Bonnell: Nets may hard-sell Jeremy Lin when free agency opens

Jeremy Lin
(AP.)
Jeremy Lin
(AP.)

At midnight, teams will be able to officially communicate with this year’s crop of free agents and the Nets may kick it off by hard-selling point guard Jeremy Lin, reports Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.

https://twitter.com/rick_bonnell/status/748495443554893825

Since head head Kenny Atkinson was appointed in April, the Lin-to-Brooklyn rumors have been in full force given the duo’s former connection. Of course, Atkinson was an assistant for the New York Knicks in the midst of the country-captivating month of Linsanity in 2012.

From an Andrew Keh article in The New York Times in April, Lin had this to say about Atkinson:

“I’ve kind of been saying it was just a matter of time for him because I know how good he is, I know how much he was there for me in New York,” Lin said. “When you’re around him, you kind of understand there’s something different about him: his energy, his passion, the juice he approaches his work with.”

Although Lin has said he loves Charlotte and would love to finally settle down — he’s played for five teams in six years, not counting stops in China and the D-League — but the lure of New York basketball and his former coach may be too much.

Lin, who averaged 11.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists over 26.3 minutes per game for the Hornets this season, declined his 2.2 million player option after Charlotte was eliminated by the Miami Heat in April’s playoffs.

Rick Bonnell — The Charlotte Observer

Andrew Keh — The New York Times