ReLINquished

So much for the source that said the Knicks would match offers made up to "one billion dollars" on Jeremy Lin. We're no accountant, but unless our calculations are off, the 3-year, $25 mill. proposed by the Rockets is nowhere near that named number. They vowed to open the vault, but in the end, they wouldn't even open their coin purse to retain Lin. The trailblazing Lin will be replaced by a former Trailblazer, Raymond Felton, who agreed to a sign-and-trade deal. The Knicks determined they'd rather spend $6.33 mill. per season on veterans Jason Kidd and Raymond Felton rather than invest in the younger Lin for $5 mill. a year. Sounds like Kidd wasn't the only one drunk making a dumb decision this weekend.

Sure, the Knicks got deeper by picking up a pair of polished pros, but they didn't think deeper about the social and cultural impact of Lin, the sports success story of 2011, and the profusion of positive press for a franchise that's been a punching bag post-Patrick Ewing. Lin's value extends far beyond the basketball court, to the far east as an Asian-American ambassador to grow the game globally. Houston, where Yao Ming once called home, is acutely aware of that, yet the Knicks are too stupid or stingy to see what - more so than who - is slipping away. With new neighbors in NYC already needling the Knicks, they just might pay for their refusal to pay for Lin.