Grunwald: We almost let Lin go
Jeremy Lin puts up a shot against Solomon Jones of the New Orleans Hornets. (Feb. 17, 2012) Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Knicks considered letting Jeremy Lin go a few weeks ago, interim general manager Glen Grunwald said Friday night.
"That's right," Grunwald said. "We were evaluating what we were going to do with our team. Our team was struggling."
During a streak in which the Knicks lost 11 of 13 games to fall to 8-15, veteran point guard Baron Davis suffered a setback during his rehab of a back injury. If Davis had been activated, Lin might have been waived. But that didn't happen, Mike D'Antoni used Lin off the bench against the Nets on Feb. 4, he had 25 points and seven assists in a comeback victory, and the rest is history.
"We talked to Mike," Grunwald said, "and Mike said, 'I guess we're really going to have to take a hard look at him now, otherwise we're going to have to make a decision.' Maybe we didn't have full information [to] make a full evaluation. We were looking at a number of options. Not just that, but trades and things of that nature. We were obviously struggling and we were looking at what we needed to do to get this turned around."
Grunwald, who announced J.R. Smith's signing Friday in his first news conference since the Knicks added Tyson Chandler in December, said of Lin: "He's been on our radar for a long time. Sometime like when he was at Harvard. We liked him. We worked him out in the draft. We had discussions with Golden State when he was there. It was just an opportunity to acquire him when we needed someone who has his skill set. And it worked out. So far, so great."
No MeloCarmelo Anthony (groin strain) did not play after feeling pain while attempting to run Thursday.
"We'll see how he feels [Saturday] morning," D'Antoni said. "Tried to run a little bit [Thursday] and was sore . . . We'll just go and wait until there's no pain whatsoever. Then he'll start ramping it up."
The Knicks face the Mavericks on Sunday and the Nets on Monday.
