Former Knicks star and Harvard graduate, Jeremy Lin, who scored more points in his first five starts than any other player since the NBA merger with the ABA, just signed a four-year, $28.8million contract with the Houston Rockets, which has left many Knicks fans devastated.
Mike Aponte, an avid Knicks fan and season ticket holder, feels that Jeremy Lin transcended the game of basketball. He recalls last season when he saw people from all over the world supporting and wearing Jeremy Lin jerseys.
âÂÂLinsanity captivated all nationalities. People that werenâÂÂt even fans became fans,â he said.
He also feels that Lin could have made the Knicks a lot of money in the global market.
After coming off the end of the bench in February, MSG, the company that owns the Knicks, saw its stock increase by 31 percent, and increased Knicks T.V. game ratings by 70 percent. âÂÂLinsanityâ was officially born.
âÂÂThey were handed Jeremy Lin on a platter and they let him go,â said 18-year-old Queens resident Jarenth de Leon.
Head coach Mike Woodson and several Knicks executives had expressed a great desire to bring Lin back after his contract expired this off-season. According to Marc Stein of ESPN, a Knicks source said that âÂÂ[the Knicks] will match any offer on Lin up to 1 billion dollars.âÂÂ
In the end, though, the Rockets offered him a contract that the Knicks just would not match.
Lin isnâÂÂt the only one switching teams.
âÂÂItâÂÂs sad to see him go; he was a good player. They shouldnâÂÂt have let him go. They should have renewed him even for another season,” said 28-year-old student, Jay Figaro.
“IâÂÂm going to be a Nets fan now.âÂÂ