If someone had told you, back in October, that one team would have the leading candidates for MVP and Coach of the Year and the best record in its conference at the All-Star break, you would have guessed the New Jersey Nets, right?

Yeah, right.

The complete overhaul of the Atlantic Division, led by the Nets, has been the NBA story of the year so far. At least it should be. Only now is it being taken seriously as the Nets (32-15) have surged to a five-game lead in the division. A year ago at the All-Star break, the Nets were 19 1/2 games behind at 17-34. The top three teams in the Atlantic were Philadelphia, New York and Miami; now those three are at the bottom.

The Nets' Jason Kidd would probably edge Michael Jordan if MVP ballots were collected today, and Byron Scott would win the Coach of the Year vote easily.

The acquisition of Kidd, in a trade with Phoenix for Stephon Marbury, appears at this point to be laughingly one-sided (here we must insert the disclaimer that the final word on the merits of a trade cannot be spoken for several years).

The Nets made two other off-season moves that have worked out very well. On draft night, they traded the rights to the No. 7 pick, Eddie Griffin, for three lower first-round picks -- forward Richard Jefferson, center Jason Collins and guard Brandon Armstrong. Jefferson and Collins have been big helps off the bench. The Nets also signed 7-foot, 280-pound center Todd MacCulloch to a six-year, $33.75 million contract that seems ridiculous -- until you look around at the league and realize that MacCulloch would upgrade about two-thirds of the teams at that position.

But Kidd's unique game has been the biggest difference. His court vision, unselfishness and ability to do everything (he is second in the NBA in assists and steals and averaging 7.1 rebounds) has changed the nature of one of the NBA's traditional have-nots. New Jersey has no scorer among the NBA's top 40 and no rebounder in the top 30. Nor do the Nets sport any flashy team stats; they are 11th in scoring, 15th in shooting, 24th in three-point shooting.

But it works. Even Kidd has been surprised.

"I expected us to be around .500," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I felt that if we stayed healthy, if guys were willing to sacrifice, we could compete. . . Trust was missing on this team last year, but I told them I trusted them."

POINTS PER SHOT

With statistics frozen for a few days at the break, it's time for a look at some favorite stats. My personal favorite is points per shot, a measurement of how much mileage a player gets from each field-goal attempt.

The league-wide average is 1.17, or 1.17 points scored for each shot taken. Among the NBA's top 40 scorers, here is how they rank is PPS, with their league scoring rank in parentheses:

Reggie Miller, Pacers (36), 1.477


Elton Brand, Clippers (30), 1.473


Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks (8), 1.422


Shaquille O'Neal, Lakers (3), 1.410


Tim Duncan, Spurs (6), 1.378


Steve Nash, Mavericks (23), 1.377


Pau Gasol, Grizzlies (34), 1.365


Peja Stojakovic, Kings (14), 1.338


Ray Allen, Bucks (15), 1.317


Karl Malone, Jazz (11), 1.280
Miller, who has a career PPS of 1.456, combines excellent three-point shooting (.418) with .918 foul shooting. Getting to the foul line is a major component of PPS, since it adds potential points without adding shots.

Allen Iverson, the league's top scorer, has a PPS of only 1.097, below the league average. But among the NBA's top 40 scorers, the lowest PPS is 1.039, posted by none other than Jordan.

This reflects Jordan's inability to make three-pointers (8-for-47) and the number of forced shots he must take with the shot-clocking running down. But since the Wizards are winning, what it reflects most is Jordan's sacrifice of his personal stats for the benefit of his team.

THREE-POINT ATTEMPTS
The NBA's top 10 in three-point shots, with their percentage in parentheses:

Antoine Walker, Celtics (.353), 400


Paul Pierce, Celtics (.381), 323


Ray Allen, Bucks (.435), 292


Reggie Miller, Pacers (.418), 287


Baron Davis, Hornets (.355), 287


Jason Williams, Grizzlies (.289), 280


Vince Carter, Raptors (.375), 272


Tim Hardaway, Mavericks (.333), 249


Jason Terry, Hawks (.392), 245


Mike Miller, Magic (.397), 237
Walker and Pierce have hoisted more threes than entire 16 teams, and Walker isn't even especially good at (the league-wide percentage is .354).

Jason Williams is a bad shooter, but that never seems to keep him from ranking near the top in three-point shots.

San Antonio's Steve Smith, whose .518 percentage leads the NBA, ranks only 36th in attempts with 164.

TOP TEN
Last week's ranking in parentheses: 1. L.A. Lakers (1); 2. Sacramento (2); 3. Dallas (3); 4. New Jersey (5); 5. Minnesota (4); 6. Milwaukee (7); 7. San Antonio (6); 8. Portland (8); 9. Toronto (10); 10. Boston (9).