It should be about gradual growth for Prokhorov, Nets

In case you forgot, and you probably did, the Nets were historically bad last season. But they can comfort themselves with this: After losing 70 games, they can't lose again this summer. No matter what.

LeBron James doesn't take their money? Fine.

Dwyane Wade won't even consider them? Cool.

Chris Bosh, not even with a sign-and-trade from Toronto, can't bear the thought of being a Net unless he's joined by LeBron? Oh, well.

The Nets came into this free agency market with nothing on the line. Not their reputation, their health, their championship aspirations, zip, zada. This was totally a shot in the dark, trying to get a top free agent to consider playing for a team that won 12 games last season and went through massive changes, from top to bottom. They didn't mortgage their future for this moment, or swell the hopes of what little fan base they still have in New Jersey, or give anyone any false ideas. There will be no massive emotional fallout from losing out on LeBron, unlike on the other side of the Hudson River.

Besides, the Nets already snatched the one person who can change the culture: Mikhail Prokhorov.

He means more to the Nets than anyone. He's the only person who can steer the franchise through a tricky journey that will take the Nets from East Rutherford to Brooklyn, with a connection in Newark. The new owner has the goods -- meaning money -- to give the Nets a respectable future, assuming he has a sound philosophy in place before they cross the Brooklyn Bridge.

This should be the gameplan for the Nets the next two years, and it's a more realistic one than getting LeBron or even Bosh:

• Hire a competent general manager who brings salary cap savvy along with personnel smarts.
• Give Derrick Favors, the first-round pick, room to grow.
• Get back into the lottery next summer, and don't worry, nobody will hold it against you.
• Make the right decision in the next Draft.
• And finally, refrain from adding substantial payroll at all cost, even if the owner is worth a gazillion.

Sure, there is temptation to sign David Lee, a capable power forward who was a double-double machine with the Knicks. But where is Lee going to play? Not at center, where Brook Lopez is set. Does he gobble up precious minutes at power forward and thus stunt the growth of Favors? Why pay millions for someone who plays the one position where the team is already strong?

The time for Prokhorov to open the checkbook is not now. Not with the team saddled with two years in Newark, where few fans will show up or invest emotionally in a team that's just passing through. Not with expectations low. And not with a pending labor negotiation that can drastically change the rules of the financial ballgame.

Why invest in the New Jersey market? There's no reason to waste time and energy trying to put a winner in Newark. It's better to wait for the soft landing in Brooklyn, where fans (at least those not loyal to the Knicks) will be so thrilled to have a team, they may excuse the losing record for the short term. There will be a brief honeymoon, essentially. A grace period. Time for the Nets to stockpile high draft picks and maybe a trade before they start writing big checks for big names.

Prokhorov and Avery Johnson, the new coach, and whoever replaces outgoing GM Rod Thorn are the faces of the franchise in this transition period. And the heavy responsibility to turn the Nets around lies with them until they get the right players on board. The front office must stabilize before the roster can.

The Nets can be major players in the free-agent game once they stockpile more talent through the draft and/or trades and make themselves more attractive than they are now. Growth doesn't have to happen overnight. The best growth is gradual, with a plan in place, and with a stable franchise. Once the Nets reach that stage, few teams will be able to compete with them, given their new beginning in Brooklyn and Prokhorov's billions.

They never really had the best shot at LeBron, anyway, despite his friendship with minority owner Jay-Z. Same goes for Wade, whose second choice after Miami is Chicago. And Bosh isn't good enough to take an average franchise anywhere by himself; if that were the case, he'd have done it in Toronto.

The Nets will add a minor piece this summer and move on to a better future. Their approach should be done with patience. Really, there's no way they can lose, and that's a lot to say for a team that dropped 70 games.

Shaun Powell is a veteran NBA writer and columnist. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

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