The Nets have made offers to various free agents since losing out on Keyon Dooling on Friday. Now they're just waiting for the callbacks.

Point guard Milt Palacio, veteran big man Dale Davis and shooter Jon Barry are players on which the Nets would be willing to split their $5 million midlevel exception. But team president Rod Thorn, who gave a deadline to Shareef Abdur-Rahim before he agreed to come to the Nets last week, doesn't plan on waiting too long for their answers.

"I got some offers out there," Thorn said. "It's first come, first served, basically.

"[But] sooner or later you're either going to do it or you're not going to do it. You can't put yourself in a position where you're losing out on all the guys you have an interest in."

Ideally, the Nets would grab two players with their midlevel and still have money to get a big-name, high-priced player who becomes available through the amnesty clause in the new collective bargaining agreement.

The new provision allows teams to buy out players without taking a luxury-tax hit. Allan Houston, Michael Finley and Brian Grant are expected to be in that group.

The Nets would have interest in all three, especially Finley, a league source said. But the Nuggets, Suns, Heat and Spurs likely will line up for his services.