Question No. 1Why does anyone care what James L. Dolan does with his money?

Maybe it's the lingering effects of all those Ayn Rand books I read when I was a kid, or maybe it's the "death of compassion" in these modern times, or maybe it's just my inability to invest much emotion in the fates of trust fund kids, but I cannot understand why anyone would care what James L. Dolan does with his money. Today's decision to not match Houston's three-year, $25.1 million offer to Jeremy Lin, allowing him to walk out of Madison Square Garden, was not about Knicks fans or what Carmelo said or even about identity politics and the Great Yellow Hope. Jeremy Lin is now officially a Houston Rocket because Jim Dolan didn't like the way Lin was handling his business and decided that he didn't want to pay an employee who would have the audacity to field a competing offer.

Lin's back-loaded salary is not what will prevent the Knicks from wooing LeBron James in the summer of 2014. Amar'e, Melo, Tyson Chandler, and the amnestying of Chauncey Billups have already rendered that scenario impossible. The $43 million the Knicks could potentially spend in year three of Lin's contract ($14.8 million in salary plus roughly $28 million in luxury tax) does not spell certain fiscal doom for the Madison Square Garden Company, which has seen a $600 million spike in value since the start of Linsanity. According to Nate Silver of the New York Times, rumors that the Knicks would let Lin go to Houston have already caused MSG's total stock valuation to drop about $50 million.

Worsening matters for Dolan, the Knicks, and the good name of logic is that the $43 million figure isn't set in stone. Yes, it's true that if Jeremy Lin had played fully to expectation and the Knicks had chosen to keep him for year three of his contract, they may have had to pay that much. But according to CBA wizard Larry Coon, if Lin ended up being a complete bust or suffered a severe injury, the team could have diluted the "poison pill" with something called the "stretch provision." This option allows teams to lessen the blow of potentially disastrous luxury cap hits by spreading out the cost of single contract years like Lin's $14.8 million over several years, thus letting the team avoid the luxury tax's progressive penalties.

The failure to re-sign Jeremy Lin, despite months of guarantees, seems to be the latest in a line of silly, PR-inspired bumblings by a man who has continually thought, out-thought, rethought, and then un-thought himself.

Here's how Jim Dolan would play pocket aces in a game of Texas hold 'em:

Sweet! Pocket aces! Come on, JD, don't mess this up. … Why is this asshole dealer looking at me like that and why is that dude in the cowboy hat smiling? Oh man, I think he knows. … Nah, he doesn't know, he's so stupid with his stupid hat and his stupid accent. Shit. He does know. Maybe I should call Isiah? Nah, cause if they see me calling Isiah, they'll all laugh. Play it cool, Jimmy. What would be the only thing they'd never expect from you? What would Isiah do? WWID? Fold, Jimmy, fold!

DOLAN: I fold. DEALER: Sir, it's not your turn to act. DOLAN: Don't tell me what to do. MAN IN HAT: Folded aces again, huh? DOLAN: It was the right move, dickface.

Again, I ask: Why does anyone care how Jim Dolan spends his money? Unless Dolan releases MSG's annual earnings report with a manual and a DVD that explain exactly how much more expensive tickets will be if the Knicks sign Jeremy Lin, none of us should speculate ourselves into agreeing with Jim Dolan.

As a side note: When, exactly, did fans start to believe that their best interests and the best interests of team owners were the same? When did, "Well, I don't think [INSERT NAME OF REALLY RICH GUY] should spend his money in a way that would provide maximum entertainment value for me, the paying fan" become the go-to response? We have no idea how much money Jim Dolan stands to lose and how that affects the Knicks' future. And Knicks fans shouldn't care. They should just want the most entertaining, best product on the court. A team with Jeremy Lin is a better product for consumers than a team without Jeremy Lin. That should be 99 percent of every fan's calculation. Furthermore, the statement "Jeremy Lin isn't worth $14.8 million as a basketball player" is shortsighted. It assumes that marketing dollars don't exist and that every athlete is paid entirely based on his ability to go left or defend the pick-and-roll. No contract in the history of the NBA has been signed within such a vacuum. So why has "Jeremy Lin isn't worth $14.8 million as a basketball player" suddenly become the "smart and rational" response? Those statements assume a world that does not exist. They are the opposite of rational.

Question No. 2Did Jim Dolan actually choose to let Lin walk out of spite? Wait, really?

Here's some information by way of a source inside the Knicks organization, as first reported by the New York Daily News.

From Frank Isola: "The Knicks were already upset with Lin for hiring a publicist without consulting with them first."

From a "person who has had business dealings with Dolan": "I don't think this is about the money as much as it is Jim feeling that a player isn't showing the Knicks the same loyalty they showed Lin. Don't forget, the Knicks gave Jeremy Lin a chance. Then Jim has his basketball people telling him that Felton is every bit as good if not better than Lin so it makes the decision easier for him to make. Jim can be vindictive but sometimes that's a good thing in the NBA."

From Ian O'Connor of ESPN New York: "According to a source close to the situation, Jim Dolan, a notorious grudge-holder, feels betrayed that the Harvard kid took him to school after the Knicks gave him his big shot."

WHERE TO BEGIN? At the start of all this silliness, the Knicks told Lin to go out and get whatever he could get on the open market. They guaranteed that they would match any salary offer because — wink, wink — Jeremy Lin is worth a ton of money and there's like a ton of people in China who will now buy Lin no. 17 jerseys and post videos of themselves lip-synching along to the Backstreet Boys. Or whatever.

Now, because Lin went out and got his money — like every other player in the history of the NBA — a jilted Dolan lets him walk for nothing? There are teams in the league that are in better positions than the Knicks to absorb Lin's back-ended salary. Those teams would probably benefit from having one of the league's top draws playing on their rosters. If you're really mad at Jeremy Lin, why not sign him, wait until the restrictions pass, and then trade him to the Anaheim/Seattle Kings?

Also … really? Jeremy Lin owes Jim Dolan? In what America does that make sense, except in the America where every...