Linball

Frank Isola wrote that Mike Woodson doesn't believe Lin will be a good full-time starter in the future.

As O'Connor wrote in the article I linked earlier, the Knicks could have found ways around that cap-busting third year, so yes, you're probably right that Knicks management is using the poison pill as an excuse not to match.

However, had the Knicks simply offered Lin a four-year, $24m deal before letting him test the market, they could have avoided the whole mess and had Lin locked up with a reasonable contract.

But I haven't seen anything yet that points to Carmelo as the reason the Knicks didn't re-sign Lin. I think that's just people looking for something else to blame on Anthony.

 

He called a teammate's potential new riches "ridiculous." As poin keeps pointing out, that's pretty unusual.

 

And, yet, no one cares about what J.R. Smith said? Of course not, because Carmelo is the new LeBron and everything must be blamed on him.

For the record, Shawn Kemp (who was, admittedly, a shithead) was pretty pissed that he was making less money than Jim McIlvaine with the Sonics back in the day. And I'm sure I've heard of NFL players telling teammates to "just get into camp" during a holdout, though I'm drawing a blank on any specific names.

It is unusual, yes, but so is throwing an extra $5m at a player who has already agreed to a deal.

 

If it makes you feel any better pern, I think J.R. Smith is just as much a royal shithead as Carmelo.

 

I don't even know what J.R. Smith said. But people always care what the star of the team and franchise player says.

I mean, why care what Michael Jordan has to say when you could get a quote from Bill Wennington?

 

Actually, Bill Wennington won a lot more playoff games than Carmelo.

 

Fair enough, Poin.

LTL, I get what you're saying, but you guys seem to be hanging everything on Carmelo when it was Dolan who screwed this up from the start. I haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe Carmelo was trying to run Lin out of town.

I think you can blame Dolan, the Rockets and probably even Mike Woodson and Glen Grunwald (who it seems weren't as enamored with Lin as the rest of NY). There is little to no evidence that Carmelo had anything to do with it. I think anyone suggesting it was his fault is reaching.

FWIW, Smith told SI it wouldn't go over well in the Knicks' locker room: “I think some guys take it personal, because they’ve been doing it longer and haven’t received any reward for it yet. I think it’s a tough subject to touch on for a lot of guys.” That was a lot more damning than anything Carmelo has said.

 

The Knicks are as relevant as Toronto

 

I'll go one step further - No way Carmelo or Smith make those comments if Lin were a black man.

 

This was all predicted months ago (last graf):

http://www.sportspickle.com/news/9996/knicks-front-office-unsure-of-how-theyre-going-to-mess-this-one-up

 

I think Carmelo vacillated between wanting Lin there and blatant jealousy. It's whatever his mouth decides to say at any given moment.

Good luck, New York. Enjoy dull middling basketball with no hope of a sniff anywhere near a Finals.

 

Grunwald is a hack. 3rd year was not as big a poison pill as first reported, they could have cut him the 3rd year and then amortized that $15M over 3 years to reduce the hit that 3rd year.

Anyways, Lin is in a much better situation in Houston, Morey >>>> Grunwald/Dolan. The 2nd most important thing in the NBA (besides an absolute stud) is flexibility and Houston has that. They are just waiting for the next disgruntled superstar to want out (Paul? Irving?). As long as they don't load up on a bunch of overpaid mid-tier guys (Kevin Martin, etc.) they will be relevant very soon (as opposed to say my beloved Warriors hoping and praying on Andrew Bogut's foot).