After practice today, Nets forward Keith Van Horn carefully sidestepped the oblique criticism his former teammate Stephon Marbury offered about him on Wednesday.

Jason Kidd, whom the Nets received from the Suns for Marbury in a July trade, diplomatically stayed out of the discussion, believing that his role as point guard is to make everybody better.

But Byron Scott, outspoken last season as the Nets' rookie coach, often to the point of frustrating his players and management, harshly rebutted Marbury's statements that only Van Horn could make himself better. In response to Marbury's criticism of his coaching style, Scott contended that the Nets were already improved without Marbury.