$30 Million Man? Why Jeremy Lin Is Not Worth It.

NEW YORK – With a three-year, $25.1 million dollar offer from the Houston Rockets, it appears that Jeremy Lin is done in New York.

The New York Knicks have until Tuesday to match the Rockets offer for the restricted free-agent point guard out of Harvard, but from various reports, there may be a new outbreak of Lin-sanity in the Lone State State.

New York would recently acquire point guard Raymond Felton in a sign-and-trade from the Portland Trail Blazers late Saturday evening, in a sign that the Knicks are ready to move in a different direction, which may be wise in considering that they would also sign veteran point guard Jason Kidd to a three-year $9 million deal.

For all of the “Lin-sanity” hype and hoopla that Lin would create during the zenith of his brief flash of greatness, Lin is simply not worth the money being offered to him.

During his first 11 games, Lin would average 23.9 points, 9.2 assists, 2.4 steals and 5.5 turnovers.

Enter the Miami Heat.

Thanks to a stifling and smothering defense, Lin would be humbled in being held to eight points, three assists and eight turnovers on 1-of-11 shooting from the field in a 102-88 loss to the eventual NBA champions.

After that game, Lin would go on to 14.5 points, 6.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 3.9 turnovers.

For all of his upside and potential, if there is one thing that will be Lin’s calling card in the NBA is his tendency to turn the ball over, as he would average 4.4 turnovers in 26 games before missing the rest of the season due to a torn meniscus in his knee.

Does a point guard that has a career average of 9.2 points, 4.0 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game deserve a contract of $25 million, is Lin worth $30 million to the Knicks in 2014-15?

No.

Consider this, Lin would get ten million in the first two years before getting $14.8 million in the final year.  If the Knicks are to match that, they would have to pay a $15 million luxury tax in the final year of Lin’s deal.

On top of that, 2014-15 is also the same year that the Knicks owe a combined $64.5 million to Carmelo Anthony ($24 million), Amar’e Stoudamire ($23 million) and Tyson Chandler ($14.5 million)

For all the money that Lin generates in merchandising and marketing, matching Houston’s offer for Lin would be a display of bad business sense for the Knicks.  Houston on the other hand, would be getting Lin at a seven million discount as he would only count for eight million on the Rockets salary cap in 2014-15.

With a full 82-game season and a lot more video tape of Lin and his tendencies, this may be the worst possible decision for both the Knicks and Rockets respectively.

Bottom line is that for all the buzz and excitement that Lin brought back to “The World’s Most Famous Arena”, New York would be wise to end Lin-sanity and go into rehab.

Robert D. Cobb is the NBA Network Manager for Rant Media Network, Featured Writer of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Featured Columnist for the Cleveland Browns and Arsenal Gunners.

In addition to covering the NBA, I also cover MLB, NFL, NHL and Champions League soccer news, rumors and opinions, please follow me on Twitter at @RobertCobb_76