SH Blog: Jeremy Lin is headed to Houston

The day to decide on Jeremy Lin’s future has finally come for the New York Knicks. Fortunately, it appears we won’t have to wait until the very end of the night to have an understanding of what the plan is. In our Tweet of the Day, Jay Williams stated that the Knicks would let Lin walk, based on sources. Howard Beck shared those sentiments in his latest article. Find the latest news on Lin and others around the league below:

• Howard Beck wrote the first official story of the day signaling the end of Lin in New York: “Linsanity is just about over in New York. The Knicks plan to cut ties with Jeremy Lin on Tuesday night, according to a person briefed on the decision, ending a brief, spectacular and now bittersweet love affair between the 23-year-old point guard and his adoring fan base. Lin will play next season for the Houston Rockets, who signed him to a three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet that the Knicks have elected not to match. The Knicks are not expected to announce their decision until this evening, and there is still a chance — albeit incredibly small — that it could be reversed. But as of 4 p.m. the decision had been made and was considered final by those with knowledge of the deliberations. Indeed, the deliberations were said to be over.”

• UPDATE: A team spokesperson officially announced that Knicks will not match Houston’s offer for Lin: “Houston, you can have him.That was the message the Knicks sent on Tuesday when they decided not to match Jeremy Lin’s three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet from the Rockets. The team announced its decision on Tuesday night, confirming several reports that surfaced over the weekend stating that the Knicks would not match Lin’s offer. A team source told ESPNNewYork.com earlier this week that the third year of the Rockets’ offer — worth $14.8 million — caused the Knicks to consider letting Lin go. If the Knicks matched the offer, they would have been subject to a luxury tax in the third year, potentially bringing their total out-of-pocket cost for the team’s salary to about $43 million in 2014-15.”

• Beckley Mason quotes Larry Coon to explain a provision that would soften the blow of Lin’s contract on the third year: “If worse comes to worst, another new rule can help the team out. The “stretch provision” allows a team to waive a player and extend his salary payments over twice the number of remaining seasons, plus one. So if Lin is waived with one season remaining on his contract, he would be paid his salary over three years. Here’s the important part — teams also may elect to stretch a waived player’s salary cap hit over the same number of years. So if Lin proves to be a disaster over the next two seasons, the Knicks can waive him, stretch the payment of his $14.8 million salary over three years, and reduce his salary cap amount to about $4.9 million in each season. This would reduce the team’s tax bill significantly. If they are right at the tax line, a $4.9 million salary would translate to a $7.35 million tax bill. This is much more palatable.”

• David Aldridge did an extensive breakdown of why the Knicks should keep Lin. Here is reason number six: “Sixth, unless you believe that Felton is going to have a bounce-back year after his disastrous turn with the Blazers last season (to be fair, Felton was great for Mike D’Antoni in New York in his half-season with the Knicks in 2010-11), or that the 39-year-old Kidd is going to be rejuvenated by the bright lights and big city, chances are the Knicks may well be looking for a point guard again in a year or two. Would it not make sense to try and continue to develop a 23-year-old who came on like a freight train when he got one last chance to show what he could do?”

• After tweeting a Carmelo Anthony quote about “ridiculous contract” that set twitter on fire, Roderick Boone helped clear the air about Anthony’s take on Lin: “I would love to see him back, honestly. I would definitely love to see him back. But knowing the business of basketball, it’s a tough situation, kind of for both of our sides. With Jeremy, I know he definitely wants to be back in New York and Dolan definitely wants him back. So it’s just a matter of figuring it out.” Anthony had taken it from all angles for nearly 36 hours, getting bombarded by people who believed he was out of line Sunday when he termed the offer sheet Houston threw at Jeremy Lin “ridiculous.”

• The Knicks, unhappy with the Rockets for adjusting Lin’s contract, are giving the Rockets a hard time, from Fred Kerber: “The Rockets maintain the sheet was delivered to the Knicks Saturday night after attempts were made to get it to them on Friday. The Knicks, however, have not confirmed the delivery date. Technically, the sheet is expected to be delivered to the team’s offices, but the Knicks brass was headquartered in a Las Vegas hotel as its team competes in the summer league there. The Rockets also maintain the offer was shipped to the Knicks’ New York offices. The Knicks are upset with the change in the offer sheet’s original details, going from a four-year deal to a hard-to-swallow three-year version that has a killer $14.9 million final year. The Knicks would then owe roughly three times that ($43.4 million) in luxury tax. So they are in no mood to cooperate.”

• Grant Hill has chosen Los Angeles as his new team. It just wasn’t the L.A. team most expected him to choose, from Adrian Wojnarowski: “In a significant blow to its Los Angeles rival, the Los Angeles Clippers are finalizing a two-year contract with free agent Grant Hill, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. The Clippers have several ways to complete the deal, including through a sign-and-trade with the Phoenix Suns or using its bi-annual exception. The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knickshad recruited Hill heavily to sign with them, but Hill decided on the Clippers and was finalizing terms of a deal on Tuesday, sources said.”

• O.J. Mayo was acquired by the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, from Dwain Price: “On Monday, the Mavs added yet another quality piece to their off-season puzzle when they agreed to a contract with Memphis Grizzlies shooting guard O.J. Mayo. The 6-foot-4 Mayo averaged 15.2 points, shot 43.3 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range during his four-year career with the Grizzlies, who made him the third overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. It was Mayo who announced to the world, via his Twitter account, that he’s joining the Mavs. Mayo tweeted: “I will be signing with Dallas! #Mavsnation.”

• Stephen Curry is training hard to be ready for next season, and then some: “Since having ankle surgery in April, NBA star Stephen Curry has spent considerable time working on his game and body. His muscular arms and back are evidence of how much he has worked. He doesn’t much resemble the skinny kid who thrilled fans at Charlotte Christian and Davidson. Still months away from the start of NBA training camp in October, Curry, the Golden State Warriors’ starting point guard, spends many mornings at Accelerate Basketball, a training facility for youth, college and professional athletes.”

• Phil Jackson may not want to coach the Portland Trailblazers, but he does have interest in joining the organization, according to Jason Quick: “Phil Jackson has interest in joining the Trail Blazers in a non-coaching role, a source close to the legendary coach said, but it is unclear whether owner Paul Allen has interest in Jackson. “Phil would be interested in talking about a possible role in the organization,’’ the source close to Jackson said. “My sense is there is a lot Phil can offer by being there, be it handling players, advising trade scenarios, managing coaching staff … I think he would be a tremendous adviser to the owner.’’

• According to this video, Delonte West definitely chose the right sport in basketball. In other words, good thing he stayed away from Baseball.

• Check out some of the top plays from Monday night’s game against Team Brazil.

Kobe Bryant’s extensive interview with Yahoo!

Linsanity and Dwightmare drama

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