Glen Grunwald pulled a Las Vegas disappearing act of David Copperfield proportions last week.The Knicks general manager refused to open the door of his hotel room and avoided a Knicks summer league game in order to avoid being delivered the Jeremy Lin offer sheet by the Rockets, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. It got so bad that the Rockets went to the NBA for a ruling on when the offer sheet should be considered received.
“We asked the league for help,” Houston GM Daryl Morey told the Chronicle. “They gave us advice. We did what they suggested. They say they consider it a team-to-team issue.”
Grunwald wouldn’t answer the door of his hotel room at the posh Mandarin Oriental or come to the front desk to accept the offer sheet. Grunwald, who just hours earlier had completed a sign-and-trade with the Rockets for Marcus Camby, refused to set up a meeting. Rockets attorneys e-mailed the Lin offer sheet and also sent it overnight to the Knicks offices at Madison Square Garden.
The Rockets took the position that the sheet was received July 13 at 11:59 p.m., which would give the Knicks three days to match. On Tuesday, New York officially declined to meet the backloaded three-year, $25.1 million offer for Lin, mostly because they were angry that Houston made late alterations that would have hit the Knicks with $15 million against their cap in the third year. Lin’s fate was sealed even earlier, though, when reports came in that the Knicks had acquired point guard Raymond Felton in a sign-and-trade with the Blazers.
Still Morey wasn’t convinced that Lin would be a Rocket even after hearing of the liekly Felton transaction.
“I knew about that two nights before,” Morey told the Chronicle, “but I absolutely thought they would match the whole way.”
The Houston GM said he wasn’t certain until Grunwald called Lin and told him the Knicks’ plans in a conversation that lasted less than a minute.
“I knew then they wouldn’t tell Jeremy unless it was done,” Morey said. “That was the first time I really thought it. We got him.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knicksblog/knicks_offer_wouldn_answer_hotel_zRaVbwyEWrUpvfkePl9DCK#ixzz21NoQoygd
he handled this lin thing terrible, just awful, fooled the fans, fooled the media, fooled every damn body, then couldn't face the music when he relise he fck up..he loses some points in my book
7/22/2012 6:30 PM
