This could be the high point for the Nets investment in the Springfield Armor. For the sixth time, a D-Leaguer has been called up to fill in and this time is likely to see some action. Two players, one sent down to Springfield and the other heavily scouted by the Armor, have been late season successes: Jordan Williams and Gerald Green.

Meanwhile, the Armor are in first place in the D-League East and Bob MacKinnon, a Nets employee, is the leading Coach of the Year candidate. Suddenly, the Nets, who had disdain for the D-League in years past, is the model for how an NBA team can use a modest investment, a little more than $250,000 (about half the lowest paid Net's salary), to achieve results.

"Some teams haven’t invested in it like we have because of financial or manpower constraints or simply because its not part of their philosophy," Armor GM Milton Lee tells the Star-Ledger's Jorge Castillo. Green, the poster child for the Nets' success, thinks the D-League saved his career. "Me being in the D-League, people could kind of keep up with me, see how I’m doing, see my development." And the Nets did.

• NBA's D-League helping players like Nets' Gerald Green realize their dreams - Jorge Castillo - Star-Ledger