Netlinked 1/30/12- Marshon Breaks Toe, Dwight to the Bulls?, S-Jax to Return to New Jersey?

Could Stephen Jackson's possible return to NJ help a trade for Dwight?

This is the first installment of Netlinked, the series of link-dumps involving the Nets and general NBA stuff that I will post from time to time here on Brooklyn Balling.

First off, we have some interesting news from ESPN's Ric Bucher who says that the Nets might have to pull off a trade for the Milwaukee Bucks' Stephen Jackson in order to get Dwight Howard to New Jersey. Jackson played for the Nets in the 2000-01 and averaged 8.2 PPG while playing in 77 games for New Jersey in that season. Since leaving the Nets via free agency in 2001, Jackson has bounced around the NBA with a few teams but hasn't really found a permanent home. Bucher also reported that Howard and Jackson have been talking about possibly teaming up somewhere, including with Deron Williams in New Jersey as a possibility.

Now for some bad news. It appears that Marshon Brooks has broken his toe and that he will be out "indefinitely", according to the official Nets' Twitter account. The toe injury is unrelated to his sore Achilles for which he missed a few games to recover from. The injury could potentially be devastating for the Nets and it brings up the question as to why Avery Johnson rushed him back from free agency to play in the Nets' loss last night against the Raptors.

Regardless of the Nets' poor performance last night against the Raptors, the recent uptick in New Jersey's success has been noticed y the NBA writers of the web as the Nets have increased their standing in ESPN.com's, NBA.com's, SheridanHoops.com's, and even SBNation.com's respective Power Rankings. Those improvements in ranking are almost definitely due to the resurgence of play and the Nets' impressive win over Philly on Wednesday. It is also of note that in each of those four Power Rankings, the Nets were placed ahead of the Knicks. Thank god we got Deron and not Carmelo as the Knicks are a complete mess right now.

Finally, we have a relatively minor story that could develop into a major one by the time the NBA Trade Deadline comes around as Dwight Howard has said that he's now open to the idea of playing for the Chicago Bulls, which he has previously denied. Don't worry Nets fans as this news is probably nothing but speculation because the Bulls haven't been linked to as a potential suitor of Howard at all throughout the offseason and even during the season. It's just a story that could become interesting if Howard makes it to free agency or if the Bulls emerge as a player in the Dwight sweepstakes, which is unlikely.