With Jeremy Lin out for the rest of the season to have surgery on his damaged knee, “Linsanity” has come to a close in New York, at least for now. Odds are that the Knicks will do everything they can to have Lin back next year so the cash keeps on flowing, and they definitely made sure they got everything they could before they made Lin’s injury news public.
The Knicks reportedly knew several days before Lin’s announcement for season-ending surgery on Saturday that their point guard would be out indefinitely, but they waited until after last Wednesday’s deadline for season ticket holders to purchase tickets for all four rounds of the playoffs to let everyone know about it.
“In fact, in the e-mail sent to subscribers, there is a picture of Lin leaping in celebration,” said the New York Daily News. “Yet, it was two days before the deadline when Lin and the Knicks’ medical staff learned that the second-year point guard/cash cow was suffering from a torn meniscus in his left knee and that he wouldn’t be jumping for joy anytime soon.”
Not only that, but when interim head coach Mike Woodson said on Friday that there was a chance Lin wouldn’t return to the lineup this year, the Knicks released a public statement contradicting their coach, saying Lin could return as early as the next week.
While this all reeks of shady, underhanded business decisions, does it really matter that much? While I will never claim to understand New Yorkers, how much of their decision to buy playoff tickets was based on Jeremy Lin? He is still a good player, but let us be honest, the shine is off the Golden Boy a little bit. He is no longer the savior of the Knicks. If anything, that role has shifted to Mike Woodson.
I feel like if you are buying playoff tickets, you are going to watch your team play and hopefully win to move on to the next round, not watch one guy. For the regular season, it might be a different story, but this is for the playoffs. Again, I do not know how people from New York think ,but I would hope they buy their postseason tickets for the game, not the players.
On top of all that, are the Knicks really thinking they won’t sell out their playoff games? Assuming they make the postseason, which is not guaranteed right now with only a 2.5-game lead over the Milwaukee Bucks, fans will still show up to support their team, even without Jeremy Lin, right?
This whole thing was such a stupid move by the Knicks organization that made them look like crooks when they didn’t even need to. Sometimes it is just mind-boggling the way people think.
