- Jeremy Lin was all over the airwaves last season; a out-of-nowhere star who helped turn the Knicks from a laughingstock to a playoff contender (before he was injured). Because of his play, he's being rewarded with a new contract, but not from his old team, the New York Knicks.
- Lin signed an offer from the Houston Rockets, and since he's a restricted free agent, the Knicks have the option to match it but sources say that they will not.
- Lin was free to sign an offer from any team in the league, but if New York matched the offer, Lin would have to come back. The Rockets offered Lin so much money however (about $25 million over 3 years) that the Knicks decided not to match.
- The Knicks moved quickly to sign Raymond Felton who played for the Knicks prior to being traded to Denver. Lin moves to Houston where the Rockets hope he will take Yao Ming’s place as the primary Asian face not only for a franchise that has had a very strong presence across the Pacific for years, but for the entire NBA.
Brees signs record deal
- Quick quiz: What is a Super Bowl championship (and the potential for more), an NFL record for passing yards and the on-field orchestrator of one of the best offenses in the game worth? Well for Drew Brees, the answer was a cool $100 million over 5 years, including $60 million in guaranteed money (if he were to be cut or released for some very unlikely unreason) which doesn't even include his new ride.
- Brees was a free agent and had been tagged as the franchise player, a one year deal that NFL teams have the option of giving to one free agent per year. However, Brees played under the franchise tag in San Diego and badly injured his shoulder, nearly ending his career, and has vehemently stated that he'd never play under it again.
- The deal is the richest in NFL history on a per-year basis and keeps together the face of the offense for a team that very much needs him to stay intact. The Saints have lost their coach for the season, their assistant coach for half the season and multiple defensive players for differing lengths of time due to their recently discovered "bounty program" that rewarded injuries of opposing players.
- Having Brees back won't help the defense, but it's a sorely needed on-field and off-field boost to a team who hasn't worried much about stopping opposing offenses much in the past few years anyway. If you like football scores that look like basketball scores, watch the Saints in 2012.
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