The New York Times reports that the Nets are pleased with their off-season trade for Dikembe Mutombo. Nets Coach Byron Scott said that the Nets were a better team since trading Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch to Philadelphia for Mutombo, and that the team was especially improved on defense without a slow Van Horn.

"With the components that we have right now, I think we're a better team than we were last year," Scott said. "Defensively, we're a better team; offensively, I think we're going to be fine."

Van Horn was a key offensive weapon for the Nets but he was limited defensively. "You can teach guys how to play defense," Scott said, "but you can't teach a guy how to close out on a guy much quicker. You can't teach quick feet.

"I thought he tried as hard as he could to do the things we wanted him to do," Scott said, adding that the second-year forward Richard Jefferson "is a better athlete, a better defensive player."

Scott has said that the trade worked for the Nets because after acquiring Mutombo, a four-time defensive player of the year, the Nets were able to sign the versatile sixth man Rodney Rogers.

"From what everybody kept saying, it was a big gamble," Scott said. "We thought it was the next step for us, to make us even better. So far, to me, through five preseason games, it pretty much solidified exactly what we were thinking."