The Nets’ trade for Vince Carter on Friday marked a major change in organizational philosophy. Just last week, the team was steeling itself for a long rebuilding project, shopping Jason Kidd, and looking forward to a spot in the draft lottery. Now the few remaining Nets fans can watch their numbers grow while enjoying the league’s most exciting run-and-gun trio and entertaining hopes of a playoff spot.

New Jersey GM Rod Thorn unexpectedly trumped Knicks counterpart Isiah Thomas when he pulled the trigger on the deal, sending forwards Eric and Aaron Williams to Toronto along with Alonzo Mourning’s contract (‘Zo himself won’t be making the trip) and two first-round picks. In snatching up Carter, a player long coveted by his cross-Hudson rivals, Thorn also took a page out of the Knicks’ book, jettisoning his long-term plans by bringing in a big-name veteran.

For the Nets, two things stand about above all else regarding Carter: First, he has the talent of a superstar. Second, he rarely plays like one.

The hope in New Jersey is that a change of scenery will reverse the latter trend, and there may be some truth to that. To being with, removing Carter from the poisonous situation in Toronto should have a positive effect. That’s not to excuse Carter’s scandalous lack of effort this season, but the degeneration in the relationship between player and organization had mirrored the decline in Carter’s productivity. A perfect example was yesterday’s rumor that Carter tipped off the Sonics to a late-game play the Raptors were running, a possibility that can’t be completely discounted (and wasn’t by his coach).

More crucially, Carter doesn’t have to be the leader as long as Jason Kidd is around. The dunk artist formerly known as Air Canada has never been comfortable being the alpha dog in the pack. The Nets’ hope is that much like Rasheed Wallace in Detroit a year ago, Carter will relax a little with the pressure of being the main man on somebody else’s shoulders. Kidd is one of the few players in the league with enough clout to demand that Carter give a full effort.

Of course, all this presumes that Kidd will still be a Net. Until Thursday or so, Thorn had been planning on moving his All-star guard to the highest bidder once he proved that his surgically repaired knee was healthy. Apparently that’s no longer the plan, not with the newly acquired Carter maxed out through 2008. With two of the highest-flying wingmen in the league in Carter and Richard Jefferson, it would be lunacy for the Nets to deal an open-court point guard like Kidd now – especially since his contract is onerous enough that New Jersey won’t get back a player of comparable value.

The new run-and-gun outfit featuring Kidd, Carter, and Jefferson could have a long run – each is under contract for several more years. The key hurdle will be health. Carter is on the injured list with a strained Achilles’ that scared off several other suitors, while Kidd’s knee issue is well known.

If they stay healthy, the three will provide the Nets with premium entertainment value. With the Nets’ open-court attack providing a stark contrast to the walk-it-up Raptors, Carter could see more opportunities to showcase his otherworldly dunking skills, something that would greatly please Nets owner Bruce Ratner. Carter will make a splash as the Nets prepare to relocate to Brooklyn, and should dispel the notion that Ratner is a cheapskate slumlord intent on turning the Nets into Clippers East.

The move bewildered some Nets fans since Carter has a max contract and the Nets just balked at signing Kenyon Martin to a similar deal. But the issue for Ratner never was long-term money – it was the luxury tax. New Jersey was going to be over the threshold this year unless it jettisoned Martin and Kerry Kittles; with that done, the spending on future years (extending Jefferson, adding Carter) has proceeded apace.

The downside, however, was readily apparent during yesterday’s 110-99 loss in Toronto: New Jersey’s frontcourt is decimated without Mourning and the two Williamses. (By the way, does Toronto intend to acquire every player named Williams? In a decade of existence they’ve employed Aaron, Alvin, Eric, Herb, Jerome, Micheal, and Walt. I think the only one they missed was Montel).

The Nets had only three frontcourt players available yesterday – Brian Scalabrine, Jason Collins, and Nenad Krstic – none of whom is very good. Coach Lawrence Frank was forced to play 6-foot-8, 215-pound Kaniel Dickens at power forward for long stretches. The Nets overcompensated for their frontcourt disadvantage by sagging into the paint, but the result was a 3-point fest by the Raptors, who went 14-for-23 from downtown.

Obviously, the Nets need some help up front. The first step is the obligatory call to Karl Malone, but nobody expects it to get returned. As a stopgap, the Nets will turn to the “any warm body” approach, which involves activating little-used 6-foot-11-inch center Jabari Smith from the injured list and signing somebody from the scrap heap – perhaps the slightly built but productive Jelani McCoy.

That approach, however, raises another set of issues. As Jefferson put it, “Yeah, you can bring in somebody who’s 7-foot, but is he going to be able to play worth a damn?”

That’s why the Nets may have another deal coming. The Martin and Kittles trades gave them two trade exceptions to play with, which would allow them to trade, say, a second round pick for an ending contract such as that of Golden State’s Clifford Robinson.

Regardless of what moves the Nets make, they face an uphill climb to make it into the postseason, even in the watered-down East. Three games out of the eighth seed at just 7-16, they may not have Carter back right away. And as entertaining as the Kidd-Jefferson-Carter combo is, it’s hard to imagine the group playing much better than .500 with the lack of talent that surrounds them.

Nonetheless, this deal is a success for the Nets on so many fronts that it hardly matters whether it resurrects their playoff hopes. Thorn obviously took a risk in bringing in Carter, but given how bleak the Nets’ future seemed just a few days ago, this gamble was a no-brainer. In one fell swoop, he’s managed to avert a long rebuilding process, neutralize Kidd’s trade demand, rehabilitate the owner’s reputation, get the fans excited, and, best of all, steal a player from under the Knicks’ noses. So while the Atlantic Division standings show the Knicks in first and the Nets in last, it’s safe to say there’s still a Thorn in Isiah’s side.