The New York Knicks and Jeremy Lin has a long history. Lin started out his NBA career with the Knicks, and this was the same team that brought him down. There has always been a speculation that Jeremy Lin and the management of New York Knicks didn’t see eye to eye, and this is what Mike D’Antoni spoke about in his recent interview with Adrian Wojnarowski.
According to Nets Daily, Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony didn’t like Jeremy Lin and the popularity he had enjoyed in the Knicks during the start of his career, because of LinSanity. The fans of the team were well aware of the fact that things didn’t look between the players in the team and that was being reflected in the outcome of the games.
Antoni silenced all doubts by stating that there was resentment among Carmelo and others against Jeremy Lin, and things were in their head. Each of the players had to play in a certain way to shine and bring the whole team together and Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, in particular, didn’t like the way Jeremy Lin played, and that is where the resentment stemmed from.
There was a split in the team because of the LinSanity, and this didn’t go down well with the players. The players were blinded with the popularity that Lin enjoyed, and this affected the communication in the team.
The team went and sided with Jeremy Lin since he was getting them wins. This wasn’t approved by the other players since they felt that the management knew what was bothering them, but wasn’t taking any steps to rectify it.
Carmelo and Amare refused to change positions to make way for Lin when asked to do so by D’Antoni. The New York Knicks tried to accommodate and focus on making Lin take the central position of the team, but the other guys refused to adapt.
D’Antoni went to the extent that Jeremy Lin staying back in the team wouldn’t be doing well for the Knicks since there were so much resentment and jealousy against the players for Jeremy Lin. Lin was a great player and a great team member. He worked hard and was doing very well, but the others weren’t happy with the success that Lin seemed to enjoy at the beginning of his career.
According to New York Knicks, Mike D’Antoni had to leave New York Knicks for it to succeed. He didn’t see a way out of the situation where the players refused to adapt to accommodate their other team-mates.
He felt that if he stepped out, he could get the focus back where it should be, instead of on him. He felt that the people on the team deserved better, and he was holding them back, and that was when he decided to step out.
Jeremy Lin recently got a three-year $36 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets, and there is a lot of anticipation from the star player. Lin had been playing with the Charlotte Hornets until now and averaged 11.7, and Brooklyn is planning on making it big this time with the LinSanity on their side.