At some point in the very near future, we are most likely going to know if the New York Knicks made the right call resisting the pressure/temptation to back up the Brinks’ truck to pay Jeremy Lin in the offseason. As you know, the Knicks chose not to match Houston’s three-year, $25 million offer sheet to Lin, opting instead to sign former Knick PG Raymond Felton to play point for them this season. [Related: Is Jeremy Lin the NBA’s most overrated star?]
Yesterday at Knicks Media Day (where it was all business), team GM Glen Grunwald talked for the first time about the difficulty of that decision.
From the NY Post:
In his first comments since making the decision in July to part ways with Jeremy Lin, Knicks general manager Glen Grunwald said bringing back Raymond Felton for a second stint with the team was a better value than keeping Lin after the Rockets increased their offer sheet to the young point guard.
“It comes down to Houston made a commitment to him we weren’t prepared to make,” Grunwald said at yesterday’s press conference on Media Day. “I’m very happy for Jeremy that things worked out for him personally and his family and wish him the best. But I’m more excited about our team right now.
“We felt Raymond Felton was the best option at the end of the day. We were excited to get Raymond back. We weren’t disappointed at all [Houston changed the offer].”
Felton, for his part, said he must make fans forget about Lin and his own lousy 2011-12 season in Portland. Felton admitted he was “out of shape” after the lockout ended.
“We’re very excited to have Raymond back,” Grunwald said. “He had a great year with us [in 2010-11]. We think he’s going to make a big difference. He had an off year last year, but he had a tremendous summer. Not only did he get married, but he worked very hard and came here in great shape. I expect he’ll do as well or better as he did when here before.”
Ahh yes, the Felton conditioning issue. I’d certainly say that Ray looked better yesterday than he did over the summer when this photo was allegedly taken.
Will the Knicks regret not re-signing Jeremy Lin?
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