# The Jeremy Lin Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 11, 2012, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509 "2012-02-11T08:27:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509/141 "2012-07-20T21:45:31Z")
The reason why I mention race as a possible factor was because of the discussion I heard on the radio show and that even proven bad contracts of typically black players don’t get hated on by other players. Sports is a very macho thing, where men’s men dominate and everyone’s spewing testosterone like a bodily function. There are players who are noticeably bad who get contracts that don’t get ragged on. Darko is apparently making millions, which is millions more than he deserves. Kwame Brown just got a $6 million contract. I wish there were more instances of players attacking other players for getting huge deals but there isn’t. And Lin comes in, a smart Asian guy from Harvard, and instantly there’s talk about him not deserving his contract? I don’t buy there’s no racial angle, not one bit. Maybe we can disagree on how much of it there is, but its not none ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509/142 "2012-07-20T22:16:39Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > The reason why I mention race as a possible factor was because of the discussion I heard on the radio show and that even proven bad contracts of typically black players don’t get hated on by other players. This is the only time I have ever heard an NBA player publicly criticize a contract offered to someone else of any race or nationality. Like I said, they usually won’t do that because they all want to make as much money as they can. (I’m sure they all do it in private.) I don’t know how you can divine anything about black players from that. > [@](#): > > Darko is apparently making millions, which is millions more than he deserves. He’s white. Didn’t you say this was about black players? > [@](#): > > Kwame Brown just got a $6 million contract. For two years, yes. $3 million a year is not that much by NBA standards. For a backup big man, it’s reasonable. He’s never even come close to living up to his status as a #1 pick, but he’s not getting paid like one. He’s had some fairly productive seasons in limited roles. > [@](#): > > And Lin comes in, a smart Asian guy from Harvard, and instantly there’s talk about him not deserving his contract? All the other guys you’ve mentioned have been in the league for years. They are more or less known quantities. Lin just got a $25 million contract based on 25 very good games in one season. Could race be involved? Maybe. He certainly got some additional hype because he’s an Asian-American from Harvard and that’s not what you think of when you think of an NBA player, and that hype could have contributed to his contract. But the circumstances surrounding his contract really are unusual. Show me someone else who got a contract that big based on such a small number of games. I can’t think of anybody similar. And on top of that, I do think Carmelo probably didn’t want to share the spotlight with him and maybe his comment needs to be seen in that light. > [@](#): > > Maybe we can disagree on how much of it there is, but its not none This is an empty assertion. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509/143 "2012-07-20T22:21:31Z")
It is about race though, the Rockets let TWO proven good pointguards go in Lowry and Dragic in order to sign Lin who they KNOW will make them more money in the long run even if he is never going to be as good as those two. That contract was offered because of the chinese audience, not for anything Lin did on the court. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509/144 "2012-07-20T22:37:15Z")
> [@](#): > > "Montgomery and Tanner were hoping to receive an offer. The Knicks could offer Lin a four-year deal worth $24.3 million before he even hit the open market. While sources say Lin still would have tested the market – where other clubs could offer as much as $40 million over four years, complete with the "poison pill’’ – Lin’s representatives felt a Knicks offer right off the bat would have shown that New York was truly prioritizing him as much as they said. > > While no one claims Lin would have definitely taken less money to stay in New York, one source close to him says a reasonable Knicks offer on July 1 – and “reasonable” in this case meant the full four years, $24.3 million – would have made it tough for him to leave the team. > > “If they had made that type of offer, he probably would be in New York right now,” the source said. “It would have made it difficult for offers from other teams to really sway him because his goal and his heart was to go back to New York. I can’t say for sure that he would’ve turned down a larger offer from another team, but when your incumbent team comes at you and offers you as much as it can, that shows that you’re a priority. That would have made it difficult to look elsewhere.” > **[Broussard: How Knicks’ actions led to Jeremy Lin's departure](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/8179341/nba-jeremy-lin-six-degrees-separation-lin-camp)** > > Chris Broussard examines how the Knicks' lukewarm courtship affected their ability to bring Lin back. Obviously, this is Lin’s agent saying what he\* would\* have done, and he could be lying, but … Good God, the Knicks are stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509/145 "2012-07-20T23:25:40Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > It is about race though, the Rockets let TWO proven good pointguards go in Lowry and Dragic in order to sign Lin who they KNOW will make them more money in the long run even if he is never going to be as good as those two. That contract was offered because of the chinese audience, not for anything Lin did on the court. That’s not what **YogSosoth** is talking about. He’s saying Carmelo Anthony was being racist when he said Lin’s contract is “ridiculous” and that J.R. Smith had race in mind when he complained about the offer. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509/146 "2012-07-20T23:47:27Z")
Oh, i doubt that. The contract as structured was ridiculous and those poison pill types should really be done away with. Houston offered 8/8/8 and NY would have to pay 5/5/14 to match, with the luxury tax that last year would have costs them like 40 million. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509/147 "2012-07-21T00:05:17Z")
Here’s one guy’s take: > **[The Jeremy Lin Debate No One Wants to Have](https://www.gq.com/story/the-jeremy-lin-debate-no-one-wants-to-have?mbid=social_retweet)** > > The New York Knicks letting Jeremy Lin walk out the door—for nothing—was the dumbest decision in the history of professional sports. But let's forget about that for a moment. The words "dumb" and "Knicks"... I haven’t error-checked it but he makes some salient points. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509/148 "2012-07-21T07:27:28Z")
One aspect that I think has been overlooked is Lin’s basketball pedigree - he wasn’t good enough to be playing in national AAU tournaments when he was a teenager, [unlike JR Smith and Carmelo Anthony](http://aauboysbasketball.org/Forms/NBAAlumni/AAUAlumniintheNBA.aspx) (WARNING: terribly formatted page - it’s on it’s side). He didn’t win an [MOP](http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/awards/ncaa-mop.html) or an [MVP](http://bleacherreport.com/articles/371333-where-are-they-now-the-past-10-mvps-of-the-mcdonalds-all-american-game/page/7). I think that if Lin had been part of that AAU world while growing up, the chances of him going through this would be quite slim. Flash in the pan? Maybe. I still would’ve signed him tho’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeremy-lin-thread/612509.md?page=7)