“We want to be as good as we can be all the time. We think it’s important,” Thorn recently told the New Jersey Star Ledger. “We still think we have a pretty good nucleus of players here, that we can be pretty good. I can’t say we want to take a massive step back, no.

“If you have the opportunity to get a core of younger players — (such as) with the addition of Harris — and get some guys around that age group that can be really good, then you always look at that. But those opportunities don’t come up very often. But we want to be good. We want to do as well as we can do.”

When I read this quote on Tuesday, I basically thought to myself, “Does this mean that Thorn is saying that he wants to build through the draft and get two solid additions to the team this year? Or is he saying that he’s going to trade up and get one solid, young perimeter shooter to complement the new big three? Or is he looking to get a big man to help the youngsters like Josh Boone and Sean Williams develop?

Star Ledger Dave D’Allesandro does a great job in this article [and he usually does] showing how unsure Thorn is in what the Nets approach will be next season. He also goes on to call him a riddler of sorts and I’d have to totally agree with him.

This team’s bench is probably going to be the thing that changes the most this offseason, with DeSagana Diop, Darnell Armstrong and Boki Nachbar all free agents. The Nenad Krstic situation may become and interesting one, but I really see him staying with the Nets. I don’t think too many teams would be willing to take a change on him just yet. Nachbar on the other hand, may be looking at a healthy raise this offseason and I doubt the Nets will be offering to go as high as he would like. Playing injured the last quarter and change of the season, Nachbar showed a lot of intestinal fortitude and GM’s that already love the guy when he’s shooting well are probably salivating like Pavlovian dogs right now.

While it’s still way too early to see where some of the Nets free agents are going, it will be interesting to see who Thorn decides to keep and why.

There aren’t many positive things one can say about a team that misses the playoffs for the first time in seven years. At least they aren’t the Knicks. All jokes aside however, New Jersey had three of the biggest stars in the league on their roster for two thirds of the season, but still couldn’t find a way to play consistent basketball. That goes to show you that names on a lineup card don’t mean nearly as much as the sweat that is expended on the court.

I know I’m not speaking for the entire Nets community when I say that this team has a lot of promise, but needs something else before they can get to where they were just a few years ago. It could just be the revival of Nenad Krstic and the acquisition of another big body or a veteran point guard that can be more competent on defense than Marcus Williams. I don’t know. What I do know is that they’re missing something.

With the Mavericks pick and their pick in the first round this year, the Nets have a choice, they can either trade up or trade for already developed players. Personally, I’d like to see the Nets build through the draft, but considering how badly the Nets have drafted over the past five years [Antoine Wright and a host of other flubs, cough, cough] it’s risky business. Add in the four free-agents this team has and it’s obvious the Nets could be an entirely different team next season.

However, while many fans of the team are still peeved that this team is playing golf right now, there are plenty of reasons to smile as well. For one, the new big three know they can’t get by on their names anymore. Jefferson made significant strides this season and is ready to be a leader. The same can be said for Vince Carter, who despite playing on a bad ankle wasn’t shooting bad at all down the stretch. As far as Devin Harris goes, I think we haven’t even come close yet to seeing what he’s capable of doing. There are trades that go down in the books for being total flops and I think the Mavericks will rue the day they got rid of him.

On another note, just like the veterans, the youngsters like Sean Williams and Josh Boone know that they too have to step it up. Otherwise, this team will be destined to revel in mediocrity.

No negative thoughts right now though. Just contemplation of what this team does come draft time. It should be fun, right?

With only four games remaining and a playoff birth an almost certain impossibility, the New Jersey Nets still haven’t begun to think about what they’ll do with the pending free agents on their roster come this offseason.

“It’s still too early,” team president Rod Thorn told the Bergen Record. “I want to wait until we get to the end and then dispassionately look at the whole thing. Right now, you have opinions about certain guys, but we’ll wait until this is over, see what else is out there, and what the costs are going to be.”

Darrell Armstrong, Nenad Krstic, DeSagana Diop and Bostjan Nachbar, the quartet of players in question, represent a huge part of the team’s depth. Armstrong provides veteran leadership but may be expendable if Marcus Williams develops into the type of player the Nets envisioned when they drafted him in the first round a few years ago. Diop is a solid shot blocker who can play both forward and center but, just like Armstrong, could prove to be dispensable if Sean Williams can stay out of foul trouble and guard more efficiently against the pick and roll.

However, despite his arguable worth to the Nets, Diop said that he likes playing in the Garden State. Nonetheless, he has his own demands if he sticks around after the season is over.

“I just want to win. That’s what it comes down to,” Diop told the AP. “I want to help a team win. Losing is not fun at all. I don’t care how much money you make. The style isn’t important.”

The story of Krstic’s season is quite different from role players like Armstrong and Diop, though. Not the same player since a nasty knee injury last season, the 24-year-old is running out of excuses and will find himself on another team next year if he doesn’t take whatever the Nets offer him.

Nachbar, however, despite being slowed somewhat by a nagging back injury, has been a solid offensive option off the bench when healthy. While Thorn preferred not to discuss the team’s ideology going into the offseason, he did share his thoughts on Nachbar’s perseverance this season.

“When you’re trying to assess players, the ones who care and the ones who give you all they have are valuable,” Thorn told the Star Ledger. “Certainly you take that into consideration. It says a lot about him that he’s still out there playing. Even though our chances don’t look very good right now, he’s still out there competing. But that’s the kind of guy Boki is.”

Three and a half games out of a playoff spot with only seven games left to play, the New Jersey Nets appear to be on a sinking ship with no oars. Originally looking rejuvenated after trading Jason Kidd to the Mavericks, the Nets have failed to win down the stretch, going 4-6 in their last ten games.

Last week, the team was stressing the need to continue their streak of six consecutive seasons in the playoffs. It was almost as if they thought that fate alone would give them a postseason birth. Now, they see things in a much different light.

“We can’t rely on history. All that History is on our side, I don’t believe that,” Nets second-leading scorer Vince Carter told the AP. Since the All-Star Break, Carter has stepped up his game, averaging three more points a game and has been a more consistent shooter. “I just believe what we need to do is come to play and take the wins. We can’t just say, ‘Oh, it can happen.’ Let’s go take these wins and I’ll feel better about it.”

To make matters worse, the team doesn’t appear to be in a situation to depend on anyone other than their new big three of Richard Jefferson, Carter and Devin Harris, to get them into the playoffs. Nenad Krstic, Josh Boone, Sean and Marcus Williams have all shown signs of promise this season, but have all failed to put up a consistent effort for a prolonged period of time. In addition, Bostjan Nachbar, the team’s biggest offensive option off the bench, has been battling back problems for the past few weeks and isn’t in a position to help either.

“If it were a December thing, I’d take off. But now is not the time to do it, so I’m willing to suck it up a little bit and hope for the best,” Nachbar said. “This team has given me so much, it would be unfair for me to shut it down right now when it’s the most important part of the season.”

With injuries taking their toll and the team’s chances at reaching the playoffs for a seventh season eroding, Nets Coach Laurence Frank is still committed on making things happen on the court. Nevertheless, he knows things aren’t going to be easy for his club and is hoping his bench comes up big down the stretch.

“The bottom line is, the games are dwindling down and you do whatever it takes to win,” Frank told the AP. “The core group you rely on for a lot of minutes, then you look at the second group of starters, the supporting actors, to fill in and do their job.”