The Nets want to get more athletic across the board, add depth, find another shooter, a reliable small forward, a big man and would like to bring in defensive players.

That’s their general offseason wish list and they can start trying to find some of those things in tomorrow night’s NBA Draft.

When you’re picking at Nos. 27 and 36 you’re limited as to what you can get because everything depends on what happens before you select. But as you probably have read somewhere by now, Nets general manager Billy King rarely picks where he’s supposed to anyway.

As we detailed in a story in The Record over the weekend, King made trades on seven of the 11 draft days he spent as a 76ers executive. He completed six trades during the 2006 and 2007 drafts and was a part

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,

The first time LeBron James and the Heat visited the Prudential Center was Halloween afternoon and it was scary how quickly the game got away from the Nets.

James and company are back, playing in The Rock tomorrow, and it’s scary how badly the Nets have played lately.

The Nets are expecting a big crowd like in October and they’re hoping they give more of a show than that day and than many of their games here recently.

“It’s going to be one of the last home games,” Nets guard Sasha Vujacic said. “I hope that Prudential Center is going to be packed and with our fans - because we need that right now. We need that energy from our fans for 48 minutes and we have to feel like at home.”

The Nets are pleading for the fans to show. But the Nets have

PHILADELPHIA – The Nets are limping toward the end of the season in more ways than one.

With seven games left, the Nets hope to win again. Hope is the operative word. It’s not going to happen unless the Nets change the way they approach these games.

Keeping with their recent trend of allowing teams to put them away early, the Nets were demolished 115-90 by the Sixers last night. It was one of their worst performances of the season, which is something we feel we’ve been saying plenty of lately.

“We looked tired,” coach Avery Johnson said. “Our legs looked tired. Mentally we looked tired. Very seldom have we had that quit spirit like we had tonight.”

Johnson said he could tell at shootaround the Nets didn’t have the right focus or mind frame

NEWARK, N.J. -- The Nets keep talking about wanting to get better and finishing strong, but in their last two games, they’ve looked like they can’t wait for the offseason to start.

Unfortunately, they still have nine games left, and if the Nets continue to play this way, it will spoil some of the good things they’ve done this season.

I'm not saying this because the Nets need four more wins to get to my predicted total of 27. With young teams or rebuilding teams or teams in transition, it’s about consistency of effort, but in good effort. The Nets’ effort these last two games has been consistent, but it’s also been poor.

“Disappointed,” coach Avery Johnson said after his team was throttled, 112-87, by the Rockets Tuesday night. “Disappointed.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Through all the losses, through all the rumors, through all the injuries and trades, there has been one constant for the Nets: Avery Johnson.

In his first year as head coach, Johnson has been what the Nets have needed: a leader, a voice and someone who holds everyone accountable.

Johnson was the spokesperson during all the Carmelo Anthony trade rumors and the one keeping his team focused on the games and playing as hard as possible. It wasn’t always easy with guys drifting, looking over their shoulders, wondering whether they would soon be on an airplane to Denver or some other NBA city. But Johnson never stopped doing his job, never stopped trying to remain positive and keep his players committed.

If you want to nitpick, you can question some

NEWARK – The Nets’ game against Indiana Monday had some of the same characteristics as Sunday’s in Washington and the result was the same – a bad loss.

If you’re a Nets’ fan and you’re looking for anything to hold on to - by now you probably should have given up on postseason hopes – they showed much more spirit and fight in their 102-98 loss to the Pacers.

The bottom line, though, is it was a loss – another one. The streak is up to four, following a five-game winning streak that appeared to be the turning-the-corner moment. But coach Avery Johnson was right in saying at the time, “we are approaching the corner.”

Now the only thing the Nets are approaching is the finish line.

They are eight games out of the playoffs with

The Nets haven’t been in this kind of game in a long time, one that could have gone either way, and one that came down to late-game execution.

The Nets made just enough plays to beat the Hornets 103-101 in overtime and end a three-game losing streak. Just enough.

The past six Nets’ games were lopsided; all of them decided by double-digits. But this was a nail-biter last night. They looked like they were going to win early in the fourth quarter and then appeared they were going to lose in the final minute.

Then they got it to overtime and looked like they were going to pull away, but had some lapses and almost let it slip away. In the end, the Nets breathed a huge and collective sigh of relief after this bench-led victory.

“Nobody really got rattled tonight, which is

Mikhail Prokhorov is not walking through the Prudential Center doors to make another bold announcement, so the Nets will just have to find it from within to come out and play hard from the opening tip.

It’s amazing that a team with 15 wins doesn’t play with energy all the time, especially at the start of games. There is no reason and no excuse for not being ready to play.

Nets coach Avery Johnson will be around much longer than most of the players, so it doesn't help their standing with the team to start sluggishly. You can say that many of them were almost traded anyway, which is true, but you still have to be professional. You are recognized for your play.

Devin Harris remarked that maybe guys have to change up their routines or work out differently before the game.