Knicks Blow Chance To Capitalize On ‘Linsanity’
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By DERON SNYDER
If 100 people were asked whether the New York Knicks were smart to let Jeremy Lin leave for the Houston Rockets, half might say yes. The other half would be correct, though, because Lin meant more to the Knicks than he could possibly mean to any other team.
Just ask Wall Street, where stock for the Knicks’ parent company, MSG, has lost nearly $100 million since Lin’s departure. The Knicks were so worried about what they’d have to pay Lin based on the Rocket’s offer, they failed to calculate the cost of losing him. Lin single-handedly drove MSG stock to a record-high price in February and resolved a 48-day standoff between the Knicks’ TV station and Cablevision.
The Knicks’ Charles Dolan has been one of the league’s worst owners during his tenure, thanks to a series of bad moves that made the team a laughingstock. But allowing Lin to get away might be his dumbest move yet. Not that you’ll hear any complaints from Houston, where the 23-year-old Harvard grad was introduced on Thursday.
“It’s been an unbelievable ride,” said Lin, who came from nowhere last season and now owns a three-year, $25 million contract. “Just a lot of things I didn’t expect to happen, in terms of just the way last season went. I still have to kind of remind myself that this is all actually happening sometimes. But it’s a huge blessing. I can’t believe how it all shaped up, and for me to be here right now. I’m definitely excited and thankful.”
