林書豪3年2510萬重返火箭 林旋風將席捲休城

Houston, you can have him.

That was the message the Knicks sent on Tuesday when they decided not to match Jeremy Lin's three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet from the Rockets.

The team announced its decision on Tuesday night, confirming several reports that surfaced over the weekend stating that the Knicks would not match Lin's offer.

"Much love and thankfulness to the Knicks and New York for your support this past ly the best year of my life#ForeverGrateful," Lin tweeted Tuesday night.

"Extremely excited and honored to be a Houston Rocket again!!#RedNation," Lin added in another tweet.
A team source told earlier this week that the third year of the Rockets' offer -- worth $14.8 million -- caused the Knicks to consider letting Lin go. If the Knicks matched the offer, they would have been subject to a luxury tax in the third year, potentially bringing their total out-of-pocket cost for the team's salary to about $43 million in 2014-15.

The Rockets' offer to Lin would pay him $5 million in the first year, $5.225 million in the second and $14.8 million in the third, according to sources.

The Knicks will turn to Raymond Felton at point guard. Felton was acquired in a sign-and-trade announced on Monday. The Knicks decision ends Lin's brief but unforgettable run in New York.

The 23-year-old averaged 14.6 points, 6.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 35 games with 25 starts before his season was cut short because of surgery to repair torn cartilage in his knee.

But in the 35 games he was healthy, Lin went from an end-of-the-bench afterthought to an international phenomenon.

The undrafted guard out of Harvard, who was cut twice in the preseason (once by the Rockets) and played in the D-League, set the league on fire in February, leading the Knicks to seven consecutive wins. He scored at least 20 points in nine of 10 games during that stretch.

Lin, a restricted free agent, made $788,000 last season. The hefty raise Houston offered of $25.1 million over three years was too much for the Knicks to match.

【新聞快訊】

北京時間7月18日，三天期限已到，最終尼克斯選擇了放棄匹配火箭開給林書豪的那份3年價值2510萬美元的報價合同，這意味着林書豪的紐約歲月已經正式結束，他將前往曾經裁掉過自己的火箭在休斯敦繼續自己的職業生涯。

雅虎體育記者馬克-斯皮爾斯透露說，尼克斯發言人已經確認，他們將不會匹配火箭開給林書豪的報價合同，林書豪已經正式成爲了火箭球員。這則消息也得到了尼克斯當地媒體《紐約每日新聞》記者伊安那鬆的證實。

根據此前的報道，火箭給林書豪開出的這份合同具體細節爲爲期三年，三年全部保障，總價值2510萬。前兩年林書豪的年薪都在500萬美元以上，而第三年他的年薪將暴漲到1489萬美元。

林書豪跟火箭頗有淵源，去年他曾短暫加盟火箭，但後來在新賽季開始前，爲了簽下自由中鋒達姆波特，火箭選擇了將林書豪裁掉騰空間。隨後林書豪加盟了尼克斯，並在賽季中期掀起了一股“林熱潮”，他的爆發也曾令火箭總經理莫雷頗爲後悔。

在加盟火箭後，林書豪將扮演火箭主控的角色，此前火箭已經將洛裏送到了猛龍，並放任德拉季奇迴歸太陽，在一號位火箭已經無大將可用，林書豪是他們在一號位唯一能夠依仗的球員。

上賽季，林書豪代表尼克斯出戰35場比賽，其中首發25場，他場均可以貢獻14.6分3.1個籃板6.2次助攻1.6個搶斷，投籃命中率爲44.6%。根據ESPN的統計，林書豪每36分鐘的得分和助攻數據比洛裏和德拉季奇均要出色，他有能力扮演好火箭主控的角色。