Mark Travis plans to attend the School of Journalism and Communication at the University or Oregon in the fall of 2012. Travis was born and raised in Corpus Christi and graduated with honors from Flour Bluff High School. He says he is one of the few Lakers fans who recognizes that LeBron James is better than Kobe Bryant. Travis started writing back in 2008, when Michael Crabtree and the Texas Tech Red Raiders inspired him to start But The Game Is On Sports Network, which features websites dedicated to covering the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL as well as college basketball and football. Travis contributes to all sites across his network. You can read the rest of his NBA writing at The Chase-Down Block. You can follow him on Twitter @Mark_Travis.
CORPUS CHRISTI â€" In what can only be defined as a shocking turn of events, the New York Knicks, after agreeing to a sign-and-trade deal for Raymond Felton and signing Jason Kidd, appear content with their point guard situation and do not plan on matching the Houston Rockets offer sheet for restricted free agent point guard Jeremy Lin.
Until then the Knicks had remained firm on their stance regarding Lin: that they would match any offer sheet that he signed. It seemed so much like a lock that ESPN's Marc Stein quoted a source that said New York would match any offer "up to one billion dollars."
But alas, the Knicks, either because they had doubts about how authentic Lin's performance last season was or because Houston's backloaded "poison pill" offer gave them serious pause about the long-term financial consequences that matching Houston's offer would have presented, made their secondary move by acquiring Felton and now all signs point to Lin returning to the team that cut him last season, which allowed him to go to New York in the first place.
Even more astonishing than the fact that the Knicks thought it was a good idea to acquire Raymond Felton, who, after the Knicks traded him to Denver in the Carmelo Anthony deal, bloated up quicker than Jessica Simpson did after Tony Romo dumped her, is that New York passed up what would have been the most lucrative player-market combo since Kobe Bryant was traded to Los Angeles in 1996. An Asian-American like Lin in the most diverse city in the country? He would have shattered all the overseas voting records that Yao Ming set when he was "playing" for the Rockets.
Now Lin will be playing for the same team that Yao revolutionized a few years ago, which is certainly one of the copious subplots in the Linsanity drama. Houston's backloaded offer to Lin will not come into play if the Knicks don't match, which means the Rockets will spread out Lin's $25.1 million salary over the course of three years, good for an annual cap hit of about $8.3 million. It's certainly a high price for someone that played 35 games last year and got swallowed up by the Miami Heat in their lone meeting (Lin put up a gruesome 1-for-11, 8-turnover game that night), but given how insane the free agent market got this off-season (Jeff Green is getting $9 million a year!?) it's not a horrific deal. It is, however, a bit disappointing that the Rockets are getting Lin for just about $200K less per season than the Phoenix Suns got Goran Dragic for.
Any evaluation of Lin's incredible run last season must include the caveats. First of all, Lin was the focal point of the Mike D'Antoni offense with two very good pick-and-roll bigs during the majority of that incredible stretch, and that is heaven for any point guard. Secondly, while Lin's overall production was still pretty efficient, he was a bit of a turnover machine, perhaps a result of his adjustment to full-time quarterback or perhaps an indicator that he's not so good at handling defensive pressure. Thirdly, Lin's run came against several not so good teams along with a few unsuspecting teams that had no idea how to play him. With an off-season to adjust, it will be interesting to see how differently teams play Lin next season, particularly with Lin outside of D'Antoni's offense and the best offensive big on his team being Royce White or Dante Motiejunas instead of Amare Stoudemire or Tyson Chandler.
Once you get past that, then you can start looking at Lin's production, which came mostly in the pick-and-roll (according to Synergy Sport's Technology, 42.5% of Lin's offense last season was derived off of P&Rs). But then again, you still have to look at the results with a grain of salt. With nearly half of his production coming on the set that D'Antoni's offense was built around and with big men that use to play with Steve Nash and Chris Paul, both of whom were adept at drawing defenses, it's very reasonable to suggest that Lin will have growing pains adjusting to another NBA offense, especially now that the opposition is more aware of Lin's presence. On top of that, Lin's deal may even create some animosity against him in the minds of his peers, something that might amp them up a bit when they face off against Lin. It's very easy to see how some players who have produced consistently for a few years could be angry that Lin broke the bank after half a season of play.
I understand that this is a relatively gloomy look at the situation so it is important to point out that Lin showed NBA talent last season. His touch around the rim was terrific, his creative in-and-out dribble amply compensated for his lack of Derrick Rose-like burst and he made some very good reads when coming off of screens. In this market, $8 million for Lin, whether he is as good as advertised or slightly worse, is a good deal, especially when you take into account the marketing value he brings to the table. The Rockets certainly won't be losing money with this deal. I couldn't say the same if Houston gave a three-year, $20 million deal to Aaron Brooks (who signed with Sacramento yesterday in a deal reportedly worth $6 million over 2 seasons).
But this isn't really a great situation for Lin, either, and I'm sure his poor fit in Houston wasn't on Lin's mind when he signed the offer sheet, then fully expecting a return to New York. Now reality will set in and Lin will join a roster largely comprised, at least at this time, of rookies and second year players. Trading for Dwight Howard would change things, of course, but after a brief flirtation with the Rockets' package of assets and willingness to provide cap relief, Orlando's focus has shifted back on the Lakers' Andrew Bynum, as it should.
Lin is the kind of player that needs a pair of big men that are well versed in the pick-and-roll game and a coach that will allow free flowing and some times mistake-full play. Houston doesn't necessarily offer those accommodations at the moment, which makes the marriage between Lin and the Rockets a strange one. Even if Lin plays at the same level he established last year, with the current supporting cast in Houston, it would only be enough to carry the Rockets back into the hunt for the eighth seed. Perhaps the seventh if the get lucky.
So after an off-season with several twists and turns, hundreds of rumors, countless uses of the word "assets," two poison pill contract offers and the departure of six of Houston's best players from last season (Kyle Lowry, Dragic, Courtney Lee, Luis Scola, Marcus Camby, Samuel Dalembert), the Rockets are largely in the same place they were last year.
Praying for a miracle while living in a nightmare.
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