He is the outlier that messes everything up. Seeing him dominate now makes you skeptical of all the scouts that said he wasn't NBA material.

Knowing what we know now, he'd probably be a top 5 pick in the 2010 draft, with a strong argument for #1 (right there with Wall, Cousins, Monroe, and Fields).

BRIGGS wrote:If Lin keeps this up he will get a max contract

Some team will give him 10 million if it i possible

Why? Look at the attention he brings! during the washington game there were a lot of fans because of Lin. In minnesota today, they sold out there tickets and it was the most sinc 2004 becuase of Lin.

eViL wrote:

earthmansurfer wrote:

unstopaball12 wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:If Lin keeps this up he will get a max contract

Some team will give him 10 million if it i possible

Why? Look at the attention he brings! during the washington game there were a lot of fans because of Lin. In minnesota today, they sold out there tickets and it was the most sinc 2004 becuase of Lin.

Yep, again, just like GS offered Jordon. The big question that is answered in the article (and I want to verify with more experts) is Can we match? It would be terrible if we couldn't. But, this guy laid it out well and it looks like we can regardless of the cap and that is good news. Also good news that we still have the MLE and MMLE to spend on others.

We've been over this a bunch already. No one can offer him more than the MLE.

But there have been conflicting reports and this thread's one which seems to be the latest agrees with you. But how is Lin and different as a restricted FA than Jordon was when GS offered him 10 million per? Briggs brought this up as well here. And I'd like to know the technical difference. E.g. - Lin wasn't drafted (but did sign a 2 year deal).

Thank you my friend,
EMS

eViL wrote:ok. let's go through this step by step so we can all feel comfortable knowing Lin is gonna be a Knick for a long time (all quotes are from: https://webfiles.uci.edu/lcoon/cbafaq/salarycap.htm)

because the Knicks claimed Lin off of waivers this year, his "Bird Clock" reset:

26. How long must a player be with one team before the Larry Bird exception can be used?

The basic idea is that a player must play for the same team for three seasons for his team to gain Bird rights (two seasons for Early Bird rights). It can be a single three-year contract, a series of three one-year contracts, or any combination that adds up to three seasons (two for Early Bird). However there are a number of complications:

When a player is traded, his new team inherits his Bird rights. For example, if a player signs a three-year contract, plays two and a half seasons with that team, and is traded at the trade deadline in the third season, then his new team owns full Bird rights following the third season.

The player must complete his contract immediately prior to becoming a free agent, which essentially means he can't have been waived. If he signs a series of contracts, then this only applies to the last contract. If a team signs a player and waives him after one game, signs and waives him after one game again the next year, and in the third year signs him and keeps him the entire season, then they will have full Bird rights following the third season.

The clock resets when the player changes teams by signing as a free agent. An interesting case occurred in the 2008-09 season with Antonio McDyess, who had played exclusively for the Pistons since the 2004-05 season. In 2008-09 the Pistons traded him to the Nuggets, the Nuggets waived him, and he re-signed with the Pistons. Even though he only signed contracts with the Pistons and he completed his last contract without being waived, his Bird clock reset when he re-signed with the Pistons because he changed teams as a free agent.

The first season of the three-year tenure doesn't have to be a full season. If a player is waived and signs with another team in year one, then plays with his new team for two additional seasons, his new team will have full Bird rights following the third season.

If a player is waived and is claimed by another team before he clears waivers, then his Bird clock resets.

If a player is selected in an expansion draft, then his Bird clock resets.

10-Day contracts (see question number 68) don't count toward Bird rights.

If a team renounces a player (see question number 34), they can't use the Bird exception to re-sign him for one year.

because Lin is in only in his second year he is automatically restricted:

There are two types of free agency: unrestricted and restricted. An unrestricted free agent is free to sign with any other team, and there's nothing the player's original team can do to prevent it. Restricted free agency gives the player's original team the right to keep the player by matching an offer sheet the player signs with another team. This is called the "right of first refusal."

Restricted free agency exists only on a limited basis. It is allowed following the fourth year of rookie "scale" contracts for first round draft picks (see question number 42). It is also allowed for all veteran free agents who have been in the league three or fewer seasons. However, a first round draft pick becomes an unrestricted free agent following his second or third season if his team does not exercise its option to extend the player's rookie scale contract for the next season. All other free agency is limited to unrestricted free agency.

because Lin's bird clock is reset he does not qualify for Early Bird status with the Knicks, but he is restricted and qualifies for 120% of the veteran's minimum under the non-Bird exception:

NON-BIRD EXCEPTION -- This is also a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception. Its name is somewhat of a misnomer, since Non-Bird really is a form of Bird rights. Players who qualify for this exception are called "Non-Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA. They are veteran free agents who are neither Qualifying Veteran Free Agents nor Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agents, either because they haven't met the criteria, or because they are Early Bird free agents following the second season of their rookie scale contract and whose team renounced the Early-Bird exception. This exception allows a team to re-sign its own free agent to a salary starting at up to 120% of the player's salary in the previous season, 120% of the minimum salary, or the amount needed to tender a qualifying offer (if the player is a restricted free agent -- see question number 37), whichever is greater. Raises are limited to 8% of the salary in the first year of the contract, and contracts are limited to five seasons when this exception is used.

