Did the Brooklyn Nets blow it by not going after Jeremy Lin?

Dennis O'Leary, an online editor at the Daily News, suggests Saturday that the Nets would have been wise to go after Jeremy Lin before the Lakers scooped him from the Rockets in a modified salary dump.

He doesn't offer up any of the mechanics needed to make a deal, simply that getting Lin --and returning LinSanity to New York-- would have been a smart move because "Sorry, Netsies — but it’s time to start over."

The argument is simple: Deron Williams is done, and that Lin is his equal ... and losing D-Will's contract helps the Nets rebuild. It's all so easy.  (It's only at the story's end is O'Leary's true motivation evident: "Now what are we going to do with this drawer full of unused Lin puns? Someone get me the L.A. papers!"

He also offers up some tired old Knicks fan propaganda that Barclays Center is "usually half empty" and that the move "could have potentially tapped the Knick-loyal, Brooklyn fan base." Neither is true, but hey, 2 good 2 check out.

We can say, as has been reported, that the Nets had that opportunity early in the season when the Rockets offered the Nets Lin and Omer Asik for Deron Williams. The Nets said no.

• Brooklyn should have brought Jeremy Lin back to the Big Apple as Nets need to start over - Dennis O'Leary - New York Daily News