UPDATE: 07.24.12
I know I did say that after my post about Houston matching Jeremy that that would be my final update. However, there is more to follow up.
- Houston offered Omer Asik another $25mil/3 years contract, similar to Lin’s. The Bulls did not match and as of today he is a Rocketeer! A little background information about him. He ‘s from Turkey. A solid center, great at blocking shots, good rebounder, but poor poor poor on offense. He averaged 3.1 PPG and 5.3 RPG. He is no Tyson Chandler, that’s for sure. Some say he may not necessarily fit in with Lin as well as he did with Tyson. Now, I haven’t really paid much attention to him, so I can’t put a say in it. But this man played 2 games last season and subbed for Joakim Noah during the playoffs and missed two crucial shots, ending the series with the Philadelphia Sixers winning. This was after coming back from his injury during the 2011 playoffs. So to pay him $25 mil/ 3 years is very risky investment for the Rockets. On a brighter note, he helped the Turkish National Team win a silver medal during the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
- The Dwight Howard drama continues. His chances of coming to the Rockets are slim. From my slight in tune to ESPN this morning, it seems like Howard may stay with the Orlando Magic. Why in the world would they keep him on the team after so many unhappy incidents, I have no idea. However, they may be looking at the February trade deadline to decide. BUT why!? I was looking forward to a Lin-Dwight duo =(
FINAL UPDATE: 07.17.12
- Mr. Dolan and Mr. Grunwald officially announced to the world, that they will let 23 year-old global sensation, Jeremy Lin, walk away with a $25 million for 3 years contract with nothing in return. Jeremy Lin is now officially a Rocket again.
Why you may ask?? Well here are my top 10 reasons.
- He doesn’t have to play under that suffocating spotlight. No more NY media. No more Melo. No more iso-system. No more critical fans. Just Jeremy and basketball.
- He’s in the same state as Kevin Jumba. (=
- He can develop into a true All-Star point guard.
- Dwight Howard may come. It may become wild. Rockets may even make it to the playoffs.
- Texans, well Southerners in general, are chill people. They’ll like Jeremy and Jeremy will like them.
- He can go fishing all the time.
- We can always hope for a Yao Ming-Jeremy Lin Meeting 2.0.
- He’ll be playing against Kobe a lot more now. It’ll be showdowns after showdowns.
- He’s going to spread Linsanity to the South, not like it hasn’t hit them already.
- He’s back to where he started from = he’s familiar with the team and coaches.
Bonus: And for you ladies who are ready to start watching Rockets games, check out Chandler Parsons @ChandlerParsons . WHOOOOO that boy is a hottie! One to the left.
But the only downsider is he is far far far away from me and he’s no longer with the rest of my favorite fours. But that’s okay, I’m a small fan. I’ll deal with it.
Signing out, xoxo.
UPDATE: 07.17.12 Linsanity packing out of NY?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/sports/basketball/knicks-lin-rockets-offer-sheet.html?_r=1&ref=sports
NY Times reported that Lin is out of NY and shipping himself to the Rockets. The news came out as of 4pm. No official confirmation yet, but I doubt the chances of Lin staying. Anyways, it was a nice ride. Although I’m not even that mad but I will miss my favorite fives sitting on the bench together. :(
On another note, who’s ready to see NYK vs. HOU???!?!? That’s right!!!!
Melo explaining his “ridiculous” comment.
“Melo was asked after tonight’s game about his characterization of Lin’s contract as being “ridiculous.” Here’s his answer in next tweet.”
“Melo: “It was ridiculous for them to do what they did, as far as throwing that out there and making it tougher on us to sign him back.””
“Why do people think Melo doesn’t like Lin? “I don’t know. I can’t worry about that. Ask Lin he’ll tell you what a good relationship we have””
“More Melo on : “With Jeremy, I know he definitely wants to be back in New York & Dolan definitely wants him back.””
Melo: “It’s just a matter of them figuring it out at this point.“ Was Melo surprised by the reaction to his comments? “I always get backlash. It’s nothing new. It is what it is.””