A partial season counts as a full season for the tenure calculation related to Bird rights. If a team signs another team's free agent to a rest-of-season contract mid-way through the season, then at the end of that season the player is a non-Bird free agent.

Starting January 10 of each season, this exception begins to reduce in value. See question number 20 for details.

so since Lin is a second-year player with Non-Bird Veteran status the Knicks would have to dip into their MLE to re-sign him if another team offers him that much and he accepts:

With the previous CBA it was sometimes possible to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets their original teams couldn't match. This happened when a player was an Early Bird or Non-Bird free agent (see question number 19) and the team didn't have enough cap room to match a sufficiently large offer. For example, Gilbert Arenas was Golden State's second round draft pick in 2001, and became an Early Bird free agent in 2003. Golden State therefore could only match an offer sheet (or sign Arenas themselves) for up to the average salary (see question number 25), which was about $4.9 million. Washington signed Arenas to an offer sheet with a starting salary of about $8.5 million, which Golden State was powerless to match.

This loophole was addressed in the current CBA (although not closed completely -- see below). Teams are now limited in the salary they can offer in an offer sheet to a restricted free agent with one or two years in the league. The first-year salary in the offer sheet cannot be greater than the average salary (see question number 25). Limiting the first year salary in this way guarantees that the player's original team will be able to match the offer sheet by using the Early Bird exception (if applicable -- see question number 19), or Mid-Level exception (provided they haven't used it already).

thus, the Knicks will be able to use their Early Bird exception on Landry and match any offer for Lin as long as they save their MLE. however, if they sign Lin to a one-year deal at 120% of the vets minimum under the Non-Bird exception, they will have Early Bird rights for him in the following year.

i revised this post a little bit. now it is 100% accurate. same result. i just left out the reason he was restricted (because he is in his second year).

Nalod wrote:So it looks like Berman is correct, we are good up to 5mm but after that another team can come in and steal him?

Phenom’s success could prove too costly
By MARC BERMAN
Last Updated: 5:35 AM, February 13, 2012
Posted: 2:01 AM, February 13, 2012
If some team is willing to splurge and offer more than $5 million a season to Jeremy Lin, it could steal the Knicks’ point-guard phenomenon this summer.

It may be premature to speculate after his five-game spree, but Lin is set to become a restricted free agent in July and because he was a waiver-wire pickup, the Knicks do not have his early Bird rights. That means they can’t sign him beyond their $5 million midlevel exception because they are over the salary cap in the new stricter CBA, as reported in Saturday’s Post.

The Knicks have targeted 2012 free-agent point guards Steve Nash, Raymond Felton and Jameer Nelson with their midlevel exception, which carries more weight with the new CBA rules that hurt the middle class. You may want to add Lin to the list if his success continues and he proves he can be durable enough to be a starting point guard.

Lin could be best suited for a Mike D’Antoni-like system that gives the point complete freedom to do his thing in terms of attacking the basket at will and reading the defense.

Most systems limit point guards to very structured sets that may not suit Lin, whose speed and decision-making have done wonders in turning D’Antoni into “an absolute offensive genius’’ again — as Lin referred to the coach this weekend.

“The biggest thing not being talked about is you’re really seeing Coach’s offense really work for us,’’ 3-point specialist Steve Novak said. “We’re trusting it. Everyone’s buying into it, and we’re seeing it come together. For people experiencing it for the first time, we’re seeing the value in it.’’

➤ Center Tyson Chandler on the Knicks’ comeback win from seven points down Saturday night in Minnesota on the second night of a back-to-back: “This is one of those games that can change a season around.’’

The Knicks’ schedule and the five-game winning streak could grow. The Knicks (12-15) have a shot to be at least .500 by the Feb. 24 All-Star break. Their next three games are against Toronto, Sacramento and New Orleans.

➤ The red-hot Novak knows his minutes could go down with forwards Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire back this week. Injured rookie forward Josh Harrellson also is expected back in a couple of weeks.

“When you’re in and out, like I had been, it’s tough to get into a rhythm,” Novak said of his renaissance. “I don’t think I played terrible but when you’re in rhythm, you’re a different player. You let the game come to you a little more.’’

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/phenom_success_could_prove_too_costly_C46p9MIYwStPOQScI05agK#ixzz1mGSWpowg

Did you read what eViL posted? Berman is wrong as usual, always spouting negativity, though he has calmed down lately. Teams can't offer him more than the average salary and we can match. I doubt it comes to that though.

Nalod wrote:I missed it. I suppose the fact about teams not able to offer an amount over.

Berman thought if they could offer more he could leave.

Berman being wrong is good for his readership. Readers eat up the negativity and knocking down writers.

He does not care about accuracy, its "ratings"!

Funny reading the actual article. Below it people are bashing him with comments for giving out the wrong info. I mean this is his job and the kid is loved, pretty bad reporting.