The Nets are home after a winless West Coast trip – and winless in 2010 – and open a homestand that includes some winnable games.

(Pause for dramatic effect and then repeat it for the magnitude of the statement:)

This homestand includes some winnable games for the 3-40 Nets.

If the Nets don’t show any improvement during this four-game stay you probably could write in magic marker that the NBA record for losses in a season will belong to the this team.

The Nets open Wednesday night against the Clippers, play the Wizards and Sixers this weekend and then the Pistons next week.

The Clippers are playing much better lately, but the Wizards, Sixers and Pistons – probably in that order – are the most disappointing teams in the NBA. The Nets aren’t a disappointment because people expected them to be bad, just not this bad.

But these four teams have had injuries, trade rumors, underachieving players, coaches on the hot seat and more losses than wins. One of them – Washington - has had to deal with gun play, legal troubles, suspensions and perhaps even jail time.

Opportunity is knocking here for the Nets. It has before and they haven’t capitalized, and if they don’t now the record is in trouble and more changes could be on the way.

The Nets already have made two minor trades this month and could – and should – make several more before the Feb. 18 trade deadline.

Amar’e Stoudemire’s name is out there and of course the Nets have had contact with the Suns. The Nets have to inquire.

They have assets – young players, expiring contracts and draft picks – that could lead to a major deal by next month. The Nets also have the pieces that could lead to minor deals, too. It’s more likely something like that will happen, but you can’t rule out the blockbuster.

If the Nets are able to pry Stoudemire from the Suns you can forget them getting the futility record regardless of what happens on this homestand. You also can start talking about a bright future and a potentially good summer. But that is a big if.

The Nets have been dealing with the what-if scenarios all season – as in what if everyone was healthy from the start and what if the losing keeps any free agents from wanting to come here? Let’s deal with reality for a second.

The reality is the Nets need a win, if not more, on this homestand. And they should get one, if not more against these teams.

This is no longer a talent issue. It’s an effort thing, a will thing.

"I feel like we should play like we have nothing to lose," Chris Douglas-Roberts said. "Come on, we won three games.
 
"We have to get on that sooner than later, because really we don’t have nothing to lose. We really don’t."

They have to show something after what happened out West. They lost the four games by an average of 25 points. The Nets really have only been competitive two or three times in the 11 games they’ve played this month.

Devin Harris’ health will have an impact, of course. He’s day-to-day with a sprained right wrist and likely won’t play against the Clippers. But the Nets can’t make an excuse if Harris misses a game or two or isn’t 100 percent healthy.

Other teams find ways to win without some of their best players and there is no reason the Nets can’t be one of those teams.

“You have to come out and play with a lot of energy,” coach Kiki Vandeweghe said. “We’ve done that in spurts. We haven’t sustained it for a full game for a while now.

“We have to make sure we start from the beginning with lots of energy and right now we’re undermanned and we have been all year. Playing without a real high degree of energy is not going to get it done.”

Once again, this isn’t a talent issue. It’s effort and will. They have to play defense, show some resistance on the defensive end instead of a resistance to play defense.

That’s all it’s going to take against these four teams to at least win one, if not more.

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Douglas-Roberts and Terrence Williams visited young pediatric patients and handed out gifts at The Brooklyn Hospital Center this afternoon.

Al Iannazzone covers the Nets for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)