Jeremy Lin is getting a fresh start in Clutch City. The New York Knicks are going to let the Palo Alto phenomenon walk to Houston.
Posting momentarily to nytimes.com: Lin will be a Rocket. Knicks deliberations over.
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeckNYT) July 17, 2012
It seemed for the longest time that the Rockets would get matched by the Knicks, but rumors started trickling out on Saturday that New York had luxury tax concerns about signing Lin to a longer deal. The Knicks then executed a sign-and-trade to land Raymond Felton, who will now likely serve as their starting point with Jason Kidd providing backup minutes.
Lin gets a fresh start in Houston, where he will (at the moment) be a starting point guard for Houston now that Kyle Lowry is off to Toronto and Goran Dragic signed with Phoenix. It remains to be seen how competitive the Rockets will be with this team (on paper they still aren't very good), but landing a superstar like Dwight Howard could rapidly alter the equation. At least Lin won't have to worry about being a primary option, although he will have to carry more of the burden in Houston. It remains to be seen whether he's worth what will be high role player money at four years and $28.8 million.
Talk about Lin with Knicks fans over at Posting and Toasting, and discuss Lin with Rockets fans at The Dream Shake.
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