A much different Jeremy Lin makes his return to New York

In the end, Linsanity ended with a thud, with Knicks general manager Glen Grunwald refusing to open his hotel door room to accept Houston's three-year offer sheet for Jeremy Lin during summer league. The league got involved, and in the end, the Knicks allowed Lin to leave, just five months after he took over the sports world, ruled Madison Square Garden and landed on back-to-back Sports Illustrated covers.

Whether the Knicks should have matched the terms on the offer sheet and retained Lin, and whether any tension between Carmelo Anthony and Lin factored into the decision, are things we can continue to debate, but the circumstances landed Lin in Houston, and then later in Los Angeles with the Lakers, before the 28-year-old point guard signed a one-year deal with the Hornets, where he flourished as a scoring guard off the bench.

This summer, with Kenny Atkinson – an assistant coach on the Knicks during Linsanity – as the Nets head coach and a three-year, $36 million offer to the starting point guard of an NBA team, Lin made his return to New York, not for the team that plays in the World's Most Famous Arena, but the suicide squad assemble out in Brooklyn, a team without a first round pick until 2019 and one that Las Vegas has set the over/under wins total at 20.5 games. Four years later, Lin is officially back in New York, but a much different player and person than the one who left in 2012.

The questions about Linsanity are never far away. On Nets media day in September, it only took a few minutes before Lin was asked about it. "In no way am I trying to recreate anything," he told the media. "I'm very big on always pushing forward and what's next, that's how I'm wired. I don't dwell in the past whether it's regrets or accomplishments."

Surrounded by local and international media, Lin was the only player on the team who conducted interviews first in English and then Mandarin. Later, as he was taking photos in front of a green screen, some of the Chinese media were invited to take a group photo with him. Just watching from afar, the media demands can feel exhausting, but instead of just being an international celebrity, this is now part of Lin's responsibility as one of the leaders on the Nets.

Aside from Brook Lopez, the Nets don't have any other established top-tier talent on the roster. They're rebuilding their foundation. Gone are Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Billy King, who – supported by owner Mikhail Prokhorov's goal to win a championship within the first five seasons of owning the team – made a series of ill-advised win-now moves is gone, replaced by Sean Marks. Atkinson is here to turn the page, and Lin is very much a part of that program.

"I've always wanted to be a leader," Lin said, citing situations in the past – James Harden being in Houston, the rebuilding situation in Los Angeles with Kobe's retirement looming – as missed opportunities for him to prove himself in that regard. Atkinson has made it clear he wants Lin to embrace the role. "This is a totally different role for Jeremy," Atkinson said. "I think part of the reason he came to Brooklyn is to see, to prove to everybody that he can be a starting point guard in this league."

It's a new challenge for Lin, and even with all the hoopla surrounding his career, this is his first extended opportunity – on his sixth NBA team in his career – to run his own team, something that he hasn't afforded with the Knicks four years ago. "I definitely feel a much stronger responsibility for this leadership role that I didn’t in my last two to three teams,” Lin said on media day. During preseason, Lin has taken those steps, scoring 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting in 17 minutes in a home win over the Pistons in his first exhibition game, making five three-pointers and showing off a revamped jumper he's been working on for two summers.

Preseason wins are baby steps, and this will be a season full of them for Brooklyn. The Nets are trying to get acquainted with one another, and learn Atkinson's new offensive system together. In the locker room after a 100-97 home loss to the Celtics a week later, Lin made what felt like a mission statement about his team.

“I know on paper everyone doesn’t have great expectations for us, and that’s fine,” Lin said after the defeat. “I just think we all know we’re NBA players, we’re capable of competing at this level, it comes to, alright what are we going to look like together. I’ve never had any fear that our team can’t compete against these good teams. I just think we have a much much much smaller margin of error, from a talent standpoint, do I think our ceiling one day we could be a really good team. I do, I believe that. I believe in the guys in this locker room. I think right now we’re trying to see how good we can be. There’s going to be a lot of steps along the way and eventually we’ll win a big game here and there. If you ask me, I’m confident in our players that we can compete with anybody on any given night.”

Asked to define how he can focus on his leadership role, Lin lists of a few answers before settling on a particular word. “Culture,” he said. “I think that’s the best way to say it.” In Brooklyn this season, that culture will start with their new point guard. There might not be the glitz and glamor of Linsanity, but watching Lin figure out whether he can mature into a starting point guard and leader of an NBA team has its own appeal too. Earlier this week, Lin summarized the pitch he received from the Nets: "You'll get a chance to be you." For the first time, we might finally get to see exactly what Lin can and can't be, with a team that will allow him to figure it all out.