Way back in the Long, Long Ago of February 2012, Jeremy Lin came off the New York Knicks’ bench to surprise and delight the Madison Square Garden crowd with a 25-point, seven-assist, five-rebound takeover that knocked off the New Jersey Nets:
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An awful lot has changed since then.
The Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn, went all-in with a record-setting payroll and titanic win-now moves for veteran stars to pursue an NBA championship, only to see the ship run aground in the second round of the playoffs, most of those stars leave town, two coaches fired and a general manager shuffled off as the franchise now sets about the business of rebuilding with precious few assets to use in the process.