The Nets are good enough to be second-best--for a third time.(Straight Shooting)

The Nets' on-court dramatis personae remain virtually unchanged from their back-to-back Eastern Conference championship squads. Even so, most NBA pundits certify that Detroit or Indiana will be the final victim of this year's eventual Western Conference champ, while the Nets generally are deemed to be pretenders rather than contenders.

But it says here that, because of the principle of addition by subtraction, the latest edition of the Nets is better than ever and is absolutely capable of achieving a third consecutive sacrificial appearance in The Finals.

The most significant factor in the Nets' improvement was replacing coach Byron Scott with Lawrence Frank at midseason. Under Frank, the Nets' practices have been shorter and more focused. Instead of idly listening to Scott's long-winded lectures, the players are in constant motion and accomplish twice as much in half the time.

Frank also has tweaked the game plans on both ends of the court.

The defense has been amped up and redesigned to produce turnovers. This means pressuring the perimeter, trapping opposing point guards, swarming ball penetration with fast hands and ambushing all likely passing lanes. Sometimes these tactics allow layups to especially swift guards, but the goal is to yield only long-range jumpers. Errant shots from the outskirts invariably result in long rebounds that give the Nets' running game a considerable head start.

Frank's alterations are even more visible on offense. He has de-emphasized the Princeton perpetual-motion offense and, for the sake of taking advantage of mismatches, has accentuated more traditional schemes--cross-picks, screen-and-rolls, isolations. The rookie head coach even has incorporated segments of the triangle offense--mostly a "speed-cut" option that produces foul-line jumpers for power forward Kenyon Martin.

Under Scott, the Nets' zone offense was the league's worst. Occasionally, a big man would move from the baseline to the foul line, but otherwise the ball was passively and ineffectually passed around the periphery until somebody was forced to hoist a hasty jumper. Nowadays ...