Amare Stoudemire has rejoined the Knicks, practicing with the club today and expecting to play tomorrow, but New York's attention is still on Linsanity. So let's kick off today's Knicks notes with the latest on Jeremy Lin….
- The Knicks won't have Early Bird rights on Lin this summer, but the Gilbert Arenas provision will prevent other teams from out-bidding New York for the restricted free agent, says Marc Berman of the New York Post. For an in-depth explanation of the Arenas rule, check out Larry Coon's CBA FAQ.
- Howard Beck of the New York Times confirms Lin's contract status as outlined by Berman (all Twitter links).
- The Knicks had targeted point guards like Steve Nash and Raymond Felton for their mid-level exception, Berman adds. However, if Lin's impressive play continues, New York may end up having to use their full MLE to retain him.
- Lin will have to carefully manage the off-court commitments and distractions that come with his newfound celebrity, writes John Hollinger of ESPN.com (Insider link).
- Sam Smith of Bulls.com argues that Lin's emergence opens the door for the Knicks to offer Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler to the Magic for Dwight Howard. Not sure I'm on board with this one — the Knicks have yet to even see how their current roster looks when fully healthy, and there's no guarantee Howard would sign long-term in New York. Plus the Knicks would likely have to take on a bloated contract to make the salaries work.
I’m truly hoping Lin keeps up his success.
THAT IS SOOOO DUM… EVERYBODY IOS BLAMING EVERYTHING ON MELO, WHEN HE IS BROUGHT BACK LETS SEE… I would go for tyson and stat for d12 though… It would make our team better
theyve been a sub .500 team since hes gotten here, even with a great vet. PG as Billups. He destroys any type of offensive flow the knicks try to make.
Billups hasnt been a great veteran PG for a while now… as seen in his role on the clippers this year.. and knicks last year…
sadly.. he was still better than anything the knicks had pre-lin..
but lets not act like billups was an elite.. or even above avg PG w/ the knicks.
he average 17.5 PPG and 5.5 Asts with the Knicks, which basically consisted of Melo, Stoudemire, and trash. Im not saying hes elite, maybe he wasnt great, but he was certainly above average, and i would say very good. That Melo trade has really hurt the Knicks, wouldn’t you rather have Gallo, Chandler, and Felton. BTW Felton was playing phenomenal before he got shipped to the NY Nuggets. Cant really judge billups on his performance this year considering he was playing out of position as a SG.
I kind of wonder what Lin’s trade value is like right now. If I were the Knicks I’d immediately place him on the open market.