The above was my interview with Jeremy Lin some weeks ago before he ceased being Jeremy Lin and became ‘God disguised as Jeremy Lin.’ Watch it.
As I type this, Jeremy Lin just got done dropping 38 points on the Lakers on national television in a winning effort. The Knicks have now won 4 games in a row and are 1/2 game back of the 8th seed at 12-15. I hadn’t written anything about Lin up to this point, and had felt the Knicks would eventually right the ship and recover, but this is just sickening.
A couple of points:
First, as evidenced by the video, we cut Lin because of Flynn. Flynn had guaranteed money, makes over $3million, and Lin didn’t seem to be enough of an upgrade, at the time, to warrant swallowing that cash. Add in the fact that neither was going to see time regardless due to Goran Dragic, and you can completely understand why the Rockets made the cut. So don’t think they cut Lin because they somehow thought Flynn was better – that’s not the case.
Second point – I don’t really care so much about Lin. He’s playing amazing, but whatever. Many of you are pissed that we lost out on talent, but that’s not the issue. I’m more than happy with Goran Dragic who has maybe been our team MVP during this recent stint.
The issue is that draft pick. It’s looking like even money right now that the Knicks will make the playoffs. The part that makes you want to hurl is that its on the back of Lin, the former Rockets reject. If it happens, its one of the cruelest twists of irony in the team’s history. Missing out on Lin means little, if anything, in the grand scheme; he’ll come back down to earth. But if he plays some role in helping the Knicks to the playoffs when they were all but dead…wow. In the Les/Morey era, there wasn’t going to be another opportunity for a high draft pick. They won’t tank and there will always be too much talent. And as we know, high lottery picks are one of the most valued commodities in the NBA landscape. For a franchise starved for blue-chip talent, either to build upon, or trade in a megadeal, its painful to watch a likely pick slip away like this. Even if it were just in the 7-9 range, given Morey’s draft record, that player could have really helped this franchise take the next step, or of course, helped acquire someone else. Of course, the season’s still young, so we’ll have to see.
At this moment, one has to give serious weight to the possibility of this franchise being cursed. From T-Mac, to Yao, to the Gasol trade, to now possibly losing a lottery pick in such a way…is Hakeem still that angry about being dealt? The stories all along were that he had initially requested a trade, but maybe that’s not the case? He’s apparently upset about something because there really is no other explanation for this string of bad luck. Stay tuned.
