Oh, this is so very helpful. Knowing that we'd all get to asking, Brian Cronin of Knickerblogger took the time to explain the forthcoming contract options for Landry Fields and Jeremy Lin (the latter of whom will have his deal guaranteed for the rest of the season on Friday). Both Lin and Fields will be free agents this summer, but there are rules and exceptions in place that could help the Knicks reel either or both of them back to New York (whether and how badly they'll want to do that remains to be seen).

See, because Fields will have played two years with the Knicks, he'll be eligible for the "Early Bird Exception", which means the Knicks can offer him one ratite of his choosing (sources say Fields would favor a rhea). If Fields signs a one year deal, the Knicks will have full bird rights next season and be eligible to offer Landry any feathered creature he desires. Lin has no bird rights and is only entitled to things like the non-bird exception, wherein he could be offered either a badger, an eggplant, or a clock radio. I think I've got that right, but here's Brian:

As an Early Bird player, Fields can be offered a contract that starts at 175% of his current salary or anything up to the average NBA salary (which is roughly $5 million). They can pay Fields this money without affecting their mid-level exception. However, if Fields just signs a one year deal for anything up to the average salary, then the following season the Knicks will have his full Bird Rights and then can re-sign him to a salary larger than the average salary. It really depends on how well Fields plays the rest of the year to determine what kind of deal he signs.

Lin, however, is not an Early Bird player since he has only played one year for the Knicks. Therefore, if they want to re-sign him, they would have to use one of the following:

1. The Non-Bird Exception, where they could pay him up to 120% of his current salary (or roughly $1 million)
2. The Bi-Annual exception (which is something like $2 million) or
3. However much of the mid-level (which is roughly $5 million) they would need to re-sign him.

Essentially, that makes Fields pretty easy to re-sign and Lin somewhat trickier (though doable) should his fine play continue. Of course, if the Knicks find themselves even considering a dip into the mid-level to pay Lin, that'll mean things went pretty well. That's one of them good problems.

I highly recommend you read Cronin's full piece, where he fleshes out and explains each of the alternatives. This stuff isn't particularly relevant right now, but it's good to know, and we'll be happy we learned about it come summertime.

Everybody say thank you to Brian. Come on! Thaaaaaank you Briaaaaaaaaan. Good job.

My esteemed colleague Scott "The Dakota Wizard" Schroeder is the lord of the NBA's fringes, and in a post this morning, he informs us that today is the day for teams to make decisions on their non-guaranteed contracts. A number of innocent bros are going to get cut today in order to clear waivers by Friday (when contracts will officially get guaranteed. The headline isn't quite accurate). Basically, if you don't get cut today, you're in good shape.

Scott's handy chart informs us that three Knicks-- Jeremy Lin, Steve Novak, and Jerome Jordan-- are currently playing on non-guaranteed contracts. Now, New York may want a roster spot open for when the China Friendz return, but earlier reports indicate that Mike Bibby (who has a guaranteed one-year minimum deal) would be the one waived in order to make room for someone like J.R. Smith. (There are obviously other options, including a number of guys who'll be released today.)

So, I think it's pretty safe to assume that all three Knicks will have their deals picked up for the rest of the season. Novak's shown that he's a useful three-point specialist off the bench and Jordan appears to be a worthwhile big man project who provides interior depth in a pinch. Lin, meanwhile, seems the least likely to have his deal guaranteed, only because I'm still worried that this is an elaborate hoax and/or hallucination and it'll turn out Lin was never actually on the team, there's no such thing as basketball, and I will awake to discover that I'm a solitary toddler in a barren post-apocalyptic tundra. That's probably not the case, though.

So, this is kind of a bummer. If you missed it, Carmelo Anthony strained his groin while running up the sideline last night (threw a ballin' alley-oop anyway), and Jonah Ballow just twat that the injury will keep him off the court for up to two weeks:

#Knicks SF @carmeloanthony out 1-2 weeks with a strained right groin. #NBA

(If you're not familiar with the parlance of the popular social networking site Twitter.com, that means Carmelo Anthony is out 1-2 weeks with a strained right groin.)

A few things...

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It just warms all of my ventricles to see Mike D'Antoni cheerful and effusive after a game. I'd fallen into the habit of grumpily shutting off my TV after the final buzzer, but I realized last night that if I left it on, I'd quite enjoy the programming. Indeed, D'Antoni was in rare form. Howard Beck captured his best lines:

He called Jeffries’s performance "unbelievably good," then paused and said, "Indulge me one second.

"Anybody who boos Jared Jeffries has got to re-examine their life a little bit," D’Antoni said. "I’m sorry to have to — I love our fans, and I like Madison Square Garden, the arena — but here’s a guy who came back to us, minimum contract. He could have gone to a lot of other teams. He plays as hard as anybody could possibly ever play, with injuries, everything you ask him. He takes every charge, every dirty play, every rebound. He works every second.

And that's just a portion of D'Antoni's paean-rant. To be fair, the Garden crowd isn't as prone to booing Jeffries as they are to groaning when he lines up a jumper (which is hilarious and mostly involuntary, but definitely doesn't help matters). If anybody needs to be defended from booing, it's Toney Douglas.

Either way, Jeffries caught wind of that comment and volleyed some plaudits right back at his coach:

"Me and coach have a great relationship, and I’ll die for him," Jeffries said. "That’s why I take charges, why I dive out there, because he’s the best coach in the N.B.A. There’s no coach in the N.B.A. that’s a better players’ coach...

Good thing I didn't get all choked up when I read that late last night! That would have been embarrassing.

For more good vibez between D'Antoni and Jeremy Lin, take the jump.

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I just spent a good twenty minutes combing the threads for a comment that I felt did that game justice, but nothing really worked except for the one quoted above (uttered by quite a few people, but copied and pasted from Spike4Prez). Just wow. With Jeremy Lin suddenly thrust into the starting lineup, this game already felt bound to be a letdown following Saturday's rapturous spectacle. When Amar'e Stoudemire had to leave town, the odds became even more imposing. And when Carmelo Anthony strained his groin in the first quarter, a win seemed near impossible.

But they did it! And by "they", I mean Lin and his sidekicks, the foremost of which were Steve Novak and Jared Jeffries. Those guys did it. That sentence was as blissfully baffling to write as it must have been to read.

Take the jump for details.

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So, that went weirdly well.

Recap later!

Evening, hotshots! The Jazz are in town tonight to face the Knicks. Said Knicks will be without Amar'e Stoudemire (who is on a leave of absence to mourn the death of his brother, may he rest in peace), and Jared Jeffries will start at power forward in his place. Tonight, of course, also marks the first career start of Jeremy Lin, hero of Saturday's game against the Nets. I'm terribly excited to see how that goes.

The Jazz, meanwhile, are a pretty bad defensive team, but they can score quite a bit, especially inside with one of the roughly nine centers they employ. Jeffries and Tyson Chandler will have their work cut out for them, and it's crucial that Lin and the rest of the Knick guards keep Utah ballhandlers from penetrating so the Knick bigs don't get pulled away from the paint too much.

This is your thread to comment along if you're watching. SLC Dunk is here. Remember not to post photos, .gifs, illegal streams, or scanned maps of Prussia in the thread. Tip-off's at 7:30, which is quite soon.

Go get 'em, Jeremy.