I hear announcers and articles out there that mentions NY would be able to use their Early Bird Exception to re-sign Lin as a restricted free agent, but my understanding is that he does not qualify for Early Bird rights since he has been waived during the life of his contract. So, I went to Larry Coon's NBA salary cap FAQ and I noticed this:

"If a player is waived and is claimed by another team before he clears waivers, then his Bird clock resets"

So, doesn't this mean Lin is an unrestricted free agent this year with only non-Bird exception? Also, since NY is likely over the cap next year as it currently stands, they would only have mini-MLE to throw at Lin. Even if NY had the full MLE, it's still smaller than a max contract for a second year. Or, is the above statement no longer true with the new CBA and Lin indeed will be a restricted free agent with a QO?

I didn't think I'd ever say this about someone that I loved seeing play since his college years, (and lobbied hard to draft) but I am getting sick of Roy's attitude these days.  Both him and Nate threw Miller under the bus with gem of a quote like this after last night's game:

“I feel like we tried it (the three-guard lineup), and you could say it worked at times, but me sacrificing hurt the team, so it should get back to me playing full-out and getting some other guys in other areas to sacrifice a little bit,” Roy said.

“This team is going to go off my pulse,” Roy said. “Even if I’m smiling and trying to make it work, if I seem like I’m not totally comfortable, then Martell won’t be. And Rudy (Fernandez) will look like he’s in a funk. And L.A. (Aldridge) will look like he’s in a funk. They have been playing with me for a couple years and if I’m going well, they have more confidence.”

Really?  Is Blake the right answer instead?  Am I the only one remembering about the ATL game and how we almost blew the Detroit game thanks to Blake?  Yeah, Blake finally hit that 3 on his second try, but who was the player that was instrumental in getting us to that position? Yes, it was Mr. Steven Blake, who historically has been unable to handle pressure defense and doesn't contribute much to offense when his 3's aren't falling.

If Roy is determined to not play along side Miller, I'd say start Rudy instead.  Listen, I realize Blake-Roy backcourt is obviously better and we'll win a few more games this year with the Blake-Roy backcourt.  But, I believe what we are trying to do with this team is to build a championship contender.  I don't think Roy and LA as two main offensive option gets us to that goal. (which BTW, worked fantastic vs. Houston)  We need Oden to become a legit offensive threat and out of Blake, Roy, and Miller, only Miller seems interested in consistently getting the ball to Greg.  Not to mention that Rudy is also our other guy willing to pass the ball into our center.  It'd be nice to Rudy to fling some no-looks into Greg instead of Przybilla, who has practically no chance of catching those passes.

Plus, we are always worrying about Greg picking up fouls out there.  Why not have him pick up fouls on his opposing player by consistently giving him touches on offense?  When Greg has someone pinned down low, he's just Shaq-ing people down there.  Unfortunately, we're doing a great job ourselves in keeping the ball out of Greg's hand.

In the end, it is simple as this: franchise centers are the most valuable commodity, while perimeter scorers are dime a dozen.  Stop catering to Roy and cater to Greg, instead.  It's not too hard to find someone to play his role.  It's extremely hard to find what Greg can potentially become, so develop him as much as possible instead of bending to Roy's whims.  And, Roy is definitely living up to his Yellow Mamba nickname this year, at least to me.

Of course, I know as long as Nate's the coach this will never happen...  Okay, rant over.