TICKET TO HIDE
Knicks stayed mum on severity of Lin’s injury until deadline to buy playoff plan had passed
Knick season-ticket holders didn’t know Jeremy Lin had a torn meniscus in his left knee when the deadline for them to purchase playoff tickets came last Wednesday, but the team knew. On Saturday, it was announced Lin would have surgery and be out six weeks.
The Knicks were eventually going to get around to revealing the troubling results of Jeremy Lin’s MRI but certainly not before last Wednesday. That was a crucial day inside the club’s executive offices at Two Penn Plaza because March 28 represented the deadline for seasonticket holders to purchase all four rounds of the playoffs. In fact, in the t he email sent to subscribers, there is a picture of Lin leaping in celebration. Yet, it was two days before the deadline when Lin and the Knicks’ medical staff learned that the second-year point guard/cash cow was suffering from a torn meniscus in his left knee and that he wouldn’t be jumping for joy anytime soon.
Although Lin waited until Saturday before formally making the decision to have surgery, it certainly made business sense for the organization to withhold medical information about its marquee attraction. But that doesn’t explain why the Knicks, who are 2½ games ahead of Milwaukee for the eighth and final playoff spot with 13 games
left, weren’t forth comin forthcoming about Lin's condition after Wednesday’s Wednesday postseason ticket deadline passed.
Nor does it explain why the Knicks contradicted interim head coach Mike Woodson, who first raised the possibility of Lin’s “sore” knee injury being serious enough to keep the Knicks’ starting point guard sidelined for the remainder of the regular season.
It’s not every day that an organization goes out of its way to refute something its it head coach says — when in fact Woodson was simply being truthful. On Friday in Atlanta, Woodson told reporters that he didn’t know “when” or “if” Lin would return to the lineup. Within one hour, the Knicks’ media relations staff released a statement to select media outlets contradicting Woodson.
Suddenly, the Knicks’ Knic position was that there was a chance Lin could play either Tuesday in Indiana or Thursday in Orlando. In theory, they the weren’t wrong. Lin had yet to decide whether to go ahead with surgery. However However, Lin was leaning that way and the fact remains that the club had yet to announce the results of an MRI taken four days earlier. Lin’s knee wasn’t just sore. It is damaged.
Woodson didn’t misspeak, mis as was reported. He was actually actual giving reporters and fans a reasonable reason appraisal of Lin’s status. It will be interesting in to see if Woodson’s honesty is a appreciated by the Garden since honesty isn’t necessarily MSG policy. Woodson may have to conform if he wants the interim tag removed. Thus far, Woodson has come across as sincere and blunt.
Woodson supports Lin’s decision but when a reporter asked him if he thought there was a chance Lin would postpone the surgery until after the season, Woodson said: “Only he knows his body.”
Neither Woodson nor Lin is signed beyond this season and of the two Lin is all but assured of returning. He’s proven himself as an NBA player while the money he’s making the Knicks in terms of sponsorships and marketing cannot be underestimated.
The Knicks will have to determine if Lin is a starter or whether they should seek an upgrade and make Lin the backup. Baron Davis and Mike Bibby are both free agents this summer and there is a strong chance neither will return.
Steve Nash is also slated to become a free agent and his future with the Phoenix Suns is uncertain. A person close to Nash, the two-time MVP, says he will not rule out the Knicks even though his former coach in Phoenix, Mike D’antoni, was replaced by Woodson T three weeks ago. he Knicks don’t have cap space to sign Nash and they would have to get creative in order to acquire him. A point guard tandem of Nash and Lin would work for everybody. The Knicks would be elevated to contending status while still making loads of money. They may not even have to remind season- ticket holders of a playoff deadline anymore.