Nets' Lin: Hornets, Clifford helped me find basketball joy again

If Jeremy Lin's three-year, $36-million contract with the Nets proves valuable for Brooklyn, the team might have the Charlotte Hornets and their coach, Steve Clifford, to thank.

"Going to Charlotte was a breath of fresh air," Lin said Thursday from Nets practice. "I learned so much from Cliff - just listening to him talk every day, what he believes in, what he stands for, how much film he watched."

Lin added that the Hornets, who stunned the Eastern Conference for 48 wins and a top-six seed, played a beautiful brand of basketball. "It brought back everything I remembered basketball to be."

The 28-year-old found himself down in the dumps before heading to Buzz City. After his breakout stint with the New York Knicks, his career stagnated through stops in Houston and, especially, Los Angeles.

"For a while, I lost that joy for the game," Lin said before explaining how he rediscovered that joy in Charlotte.

Lin averaged 11.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and three assists while logging more than 26 minutes per game off the Hornets' bench last season, earning him a seventh-place finish in Sixth Man of the Year voting.