East Rutherford , NJ — Devin Harris hasn't been to Europe. Vince Carter was there a few weeks ago, and has traveled to 10 countries. Lawrence Frank, well ... he just wants to practice.

"I think it’ll be a great experience for our guys," he said. "It’s another opportunity to practice and spend time together. I think these guys, despite being at home, have done a great job of finding time with each other and bonding off the court, which is great. But it’s a business trip. We’re going up there to get better and improve, and we have two exhibition games. It’s obviously a bonus that it’s in beautiful cities like London and Paris."

The Nets left New Jersey on a redeye flight Monday, destined for a stay in Paris and then London as part of NBA Europe Live 2008. They'll square off against the Miami Heat in a pair of exhibition games, first at Paris' Palais Omnisport Paris Bercy on Thursday (2 p.m., ESPN2), then at The O2 Arena in London on Sunday (2 p.m., NBATV).

Scheduled to arrive around 7:30 a.m. local time, and a practice scheduled for noontime, Frank relished the early challenge to his players' bodies.

"When you take a long trip like this, I think you want to sweat it out a little bit," he said. "We’ll go up and down, do some teaching segments, but get them up and down and off their feet." Carter participated in a promotional tour of England and France a few weeks ago, getting to do some sightseeing and making appearances for fans. While the superstar said he was able to walk around in near-anonymity, he came away impressed with the basketball knowledge in both countries.

"I got tired of hearing about the Frederic Weis thing," Carter half-joked, referring to his dunk over the French 7-footer at the 2000 Olympics. "They love their basketball in both places. In Paris, they’re very proud of the eight guys they have in the NBA. And in London, they’re extremely proud of Luol (Deng), what he’s done and accomplished. The big thing then was him playing in the (Olympic) qualifying games and how important they felt that was. It seemed like they were really on top of that and they love their basketball, so it’s going to be fun for us."