Rockets welcome Carmelo with pics of him with Lin's jersey number..ouch

[sed522002]

Considering that in order for the Rockets to clear enough room under the salary cap to sign Melo they need to trade Lin in a salary dump, why is this a big deal?  If Melo decides he likes the Rockets offer, Lin is gone anyway.

You really don't see the big deal? Even if it's known that a move has to be made, Lin is still on the roster and they might not even get Melo. That's like recruiting Love and putting him in Sully's jersey (while he's still very much on the team).It's hurtful for the player getting traded. What's so hard about picking a different number?

Dear Houston Rockets,

I'm available for hurting and I'll only cost you $1M ($14M less than you're paying Lin to hurt him).

Sincerely,
Gainesville Celtic

P.S. For an extra $1M i'll change my name to Houston Celtic.

Or better yet, it's like hearing rumors at work that they're hiring someone to put in your position (that you still work in) and when they bring the person in to interview they bring he or she to your office while you're in there and say "This can be your new office".

It's a little diff. situation since most workplaces in America (a) pay significantly less than the NBA and (b) don't have guaranteed contracts like Lin does in HOU. I also don't (as Lin does) have to hear about someone else taking my job in the paper, ESPN, every website, etc.

(BTW -- i support the players in both respects, getting the max they can make and having guaranteed salaries. Just pointing out that what would be hurtful at my workplace probably isn't the same situation as what Lin's going through....)

Of course it's not the same situation...nowhere near. The example was more so about how a person would feel not the actual money and contracts. These guys are still human and have feelings.Yes, I know as a basketball player I sign up for trades, but that doesn't mean I have to be disrespected and embarrassed in the process.

[Waew]

Jeremy lins tweet:
https://twitter.com/JLin7/status/484390703099691008

Luke 6:29 - If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

looks like this is backfiring so far. If Melo declines to go to Houston, they're left with a mess.

[fairweatherfan]

Or better yet, it's like hearing rumors at work that they're hiring someone to put in your position (that you still work in) and when they bring the person in to interview they bring he or she to your office while you're in there and say "This can be your new office".

And then I say, "Do I still get my $15 million?" and they say, "Yeah.", and I say, "That's cool then, you can have my crappy chair with the squeaky wheel and the computer that never updates correctly and James Harden always slacking on the TPS reports.  Go nuts."

Sounds like FWF has a case of the Mondays.

Asik keeps using the microwave to heat up his weird moonman lunch and stinking up the place.  Just get to the New Orleans branch already!

[manl_lui]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11168612/houston-rockets-dis-jeremy-lin-image-carmelo-anthony-no-7

Classless whoever thought of this, but the comments were funny

"Man, that's just Linsensitive"

[colincb]

Jeremy lins tweet:
https://twitter.com/JLin7/status/484390703099691008

Luke 6:29 - If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

looks like this is backfiring so far. If Melo declines to go to Houston, they're left with a mess.

Somebody screwed up as it was very unlikely to be intentional.  Supposedly, Sixers are the club that will eat his contract for some consideration and in any case he's going to be shipped away soon.

[bdm860]

Can Houston tell Melo that he'll be the new starting forward?  Or would that be disrespectful to Parsons or Jones too?

Better yet with Smart and Young, the Celtics already have 15 roster spots.  How disrespectful for them to be calling free agents when they already have a full roster!  It doesn't matter if Bogans, Pressey, Johnson, and Babb are unlikley to return, they're all on the team until they are officially traded or waived.

This is a grown man business, you don't worry about hurt feelings.  The Rockets are trying to entice Melo to play there, you don't do that by showing him in a number he'll never wear.  "We don't want to offend anybody, so we photoshopped you wearing number 89."  Of course why they didn't show him wearing #15 which he'd probably end up choosing anyway is beyond me...

Every major recruit at college probably gets shown a jersey from the school they're visiting with their high school number on it.  Doesn't matter if that jersey is already taken, it's just a sales tactic, not a binding agreement to give him that number.

[Gainesville Celtic]

Considering that in order for the Rockets to clear enough room under the salary cap to sign Melo they need to trade Lin in a salary dump, why is this a big deal?  If Melo decides he likes the Rockets offer, Lin is gone anyway.

You really don't see the big deal? Even if it's known that a move has to be made, Lin is still on the roster and they might not even get Melo. That's like recruiting Love and putting him in Sully's jersey (while he's still very much on the team).It's hurtful for the player getting traded. What's so hard about picking a different number?

Dear Houston Rockets,

I'm available for hurting and I'll only cost you $1M ($14M less than you're paying Lin to hurt him).

Sincerely,
Gainesville Celtic

P.S. For an extra $1M i'll change my name to Houston Celtic.

Or better yet, it's like hearing rumors at work that they're hiring someone to put in your position (that you still work in) and when they bring the person in to interview they bring he or she to your office while you're in there and say "This can be your new office".

