EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – With an unhappy Jason Kidd sidelined indefinitely and Kenyon Martin playing in Denver, the New Jersey Nets have gone from the leading contender in the Eastern Conference to almost an afterthought.

With the exception of the players, many wonder whether the three-time defending Atlantic Division champs can get back to the playoffs just months after taking the NBA champion Detroit Pistons to seven games in the conference semifinals.

“We have a long way to go,” said Richard Jefferson, the one major healthy talent left on a team that started last season as the favorite for a third straight trip to the NBA Finals.

“Whenever you have a lot of new players, you are going to have some growing pains, especially early,” Jefferson added.

Nets fans will start the season – one of the last of a handful in New Jersey before a proposed move to Brooklyn, N.Y. – facing a team that was dismantled in the wake of an ownership change.

Nets president Rod Thorn failed to re-sign Martin before the start of the 2003-04 season. That allowed Martin to enter the offseason as a restricted free agent, and the Nets were forced to trade him after the Nuggets front-loaded an offer sheet that was too much for new Nets principal owner Bruce Ratner.

Six of the 12 players on the roster for Wednesday night’s opener against the Miami Heat were not on the team last season. Jefferson and Jason Collins will be the only opening-night starters returning from the five who ended last season.

No one knows when Kidd will be back or how long he will stay once his surgically repaired left knee is OK. The All-Star point guard, who just starting running, has admitted that he has thought of being traded. The relatively inexperienced Zoran Planinic and veterans Jacque Vaughn and Travis Best will split time at point guard until Kidd is ready to return.

Free-agent pickups Ron Mercer and Rodney Buford are the shooting guards, replacing Kerry Kittles, who was dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers in the summer shake up that also included the waiving of well-liked backup shooting guard Lucious Harris.

Thorn said the Kittles and Harris moves were basketball decisions, not cost-saving moves. Mercer and Buford did well in the preseason, averaging about 10 points apiece.

Jefferson, who got a new long-term contract this summer, is coming off a breakout season in which he averaged career bests of 18.5 points and 3.8 assists at the small forward.

Collins, who got a four-year, $24 million extension Saturday, will start at center or power forward.

It all depends on the status of Alonzo Mourning. The seven-time All Star played Thursday for the first time since receiving a kidney transplant in December. He looked so good, coach Lawrence Frank might start him at center and Collins at power forward.

If Collins starts at center, Brian Scalabrine, Eric Williams and Aaron Williams will split time at the power forward.

None, however, can provide the defense and the emotional spark that made Martin one of the league’s up-and-coming young players.

Despite all the changes, Frank isn’t allowing any excuses entering his first full season as coach.

“Our expectations are just as high,” Frank said. “What we can control, we are going to control – that’s our effort level and focus and our ability to pay attention to detail.”

On the plus side for New Jersey: The Nets were 47-35 last season and are one of the league’s top defensive teams. Jefferson is a rising star and Mourning can be a boost in the middle if his body holds up.

“We knew we are capable of going out and winning ballgames and going to the playoffs,” Collins said. “We feel with the talent we have, we definitely have the opportunity to make the playoffs.”

The difference this year is the Nets have less talent and depth, and less room for error.