knicknyk: Anyway, I am super excited for the NBA to start back up. There are going to be so many narratives and I am just going to miss watching basketball now that the Olympics are over. Sigh.

On this we can agree! :)

Juany8: It’s actually kind of ironic that my view on Lin’s value is close to the same as yours…P>Matching on Lin was still the right move, however, if the main goal was getting this core closer to a championship. Right now the only player on the team that is a good trade chip is Shumpert (maybe Chandler, but moving him forfeits any chance at contention) Lin was the only other player that had a chance of either seriously improving or being traded for another good piece. That’s a gamble anyone needs to take, although it is Dolan’s money and not mine

Melo is a pretty good trade chip, no? ;)

I have seen too many instances where people wrung their hands at the impossibility of the Knick situation since we signed Amare, Melo and Chandler. Somehow, we were able to sign Novak, JR, Kidd, Felton, Camby and Brewer. Honestly, I don’t get why you feel this way about Lin and not about Fields. Why doesn’t Fields “have a chance of seriously improving or being traded for another good piece? Isn’t he just a more consistent J away from being as good or better than Lin if Lin doesn’t develop? Yet nobody seems to care that we didn’t match him and think matching Lin was a no-brainer. I really don’t get that.

I truly think that there’s a roughly even chance that we miss Fields more than Lin next year, and that Fields ultimately develops into the better player. Or that Felton and Brewer are both better than Lin and Fields for the next 2 years. By saying an even chance, I’m not committing to either side, but suggesting that since Felton and Brewer are far cheaper, it isn’t an illogical position to move on from Fields and Lin.

ruruland: Nah, Lin’s release is not going to change unless he reforms his shot, which takes hundreds of hours.

Kidd’s vision and anticipation are supernatural talents that can’t be taught. I think Lin can improve, but he’ll never have Kidd or Nash’s ability.

Was there not a ESPN sports science video that said that he had a quick release? Also, I am of the belief that with more experience comes better decision making and better decision making improves court vision so for most reasonably talented players that should improve as well.

Anyway, I am super excited for the NBA to start back up. There are going to be so many narratives and I am just going to miss watching basketball now that the Olympics are over. Sigh.

Z-man: That’s a logical point, and had Lin (and/or Fields) been matched, I would not have had a problem with it, it’s Dolan’s $ after all. I also see the logic in NOT matching…do you really want a guy on the end of the bench making more $ and getting more hype than starters and key players (JR, Brewer, Felton)?Do you want to invite a potential PG controversy, exacerbated by a starstruck fanbase and fickle media, to distract your new coach during the most critical year in the last decade? I see the logic in saying no to all that, not to mention overpaying for a guy I don’t believe is worth it.

Right now, everybody rotation player on the team seems to have a defined role, and the coach can plan around that, starting now. Would that be true if both Felton and Lin were here?

It’s actually kind of ironic that my view on Lin’s value is close to the same as yours, yet my stance on keeping him is the total opposite. Last year didn’t give us enough information to make a full appraisal of his value, and I saw plenty of things I didn’t particularly like that make me wary of his future. That being said, the guy had some legit skills that aren’t likely to just go away, even if there is a ‘learning curve’ so that he can apply his skills well in any role (and not the “do absolutely everything” role he had in D’Antoni’s system and is likely to have in Houston)

Matching on Lin was still the right move, however, if the main goal was getting this core closer to a championship. Right now the only player on the team that is a good trade chip is Shumpert (maybe Chandler, but moving him forfeits any chance at contention) Lin was the only other player that had a chance of either seriously improving or being traded for another good piece. That’s a gamble anyone needs to take, although it is Dolan’s money and not mine

exel: Wouldn’t this be a point to sign Lin? Knicks are over the salary cap and don’t have the assets to add players who can potentially be a top 10 point guard. Would you rather have Lin filling the 12th roster spot as opposed to say, James White? Lin has shown he can play in the NBA and has a skill set that can be used effectively against playoff-calibre teams, see 4th quarter performance against Philly and Indiana under Woodson after he had been “scouted.”

That’s a logical point, and had Lin (and/or Fields) been matched, I would not have had a problem with it, it’s Dolan’s $ after all. I also see the logic in NOT matching…do you really want a guy on the end of the bench making more $ and getting more hype than starters and key players (JR, Brewer, Felton)? Do you want to invite a potential PG controversy, exacerbated by a starstruck fanbase and fickle media, to distract your new coach during the most critical year in the last decade? I see the logic in saying no to all that, not to mention overpaying for a guy I don’t believe is worth it.

Right now, everybody rotation player on the team seems to have a defined role, and the coach can plan around that, starting now. Would that be true if both Felton and Lin were here?

knicknyk: You say things like this and you wonder why some would assume or have the perception that you are wishing that he fails.

It’s not a wish, it’s a prediction (more of a guess, since my entire point is that we don’t know enough about him yet.) I am also predicting that Landry Fields will not earn his $20 mill contract in Toronto (although I really like his personality.) Yet you don’t seem to be bothered too much by that. At this time last year, the big question was: Who is the real Landry Fields: the emerging star he was the first 50 games or the player he had regressed to for the rest of the year, culminating in wetting the bed the playoffs? There were some great jon abbey vs. THCJ exchanges on this topic back then. I hoped Landry would improve during the long off-season (I do have a rooting interest in seeing all things Knick succeed) but soon lost confidence and joined the abbey camp. It wasn’t anything personal. Now that Landry’s in Toronto, I have no reason to “hope” for him to succeed. Same is true for Lin. It’s nothing personal. So why are you so bent out of shape about my criticism of Lin but haven’t said a word about Fields? There are metrics that have predicted (and still do) that Fields is a top-flight player. Juany8, jon abbey and others have not only been dismissive of nice guy Fields, they have used him as a one-man refutation of Berri and WP48.

At this point, I feel pretty much the same about Fields and Lin, based upon pretty much the same reasoning: that while they have significant upside in the long term, they are most likely middling players in the short term who are not worth more than the MLE and easy to replace for anything more than that. Nothing personal.