NEW YORK - Jeremy Lin has officially returned to the New York area. He captivated the city in his Linsanity era when he averaged 24 points, nine assists and four rebounds for the Knicks during a 10-game stretch in February 2012.
Lin comes to Brooklyn as the starting point guard for the Nets. He's reuniting with coach Kenny Atkinson, the former Knicks assistant coach who helped him develop.
''The way I was looking at free agency is kind of when you invest in a start up company,'' Lin said. ''You don't necessarily look at the product right then and there at that moment. That is a big part of it, but you're kind of betting on the founder a lot of times. You're betting on what that person is capable of doing because sometimes as you go through the process the final product is going to change a lot and that's very common in start ups. I feel like that's kind of like how I saw this. I'm betting on certain people. I'm betting on Kenny (Atkinson). I'm betting on Sean (Marks). I'm betting on myself. I'm betting on Brook Lopez.''
Lin wants to prove he can be a full-time starting point guard as he was during Linsanity.
''That's a huge thing for me because in free agency I kind of said I want to see how great I can become,'' Lin said. ''I've played a lot of different roles, I've sacrificed for a lot of teams I've been on in the past. I've taken smaller roles to try to help the team succeed. Now I have that chance to take a much bigger role and be a much bigger part.''
Lin is joined by fellow free agent addition, Anthony Bennett. The former 2013 No. 1 overall pick is joining his fourth team in four seasons.
''I think because he's been torn down a little bit and lost his confidence, I think in his case we've got to build him up again,'' Atkinson said. ''Really narrow down what his role is going to be and then build his confidence back up.''
Other Brooklyn offseason additions include Greivis Vasquez, Luis Scola, Trevor Booker, Randy Foye, Caris LeVert, Justin Hamilton and Joe Harris.
Despite the new additions, general manager Sean Marks cautioned more moves could still happen.
''I don't know that we're ever done,'' Marks said. ''We'll obviously listen and see what else is out there. We'll continue to scout and scour and see what other teams are doing, other leagues around the world are doing, how the Olympics are going.''
