Mike Woodson of New York Knicks talks Jeremy Lin – NBA Update
When Jeremy Lin became a restricted free agent last summer, there was no doubt in the minds of the New York Knicks hierarchy about the future of the point guard, who became the biggest success story of the league within a matter of weeks.
Apparently Lin wanted to stay put as well. But then came the poison deal from the Houston Rockets, who initially wanted to rope in Lin for a $28 million deal over four years, but then changed it to three years $ 25 million deal, with 15 million coming in the last year of the contract.
That last year amount was a deal breaker for the Knicks as all of a sudden, they had to take into the account the luxury tax factor, which would have been three times of contract amount that year. In mid July, the Knicks announced, they are letting go of Lin, and brought Raymond Felton in a trade deal with the Portland Trail Blazers. Next to follow was veteran point guard Jason Kidd, who signed in as a free agent, before the Madison Square Garden franchise also roped in veteran Argentinean point guard Pablo Prigioni.
Mike Woodson, the Knicks coach was not impressed when Lin decided to sign the Rockets offer sheet, but had since remained silent on the issue. On Monday though, before his Knicks played the Rockets at home, he opened up about the whole episode;
"We wanted Jeremy back. I made that public back in the summer when we were going through the recruitment process, but things changed from a business standpoint and Jeremy decided to take the Houston deal and he has every right to do that," Mike Woodson said.
Woodson added that he has no regrets about what happened and was actually more happy with three brilliant options which he got as a result.
"I think as an organization we've moved on. I mean we were able to go out now and field guys like Kidd and Pablo and Raymond, and we're excited about those three guys that we've fielded man, because they've come in here and they've put us in this position, in terms of our 18-5 record and sitting at the top of our division," Woodson added.
Felton, Kidd and to some extent Prigioni, have indeed been crucial to a brilliant Knicks start this season, but on the night, the trio failed to stop Lin from orchestrating a 109-96 win for the Rockets, the first home loss for the Knicks this season.
Tags: