Hello,
I’m sure you know what Lin means to us diehard Knick fans. For many of us, myself included, whose first memories of Knicks fandom are Antonio McDyess’ micro-fracture and 23 win seasons, Linsanity was the most fun we ever had watching the Knicks, period.
Now what’s done is done, but don’t you think you owe the fans at least an explanation of what happened? Of how the organization told us they “don’t see any scenario where he’s not back” to walking to Houston for nothing? Of how you lied to us by telling us “absolutely…he’s the starter”?
It’s a business , and things change, but isn’t the fan base owed an explanation? We got nothing. Even Lin, who saved, the season says he doesn’t know why he’s not a Knick.
But then I realize the Knicks don’t care for the fans one single bit. Instead of an explanation we got an embarrassing smear campaign against Jeremy. We were left twisting in the wind for a decision till 11PM when I’m sure you decided much earlier in the day.
I just have one question: Why did the Knicks let a huge asset walk for nothing? Did your organization really choose to be frugal NOW? Did your organization really not think he was better than the minimum salary player who will take his roster spot?
I could go on and on pointing out the lame excuses put out there and countering them because you will never give us an official explanation for this move. We will never get a moment of closure because the Knicks don’t care for their fans.
And that’s a damn shame considering the unwavering loyalty we’ve showed the last decade.
Sincerely Yours,
Die Hard Knick Fan Who’s Witnessed One Playoff Win And The Most Losses In The NBA Since Being A Fan
I’ve written about this at length at Knickerblogger, but I think this whole thing was actually thought out much more thoroughly than the media and most fans are giving the Knicks credit for. Remember that Dolan’s previous spendthrift ways were in the OLD CBA, in which owners were not hurt nearly as much. A $100MM payroll in the 2006 CBA would cost “only” $130MM total outlay if the tax line was $70MM, whereas that same payroll in the 2011 CBA would cost $182.5MM in payroll. Because of this, Lin’s contract really would have cost the Knicks roughly $75MM over 3 years (whereas Felton’s is roughly $33M over 3 years) if you include the luxury tax. $42MM is a lot to anyone.
So why not get some assets for him? Put him up for a S&T? Here’s why – in the new CBA, players who are signed-and-traded are eligible only for 4.5% raises. Therefore, in a S&T the maximum Lin could have gotten was about 4 years, $22M, whereas he was eligible for (up to) 4 years $36MM if he waited for an Arenas provision poison-pill contract offer sheet, or a 4 year $24MM offer sheet as an Early Bird free agent with the Knicks. Since Lin has to agree to be signed and traded, why would he agree to take LESS money and also have his new team give up assets for him, when he could just sign an offer sheet for more $ and go directly? Basically, it was either match the offer or let him go – there was no real option to get draft picks, or players, or whatever.
Trading his expiring contract before 2014-15 would also be very difficult.as John Hollinger pointed out, when you trade out a $15MM contract, you need to take near $15MM back as well, which is STILL subject to the the luxury tax. The only way you can dump salary without taking it back is trading into a team that has huge cap space, huge non-guaranteed contracts, or a huge trade exception. Huge cap space will no longer exist in the new CBA because the minimum team payroll will be 90% of the cap, meaning NO team will have more than $5-6MM cap room by 2014-15. Re: huge trade exceptions, to my limited knowledge, there has never been trade exception that has been as high as $15MM – even LBJ was only $13.2MM. And according to Larry Coon, players stuffed into a trade exception must fit wholly into that exception (ie. you cannot use cap space + TPE to take on Lin). Lastly, even if you ever found someone that had some combination of cap-space + non guaranteed contacts that could fit him, the Knicks would have ZERO leverage in that negotiation (“oh, you don’t want to trade? Have a good time paying out $48MM this year for J-Lin, bye-bye”), and would likely be horribly fleeced.
Then why not get rid of him via the stretch provision? Estimating luxury taxes, Lin would cost the Knicks about $13-14MM in both 2012-13 and 2013-14. If they waived him prior to 2014-15, they would pay him $5MM (+probably $12MM in luxury tax) in 2014-15, then $5MM each in 2015-16 and 2016-17. That would equal $55MM paid for 2 years of work. On top of that, he would be dead $ on the cap in 15-16 and 16-17 when the Knicks have a relatively clean payroll and presumably would be going after the Kevin Loves of the world. Big risk.
You could possibly try to trade him before the balloon year, and the incoming salary would only have to be ~$5MM – but if you believe press reports, it sounds like they tried to explore that and did not find anything worthwhile.
In short, the only way you match that offer is if you truly believe he will be worth 3 years ~$75MM. The sign-trade option never really existed. The trade of his expiring contract would have been an extraordinarily difficult zero-leverage negotiation. And the stretch provision would cost $55MM and also handicap us when we’re trying to sign the Kevin Loves of the world.
I’m sure there was some Dolan tantrum-throwing, but if you break down all the options, it feels like the Knick FO just didn’t think Lin was that much better than Felton that he would justify that contract. So they let him go.
This was an intelligent and thought out comment, so I’m sure I’m not telling you something you haven’t heard before, but you’re attributing the entire tax burden to Lin’s contract. Not fair, even though he came last.
The other thing is, as I pointed out in a previous post, Dolan spent $170, under the OLD tax regime, for players like Curry, Mo Taylor, and Jalen Rose. Even though the systems are different and this one is more punitive, the actual outlay is not unprecedented.
Appreciate the comment.
While I do think money might have contributed I don’t think it was the main or even one of the leading factors. Like Landry said that’s a tic tac for Dolan. Plus MSG stock has lost quite a bit in valuation already and I’m sure Lin would’ve paid at least some of his luxury tax if nothrough bringing n additional revenue.
Im pretty sure if the second offersheet was the only agreed to offer sheet the Knicks would’ve matched.