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
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.
He’s white. Didn’t you say this was about black players?
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.
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.
This is an empty assertion.
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.
Obviously, this is Lin’s agent saying what he* would* have done, and he could be lying, but … Good God, the Knicks are stupid.
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.
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.
Here’s one guy’s take:
I haven’t error-checked it but he makes some salient points.
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 (WARNING: terribly formatted page - it’s on it’s side). He didn’t win an MOP or an MVP. 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’.