Jeremy Lin To New York, Knicks Great Option For Linsanity Career
Jeremy Lin could make his return to New York City, if the Houston Rockets pursues their ambitious plan to land All-Star small forward Carmelo Antony this offseason, according to several NBA insiders.
After two years in Texas that saw him playing the starting point guard role and then assuming the sixth man duty for the Rockets, the Asian-American star might on his way back to Big Apple in what could be a blockbuster deal between Houston and New York this offseason.
The limelight of the big city is not a stranger for Lin, who carved his reputation in the league after exploding out of nowhere to help the then struggling Knicks reach the postseason roughly three years ago.
Now, there have been talks about a potential deal between the Rockets and the Knicks that would really change the whole landscape for next season.
According to Basketball Insider writer Steve Kyler, Houston general manager Daryl Morey is very interested to dispose the contracts of Lin, center Omer Asik and every player on his roster not named James Harden and Dwight Howard.
It's no secret that Lin and Asik enter the offseason as the two biggest trade chips for the Rockets. However, the last year of their back-loaded three-year deal could be stumbling blocks for any trade to happen.
Then again, the Knicks could accept this deal if they feel Anthony is on his way out. Knicks president Phil Jackson stressed he's going to exhaust all options to retain the service of his franchise player, but taking quality assets in expense of trading away Anthony could be another option.
Lin is a proven backcourt scorer and decent ball distributor, while Asik provides rebounding and rim protection, an area they sorely missed from an ageing and unmotivated Tyson Chandler - who probably played his last season with the Knickerbockers.
If Lin and Asik experiment doesn't work in the end, the Knicks will still be beneficiary of their expiring deals, giving them enormous amount of cap space to use for a very loaded free-agency of 2015.
For Lin, returning to a rebuilding Knicks is a perfect situation for him because he's going a lot of opportunity to pad up his stats before he hits the free-agency market once again. He clearly needs a fresh environment after struggling to work his way around alongside a ball-demanding James Harden for two seasons. It seems that there's no sweeter place than home at Madison Square Garden.