I’ve been lulled out of my journalistic coma by a blind rage
caused by the Knick’s decision to let Jeremy Lin walk to the Houston Rockets,
either out of spite or some misguided sense of fiscal responsibility. Of
course, Lin was a popular topic on this forum as he set the hoops world on fire
with a remarkable string of games that elevated him from benchwarmer to
superstar.
And now he’s gone.
The contract offered to Lin is a little ridiculous for a relatively unproven player, but the Knicks are so hamstrung with their ability to add players that failing to retain a guy, who at the very least could be an effective scorer off the bench or tradable asset, is infuriating. My anger is less about Lin, who I still believe to be a good
player, and more about the radical ineptness of the Knicks. The Knicks owner,
for the less diehard amongst us, is James Dolan. Dolan is the scion of the
Cablevision empire, who took over the team from his father and subsequently led
them down a road to perdition littered with bad contracts and untalented players.
Dolan is universally loathed, except by the management of
opposing teams who are eager to fleece him, and players and agents who know a
sucker when they see one. He’s the product of nepotism, a recovering drug
addict and aspiring blues musician who’s never been told “no.” Supposedly, he
values loyalty above all other traits and the Knicks have turned into a weird
sort of cult under his rule. The team is notoriously tight lipped and Dolan’s
voice is only heard when he awkwardly croons terrible blues ballads.
And yet, you couldn’t say he didn’t try. Dolan spent freely,
if stupidly. He spared no expense, be it overpaying for the mercurial Larry
Brown or the always-ravished Eddy Curry. He even covered a tort assessed for
Isiah Thomas’s alleged sexual harassment of a Knicks official. That’s why
consternation over Jeremy Lin’s “poison pill” contract rings so hollow. With his team on the brink of
quasi-contender status, he’s now decided to be fiscally responsible?
Other reports say that Dolan got into a petty pissing match
because Lin renegotiated his contract with the Rockets after Knicks’ sources
leaked that they would match any contract up to “a billion dollars.”
Boo-fucking-hoo Dolan, don’t tip your hand. Why the media shy Knicks
felt that the Lin contract was a good time to start being more free with access
boggles the mind.
Even more upsetting is that all of this was done under the
context of the Knicks trying to reach Finals. They signed role players like the
ancient Marcus Camby and Jason Kidd as well as the one dimensional Steve Novak
to expensive and long contracts. But now they’ve decided to roll the dice with
Raymond Felton, last seen in a Portland McDonalds trying to “supersize” his
French fries, instead of the dynamic Lin.
An upsetting by product is that this move will leave a lot
of people misguidedly upset with Felton. Felton had a brief run with the Knicks
in 2010-11, when he proved himself to be a warrior and fan favorite before he
was jettisoned in the controversial Carmelo Anthony trade. Now Felton will be
inextricably linked to the loss of Lin and will likely become a pariah.
Some have compared this to the Mets failure to resign Jose
Reyes this offseason, but it feels a lot worse to me. The Mets financial
troubles were well documented and the team was projected to be bad with or
without Reyes. The Knicks fancy themselves to be contenders and let a valuable
player walk for nothing.
Yesterday I was struck with a feeling of helplessness. As
the three day window to match closed, I took to Twitter and, like many Knicks
fans, let loose a stream of vitriol and obscenity directed at James Dolan, and
it was ineffective and un-cathartic.
I’ve disagreed with almost every move the Knicks have made
this offseason, as they’ve gotten older and less athletic, but that’s nothing
new. I’ve long been a Knicks apologist, I gave Isiah Thomas the benefit of the
doubt again and again because at least it seemed like he was trying to build a
good team. I enjoyed rooting for Othella Harrington and Michael Sweetney and
Michael Doleac and Eddy Curry and Stephon Marbury and Keith Van Horn and all
the other inglorious bastards to wear a Knicks uniform this past decade.
My rage at the Knicks comes at an interesting time. I’ve
just moved to Brooklyn and simultaneously so have the Nets. The Nets have been
a little Knicks-esque with their fetishization of big name players, but at
least their owner isn’t a Kim Jung Un like leader, who’s management of the
Knicks matches his tone-deafness as the lead singer of JD and the Straight
Shot. The internet has been abuzz with sports pundits giving me cart-blanche to
switch my allegiances. So what do I do? I’m not ready to root for the Nets, but
I’m just about ready to stop rooting for the Knicks.
