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After Nets general manager Billy King stole the show with his draft night trade for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry, he and the Nets already have completed much of the heavy lifting to revamp their roster this offseason.
So when free agency begins at midnight tonight, the task facing King, new head coach Jason Kidd and the rest of Nets front office is to try and find the right pieces to supplement the group King has put together, one that on paper looks as if it can compete with any in the Eastern Conference.
But that doesn’t mean King doesn’t have some holes to fill, beginning with adding a point guard to play behind Deron Williams. This past season, the Nets had a strong backup in C.J. Watson, who shot over 41 percent from 3-point range — tops on the team — and also worked effectively playing alongside Williams as the season went along.
But Watson opted out of his final year of his contract to test free agency this summer, and because the Nets can give him only a slight raise over the minimum salary he made last season, it is likely he will be plying his trade elsewhere.
That potentially could open up significant playing time for Tyshawn Taylor, who spent much of his rookie season watching from the bench outside of a few brief cameo appearances — like when he scored 12 points in 34 minutes in an 89-84 win over the Pacers on Feb. 11.
King indicated though the Nets don’t necessarily need to have a more experienced No. 2 point guard than Taylor, the team is planning on bringing in a veteran to push Taylor for the backup job.
“I’d like to have a good backup,” King said last week. “I think Tyshawn’s got a chance, but we’re going to add another one, so there will be competition for that backup spot.”
Entering free agency, the Nets have just four open roster spots, and one will be filled using the team’s mini mid-level exception, a three-year deal starting at $3.18 million, and the only way they can pay a free agent more than the minimum salary.
That likely is ticketed to signing a shooter to help space the floor for the Nets, with the most likely candidates being Bojan Bogdanovic — the Nets’ 2011 second-round pick who has spent the last two seasons playing for Turkish power Fenerbahce Ulker — and Kyle Korver, perennially one of the league’s top 3-point shooters who hit 45.7 percent of his shots from behind the arc for the Hawks last season.
Along with Watson, the other prominent free agent the Nets would like to retain is big man Andray Blatche. After taking a chance on Blatche when the Wizards opted to use the amnesty provision in the new collective bargaining agreement to dump him — and the final three years of his contract — from their salary cap, the 6-foot-11 power forward/center more than repaid the Nets for their faith in him. Blatche averaged 10.3 points and 5.1 rebounds, as he and Brook Lopez combined to be the best one-two scoring combination at center in the league.
Because Blatche still is owed several million dollars from the Wizards each of the next two years, the prevailing thought is despite the fact the Nets only can offer him a slight raise over the minimum salary he received this past season, Blatche will be back with the Nets.
tbontemps@nypost.com