Nenad Krstic, who has been tethered to trainers and rehab specialists for five weeks, was actually subjected to basketball drills the last two days -- with encouraging results.
"I am really happy," the Nets' center said after having a long, fullcourt workout conducted by Assistant Coach Jim Sann yesterday. "At first, the progress was really slow. Now it's really going faster. I'm really getting closer to being back for playing time."
He could only say this much about when he might return, "Not months. Weeks," he said.
"Honestly, it is hard to say. I don't want to say I'm coming back in two weeks and then I'm not. So I hope it is very soon, so I can help the team."
Lawrence Frank didn't give a very comprehensive report because that leads to things like timetables.
"You just hope for his own good," the coach said, "because he is such a good person, because he is such a diligent worker that he is able to get back on the floo,r and he's able to play."