It's a little diff. situation since most workplaces in America (a) pay significantly less than the NBA and (b) don't have guaranteed contracts like Lin does in HOU. I also don't (as Lin does) have to hear about someone else taking my job in the paper, ESPN, every website, etc.

(BTW -- i support the players in both respects, getting the max they can make and having guaranteed salaries. Just pointing out that what would be hurtful at my workplace probably isn't the same situation as what Lin's going through....)

Of course it's not the same situation...nowhere near. The example was more so about how a person would feel not the actual money and contracts. These guys are still human and have feelings.Yes, I know as a basketball player I sign up for trades, but that doesn't mean I have to be disrespected and embarrassed in the process.

Perhaps, but I think Lin's been clear that he's been potentially on his way out since the day he signed in HOU (starting with the kind of deal they signed him to (high final yr salary but low cap hit)).

Sarcasm aside, I'm sure it stings a little, but Lin has to be secure enough in his ability level to know that if HOU could get Melo to replace Lin they'd do that every day.

Now, if they did that with a photoshop of Lin's # on Ben Gordon -- I'd be IRATE!

[KGs Knee]

This is a grown man business, you don't worry about hurt feelings.  The Rockets are trying to entice Melo to play there, you don't do that by showing him in a number he'll never wear.

Ding..ding..ding!!!  We have a winner.

Seriously, the whining over this is sad.  If you have the opportunity to woo a player like Melo, and as part of that, you show him wearing the number of some bum on his way out of town anyway, you do it and don't think twice.

And even if 'feelings' mattered, Melo's feelings are just more important in this situation.  It's business, it's not personal.

[sed522002]

This is a grown man business, you don't worry about hurt feelings.  The Rockets are trying to entice Melo to play there, you don't do that by showing him in a number he'll never wear.

Ding..ding..ding!!!  We have a winner.

Seriously, the whining over this is sad.  If you have the opportunity to woo a player like Melo, and as part of that, you show him wearing the number of some bum on his way out of town anyway, you do it and don't think twice.

And even if 'feelings' mattered, Melo's feelings are just more important in this situation.  It's business, it's not personal.

OK 

[manl_lui]

This is a grown man business, you don't worry about hurt feelings.  The Rockets are trying to entice Melo to play there, you don't do that by showing him in a number he'll never wear.

Ding..ding..ding!!!  We have a winner.

Seriously, the whining over this is sad.  If you have the opportunity to woo a player like Melo, and as part of that, you show him wearing the number of some bum on his way out of town anyway, you do it and don't think twice.

And even if 'feelings' mattered, Melo's feelings are just more important in this situation.  It's business, it's not personal.

but they could've approached it better. I understand that Lin is probably on his way out of Houston but if PR did a bit more work and researched and realized that Melo also wore 15 in Denver, I would pick that and not 7 (assuming 15 is not taken in Houston as of now). I agree with the others, don't put all your eggs in one basket. At the end, if it fails, not only do you fail to get a star, you also have one very angry player

talk about awkward

[Rondo9]

Who would you rather have? Carmelo Anthony or Jeremy Lin?

[colincb]

Looks like Cs have already learned from Rox snafu. No number on Jordan Hill's celtics' jersey:

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

The point isn't who you would rather have, it's about how you treat the players you do have. This is why GMs and organizations don't say things like we drafted ___, so ___ doesn't matter to us. Like the RR/Smart situation (I don't believe there is one but for argument purpose), Danny isn't going to say "we drafted Smart to take RR's place" EVEN if that is the case!

You don't treat your current employees like they are trash because if you do what does is say to people you plan on hiring down the road? This says to other guys, if I'm not a superstar to them, I'm worthless and they could care less about what I do for them. Houston seems like a place who will turn on you any chance they can get. Sure, you need superstars but you need more Lin's to fill out a roster than the amount of Melos you can have!

I don't care how much a person is getting paid or whether they are grown or not, people still have feelings... you don't have to care but it doesn't change that fact.

[Al91]

Rockets could've just place the trophy in front of the jersey number and saved people from thinking the obvious.

Of course Melo is more important to Lin. However I think it's a low blow at the same time.

[greg683x]

Is this really that much worse than Danny Ainge just completely dangling Ray Allen in front of the entire league at every trading deadline to the highest bidder?  I know this is a little different, but is this any less awkward after something like this than when we had basically a completed trade sending Ray to memphis, and then we're just, oh wait, you know what, it fell through.  We're actively looking to get rid of you and replace you, but hey, glad youre here.

I understand how and why this is perceived as pretty low and classless, but Im sure the thought had to cross somebodys mind of Whats he gonna do?  Ask to be traded?

Yeah Jeremy, we'll get on that right away.....because we definitely havent already for the past month


I understand that they should hold themselves to some higher moral standard than this, but there are more embarrassing things that a front office can do to their fan base and players besides completely selling out to get the guy on your team that everyone thinks will get you the trophy.