks team their numbers, as peaks and valleys as they are, showed signs of brilliance which could be worked on to form something great. But, there is always a but, the Knicks have been remodeled yet again. Lin's contract is outrageous and would put the Knicks in a financial hole 3 short years from now. Not resigning Lin may be an attempt by the Knicks front office to build something with some longevity. I know, the word longevity sounds strange after the Knicks signed multiple 40 year old's. Let's admit how powerless we think we are and roll with it; there is always the threat of becoming a Brooklynite.
The bottom line is that if Raymond Felton can do what he did during his first stint with the Knicks, our losing (losing may be too strong a word here) Jeremy Lin will become an afterthought.....unless he continues playing the way he played in New York before his short lived fireworks show came to an end. If the latter is the case we can bash Dolan and Grunwald from a comfortable distance.
- Alex
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