My favorite TV Critic, Alan Sepinwall, had this to say regarding the Knicks decision to Let Jeremy Lin walk:
My Knicks fandom ended when they declined to match the Lin offer sheet.
There comes a point where it becomes impossible to ignore just how little the owner cares about anything but his own petty, paranoid vendettas and protecting his people, and how inevitable it is that he’ll ruin anything…
He expands further at the link above, and does a great job verbalizing what I’m feeling right now, which I’ve tried several times to write out but just can’t get it right.
It’s not JUST that Lin is gone, it’s how it went down, and how it reflects everything this team stands for. It was a wakeup call that this franchise, so long as it’s run by Jim Dolan, will simply never get it.
We suffered through the last decade, and in 2008 began a long rebuilding process to get where they are now. To look back at all the pleas for patience, for claims they were letting the basketball minds run the show and build this team the right way, then to have them pull the rug out at the last minute out of selfish spite and misguided loyalties is just too much to bear.
I can see the Barclays Center from my bedroom window, and I’m committed to a handful of Nets tickets next year. I live in Brooklyn, and they are my local team now, regardless of how I feel about the Knicks.
I won’t be a Nets fan sight unseen, and they’re certainly not without their ownership and longterm roster issues, but they have my attention now. I want them to win me over, make me ok with turning my back on one of my greatest lifelong passions. But I don’t know if I can really root for another basketball team. It’s never been an option before.
I guess we’ll see in the fall.
