The New York Knicks’ season has been over for a week now and the Linsanity craze has been over for well over a month, some would argue longer. Somehow, both are still making headlines. Don’t look now, but a “Linsanity Rule” could be coming to the NBA. No, we’re not talking Knicks fans getting overly excited about something for two to four weeks and then moving on to something else (that’s just called being a Knicks fan).
According to the New York Post the Players Association is fighting a loop hole in the new CBA that says waived players lose their Bird Rights, which means teams that claim them can’t go over the cap to resign them. If this happens the Knicks would have a lot more flexibility to keep Lin and go after another free agent, say Steve Nash.
“If the Knicks retain their $5M mid-level exception while re-signing Lin as a Bird-rights player, they would be in the market for Nash, Andre Miller, Jason Kidd, Jameer Nelson and Goran Dragic. Nash seems a reach for $5 million after leading the NBA in assists and with the Suns ready to bowl him over with a more lucrative offer.”
You’re right, $5 million for Nash is a bit of a reach. You know who else it’s a reach for? Andre Miller, Jason Kidd, Jameer Nelson (who probably isn’t opting out of his deal anyways) and probably even Goran Dragic. Still they could use all the help they can get in the backcourt, though going after a defensive minded wing player or two might be just as important as shoring up the point guard position. Another good, cheap way to do that would also be to stop trading away draft picks but that’s neither here nor there. What is important is that the phrase “Linsanity” may get immortalized thanks to an arbitration hearing.
