So much for the circus-atmosphere general manager Billy King said the Nets would avoid this year. Can’t wait to see what happens when they open their first training as the Brooklyn Nets.

Their last camp as the New Jersey Nets began with reports that Dwight Howard would ask for a trade from Orlando and could be Newark-bound by Friday afternoon. Then reports said the Magic were considering filing tampering charges because members of the Nets organization, including owner Mikhail Prokhorov, had met with Howard.

King denied that was so. And the Nets were not close to acquiring Howard on Friday. But for the second straight year – which happens to be the second year of the Prokhorov-King-Avery Johnson era - the Nets were embroiled in drama before the basketballs hit the court for

Avery Johnson joked that when the time comes for the Nets to get something done with free agents, he’s like Mariano Rivera.
 
“They bring me in to close,” Johnson said today.
 
Johnson can give the final sales pitch – he ultimately decides how much a player plays. But the two biggest things for the Nets in their pursuit of any free agent are Mikhail Prokhorov’s fortune and Deron Williams’ future.
 
Williams declared his intentions yesterday, saying, “I plan to stay.” That should help the Nets lure some players. But the almighty millions could be the deciding factor.
 
The truth is the Nets are going to have to spend more than they probably would like in order to get Nene or Tyson Chandler or Caron Butler or even to bring Kris Humphries

After such a long lockout-generated layoff, it’s busy season in the NBA and the Nets should be among the busiest teams.

They have the money – up to about $24 million for free agency – the star point guard and some assets to at least be in the conversation to acquire Dwight Howard.

Negotiations for players and free agents should heat up over the weekend and early next week, building to the expected opening of camps Dec. 9. Here are some pressing issues concerning the Nets and their roster and one major issue that seems to be put to rest – for now.
 
 
D-Will Won’t
Deron Williams’ agent Jeff Schwartz said yesterday what many people were already thinking, including Nets execs: his client won’t sign an extension with the Nets and will become

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The lockout hasn’t stopped Avery Johnson from making some pretty impressive rounds this offseason. It’s just prevented the Nets coach from visiting and talking to his players – for the most part.

The one exception was last month when Johnson attended the wedding of Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian. He got league approval to go to California and had to have congratulated the groom, which would have made it the only time since 11:59 p.m. on June 30 that Johnson communicated with one of his players.

“My wife had a great time,” he said.

A few weeks later, Johnson had a great time during a trip to Russia.

He held a clinic for 100 coaches at Moscow Sports University, conducted a camp for children 13-and-under and played in an exhibition

The Nets’ past and future converged Wednesday on Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues where retired forward Albert King reminisced about growing up in Brooklyn and GM Billy King talked about what moving here will mean for the franchise.

But the more immediate future remains very much on the Nets’ minds.

They can’t do anything because of the lockout, but the Nets have plenty of work ahead of them in New Jersey before they get to Brooklyn.

The Barclays Center is set to open for the start of the 2012-13 season and the only way to make sure Deron Williams is there is by getting the players that will keep the All-Star point guard.

Naturally, none of this was said when Billy King and assistant general manager Bobby Marks gave beat writers a tour of the arena construction site.

After the Nets brought in draft pickups MarShon Brooks, Jordan Williams and Bogan Bogdanovic to meet the local media Monday, they promptly sent the ones that will be with them next season to California to work out.

This made perfect sense because of the labor situation. If there is a lockout -- as expected -- starting Friday there can be no contact between the players and the teams.

So Brooks and Williams flew to meet coach Avery Johnson and general manager Billy King at P3 in Santa Barbara for some training until they can’t talk to him anymore.

Brooks and Williams were given what the Nets want them to do this summer, what workouts, what things they need to improve on –- basically everything they should do to make sure they’re ready when the work stoppage ends and/or

After every draft, the team’s top executive or coach says they got who they wanted or never thought this player would drop to them. But the Nets meant it last night.

They never expected shooting guard Marshon Brooks to drop anywhere near them, but he did. And when he did, general manager Billy King did what he does best on draft night – he made a trade.

King now has been involved in draft-night trades in eight of 12 drafts he’s been part of as an executive.

The Nets targeted scoring Euro swingman Bojan Bogdanovic so strongly that they brought him in for a second, private workout, yesterday morning and saw enough of him to decide they were going to move up in the second round for him.

They liked the way Jordan Williams rebounded, especially in a difficult conference

The Nets are in the process of building a new arena in Brooklyn and trying to build their team into a playoff contender. On Sunday, they added a farm club, as they officially took over the basketball operations of their NBA Development League affiliate, the Springfield Armor.

The Nets don’t own the Armor. This “hybrid affiliation,” means the Nets are in charge of the basketball operations and pay for expenses related to that, as existing local owners pay for the off-the-court costs of doing business.

It may not seem like a big deal, but it is significant in many ways. The biggest one is it’s another example of how serious and committed owner Mikhail Prokhorov is about spending money to improve the overall operation and how the Nets are run.

“We’re

Billy King’s season-ending session with the media Wednesday covered everything from his recent hand procedure to next week’s surgery to remove a calcium deposit in Brook Lopez’s right arm.

That’s not the only cutting expected to happen with the Nets this offseason.

To King, the Nets' general manager, the stated goal next year is to make the playoffs. It should be. The Nets have a superstar now, and having Deron Williams healthy is a great first step to that end. But there needs to be a roster overhaul to go from a 24-win team to one that sees the postseason.

There is no doubt overall that the Nets made strides from last season. They built a foundation for the future as they doubled their win total from a year ago. They probably should have had a few more wins,