Jeremy Lin – ‘Honestly, I Preferred New York’

Check it out Houston Rocket fans, that's your new point guard Jeremy Lin telling Sports Illustrated how he felt after the New York Knicks declined to match the offer sheet he signed with your team.

Lin did continue on, and despite preferring to stay in the city where Linsanity was born, he seems happy to be heading to South Texas and play for Houston.

But my main goal in free agency was to go to a team that had plans for me and wanted me. I wanted to have fun playing basketball. ... Now I'm definitely relieved."

I'm sure having $25.1 million heading your way has a way of making you feel relieved. The weird part is that Lin had dinner with Knicks coach Mike Woodson earlier this summer, who told the 24-year-old that he was going to be starting at point for New York, so the move seems to have caught more than just Lin off guard.

Of course, he could have just not signed the Houston offer sheet, but that would have been foolish...or it might have left the Knicks room to figure out the best way to structure his deal. No doubt the nearly $15 million in the third year is what made them balk.

Still, Lin will always have a special spot in his heart for the Knicks fans who gave him their full support in his truncated run with their team. Lin told SI, 'What New York did for me was unbelievable. I wanted to play in front of those fans for the rest of my career."

Hopefully he feels that way about Rockets fans come this fall.

via SportsIllustrated