Link'd Up: Nets hire Avery Johnson

Apparently the Phil Jackson-to-New Jersey rumors (dispelled by Jackson himself, and possibly started by Jackson himself) were simple hearsay. ESPN's Marc Stein is reporting the Nets have agreed to terms with Avery Johnson to fill the team's head coaching vacancy. Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.

Johnson, who was 194-70 in three-plus seasons with the Dallas Mavericks and led them to the 2006 NBA Finals, will be reunited with point guard Devin Harris, who averaged 16.6 points per game last season but shot a career-worst 40.3 percent from the field.

A former point guard who played 16 NBA seasons, Johnson's earned a permanent place in New York sports lore when he sank a championship-winning jump shot for the Spurs against the Knicks in Game 5 of the 1999 Finals. Now, he has a chance to steal the Knicks' thunder again--this time from just across the river.