Jeremy Lin has verbally agreed to sign a four-year offer sheet with the Houston Rockets on July 11, according to a source close to the talks.
Not that I have any love for the Knicks but signing in Houston for a few million more would not be a good move on Lin's part. First off, he'd be leaving all the good will he built up in the New York area and the huge marketing potential that offers him. Second, he's going to a team that is frankly going to not be good for the next couple of years as they've traded away much of their assets in an effort to get younger/better through the draft. Thirdly, what makes Lin think that a few good games in NY would change how the Rockets view him seeing as how they cut him last year? Unless there's been a big change in the playbook, Kevin McHale didn't see much value in Lin last year so why would he start changing this coaching style to match Lin now?
It's not to say that New York couldn't match Houston's offer but given the backloaded nature of the offer, I have a hard time seeing the Knicks doing that and taking on the luxury tax costs in year three and four of that deal. Plus with their signing of Jason Kidd, they somewhat have the PG position covered somewhat. Still, the idea was for Kidd to mentor Lin into becoming an upper echelon PG. Now who will do that for him in Houston? Kyle Lowry? Oh wait, he just got traded to Toronto......