Linsanity lands in Space City

On Wednesday, the New York Knicks declined to match the Houston Rockets' offer sheet for Jeremy Lin. Today, the internet is still trying not to collapse under the weight of all the controversy this decision created.

Where does Onions! stand on all this? It’s easy, the Knicks made a mistake by letting Lin go.

Let’s run down the most comment arguments against resigning Lin.

Argument 1: Lin’s new contract is “ridiculous”.

The Rockets offered Lin a 3 year, $25 million contract with a balloon payment in the third year. During his final year of this contract, Lin is scheduled to make $14.8 million in salary. If the Knicks are the team paying him that salary, he would cost the team $45 million on the salary cap (this is because the new Collective Bargaining Agreement becomes very punitive against teams like the Knicks that are over the salary cap in the 2014-2015 season).

Is Lin's contract (and year 3 in particular) actually ridiculous? Only in a vacuum where you evaluate players solely on the basketball skill that they bring to the court. Very few players in the HISTORY of the league could demand $45 million in one year (remember the total cap number) and Jeremy Lin certainly isn’t one of them. But Lin’s off the court financial impact more than compensates for his salary over the lifetime of his contract. Linsanity was responsible for Madison Square Garden and Time Warner Cable negotiating a new TV contract, added almost $600 million in market capitalization to Madison Square Garden, tripled ticket prices, and resulted in the second best selling jersey in the NBA. All this despite the fact that Lin didn't start playing until halfway through the season!

Also, it’s not a coincidence that the Rockets, a team familiar with marketable Asian basketball players (see: Yao Ming) attempted to pry Lin away from the Knicks. After almost a decade with Yao Ming in a Rockets' uniform, Rockets' management should know what to expect as they try to monetize Linsanity in the U.S. and abroad.

Argument 2: Not resigning Lin was a basketball decision about a guy that the Knicks weren’t truly sold on.

Whatever you think of his numbers during Linsanity (Lin averaged 24.6 ppg/9.2 apg/48.2% fg in 10 games before Carmelo Anthony returned from injury. After Anthony returned, Lin averaged 14.6 ppg/5.9 apg/43.2% fg in 16 games) the Knicks current pu-pu platter of options at point guard undermines that argument Lin was not a good basketball fit. New arrival Raymond Felton is on pace to become the first 300 lb point guard ever and at 39, Felton's new backup, Jason Kidd doesn’t need to be at the wheel of an offense (or a vehicle)

Argument 3: Lin betrayed the Knicks.

This argument claims that Lin took the Knicks for granted after the opportunity they gave him. For a guy that was hours away from returning to the NBA’s Development league, Lin could've shown how grateful he was to the Knicks by resigning. But why did the Knicks allow Lin to go and test the waters of free agency if they felt so loyal to him? Loyalty is a two-way street. Letting Lin go on the open market was not an act of loyalty by the Knicks. After all, the Knicks were hours away from letting Lin go. The Knicks should've locked Lin up to an extension if they thought he was an asset, otherwise you never know what will happen in free agency.

Onions! verdict:

Jeremy Lin is an improving, young 23 year-old point guard that generates tremendous fan interest. He basically costs the Knicks nothing (and probably generates them money) when you consider his tremendous off-court marketability. Ultimately, the Knicks are a better basketball product on and off the court with Jeremy Lin on their roster. Too bad for Knicks fans that their management can’t see this.