The Curious Case of Jeremy Lin

Ah, the curious case of Jeremy Lin.   I don't think I need to say much about him, as the media has gone beyond saturating what they can extract from this man.  Don't get me wrong; I was certainly not on board at first, but now I am.  I can't ignore the fact that Jeremy Lin has revived the New York Knicks, taking them from a bottom-feeding team in the Eastern Conference to, once again, a playoff contender.  To think, in the last couple of years, the Knicks have devoted a lot of their resources to two superstars (Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony), and their best player (right now) is a kid they scraped off of waivers.  Beyond basketball, Lin has helped bring more Asian fans back to the game, much like Yao Ming did about a decade ago.  Now that the insane media hoopla has died down, I am happy to celebrate Jeremy Lin and what he's done so far.

But what is ahead?  The Knicks are in a bind when it comes to Jeremy Lin.  Under the supposition that he keeps this up, Lin will certainly command big money on the free agent market as either a starting point guard or an impactful sixth man.  Lin becomes a restricted free agent after this season, meaning that other teams are allowed to make offers to him, but the Knicks are afforded the opportunity to match those offers and keep him.  The Knicks are already dangerously close to their hard salary cap due to the big contracts that Amare and Carmelo command, and they also have to consider re-signing one of their favorite young pieces, shooting guard Landry Fields.  It is possible for the Knicks to retain both Lin and Fields, which would solidify one of the best starting lineups in basketball in New York.  However, retention would require moving some other pieces around, and Lin and Fields possibly both sacrificing some money to stay with the franchise.

All indications are that Lin will keep this up through the season.  Carmelo Anthony returns to the lineup soon and we need to see how that will unfold, but I don't think Anthony will have a large negative effect on Lin and the Knicks, and Lin will remain the hottest prospective free agent in the NBA. 

As a side note, if Carmelo brings a negative effect to the Knicks and curbs Jeremy Lin's success, Carmelo can say goodbye to New York, just as quickly as he got there.  Carmelo was supposed to arrive and bring the franchise back to glory, but Jeremy Lin is now the hero, and Carmelo will potentially be the goat.  If the New York Knicks cannot be competitive through the rest of this season, the franchise will certainly fire coach Mike D'Antoni, as well as considering unloading Carmelo, supposing that it's his style of play that doesn't seem to fit the rest of the team.

I'm not sure what route I'd like to see the Knicks take.  I'll reserve my judgment til after we see a healthy Carmelo play with Lin and the crew, but my initial opinion is that the pieces won't quite fit together, and some changes will need to be made.  I think Lin, not only for his basketball prowess but also his cultural impact, needs to stay in New York.  He should now be the franchise's top priority.  I think keeping Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler are a priority after that, as they provide the low post presence on offense and defense (respectively) that a good perimeter player like Lin needs.  I think that keeping good peripheral supporting pieces, like Landry Fields and now J.R. Smith, will help Lin to succeed further. 

So, as you notice, that leaves out Carmelo Anthony.  As I've been hinting, if this experiment doesn't work out in the next couple of years, I think Carmelo will be forced to take the blame and thus, the Knicks fans will run him out of town.  By keeping him for too long, the Knicks will run the risk of losing value if they try to trade Carmelo, so it will be interesting to see how long this experiment in New York will last before something changes (again, if it appears to be going downhill).

At the very least, Jeremy Lin has given basketball fans reason to be paying attention to New York again.  Good for him, and good luck to him as his career carries on.