(via @rodboone)
UPDATE: 07.16.12
- Knicks officially acquired Raymond Felton and Kurt Thomas in exchange for Dan Gadzuric, a future second-round pick, rights to Kostas Papanikolaou and my beloved Jared Jeffries. Why my Jeffries!? WHY?!
- Knicks also signed power forward, Chris Copeland.
- Officially starting the 24 hour countdown until the destiny of Jeremy Lin is revealed. I have no hopes of him returning to the Knicks. If anything, we can wish for a miracle to happen but …. yeah. All I can say is, Novak had better find a new group of buddies to hang out with or this will be him:
But I just can’t take it if I see him look lonely. Sigh….
UPDATE: 07.16.12
“It’s up to the organization to say that they want to match that ridiculous contract” - Carmelo Anthony
“It’s a tough call. Ultimately, they’ve got to do what’s best for the organization.” - Tyson Chandler
Follow me at @Linstant_tweets on Twitter!
I change my mind. Maybe I won’t hibernate until Tuesday night. Just made a Twitter account to correspond with this Tumblr page. Follow me for more updates on this insane offseason. @Linstant_tweets It’s empty now, but I’ll get to it after I brush my teeth and eat breakfast.
UPDATE: 07.16.12 My take + more from sources
- Jared Jeffries told Robin Lundberg on ESPN NY radio that he doesn’t think the Knicks will match Jeremy’s offer. He also implied that Lin does not fit Woody’s system. Both Lundberg and O’Connor made really good points about Jeremy if you were listening. Letting a young point guard who has unforeseen potential, and not to mention unbelievable marketing value, go is silly. There will be four point guards if they do match his offer and will be at the $77 mil salary mark by 2014. That means they will be paying Jeremy $30 mil the third year because of the luxury tax. But other than that, the problem is not the salary cap because the birds right that Lin won already entails their ability to go over the salary cap. In my opinion, by 2014 the amount of money through endorsements and other commercials that the Knicks will have made, $30mil is just like a small tax return, they’ll win in the long run. Furthermore, they are essentially letting go of Lin in return for Felton. Felton is nice. However, he has been dealing with weight issues and wasn’t as impressive last year. Then the thing about pursuing these point guards (Nash, Felton), who all run best under a pick-and-roll system by which D’Antoni is the best at leading… just doesn’t make sense. Why does that put Lin in the back burner then? They all thrive under the same game plan, how does that make Lin any worse than Felton or Felton any better than Lin? It’s like trade away a piece of gold in return for a silver and a bronze. I don’t see it. There’s also talks about Chris Paul. No, people. Signing Lin will not get in the way of signing Chris Paul for the next off-season. He’s didn’t come to NY this off-season so obviously he’s in with the Clippers for more $$. Plus, since he’s not here now then who says he’ll be back again for the next off-season? Lastly, See how Yao Ming made out with the Rockets? He got almost half of China watching their games every time. So they were getting rich in the piggy bank, allowing them to offer Jeremy so much money now. Who’s to say this won’t be the Knicks a few years down the road? Seriously, the Knicks dug out gold and is single-handedly donating it to the Rockets. What I’m saying is, in terms of basketball and the market, Jeremy Lin is worth it. WORTH IT. Every penny. I may be biased, but those twenty some games and those sales records don’t lie. He’ll only get better.
- Per , Jeremy Lin’s coach, Peter Dipenbrock, said, “(Lin) loves the New York fans. He did not see this happening. He sounded surprised on the phone” via
- Per @JaredZwerling, Lin’s longtime trainer thinks the knicks will match.
I don’t know. We’ll see. I may just take a break until Tuesday night when everything is set.
UPDATE: 07.14.12
The HELL?! Knicks have acquired Raymond Felton and Kurt Thomas from Portland for Jared Jeffries and Dan Gadzuric. WHY JEFFRIES!? WHY?! omg.
I’m seriously so upset right now….
