NBA

New Nets GM promises to work with Johnson to win title

Usually, the horse comes before the cart, the crawling before the walking, the general manager before the coach.

“As a rule, yes. In this case, no,” Nets outgoing president Rod Thorn said yesterday, after probably the last official act of his 10-year reign, introducing Billy King, his successor as general manager.

King will work with Thorn’s coaching choice, Avery Johnson.

“Avery certainly had input into this decision,” Thorn said. “It was very important that we get somebody that Avery would have an affinity for and the GM would have an affinity for him.”

What the Nets hope is a perfect match formally began with King promising to have the franchise playing for a championship but asking for the universal fan trait: patience.

“We’re not striving for anything but a championship,” said King, 44, a Duke product who wants — as does his coach — a team based on defense. “It may take a couple of years to get there, but we’re going to do our best.”

So how does King (who outpointed fellow Blue Devils alumnus Danny Ferry for the job) want the new Nets to play?

“Play great defense, be very athletic and run up-and-down the floor,” King said. “Be very aggressive defensively. I hope the referees aren’t listening, but you’ve got to be physical. You’ve got to take it to your opponent rather than wait for them to come to you.”

That sounds like Johnson’s mantra. And it should, because of that whole “affinity” thing Thorn referred to between Johnson and King, who accepted the job Tuesday night. Johnson had his say in the hiring and he wasn’t going to back a candidate with a different basketball world view.

“None, none whatsoever,” Johnson said when asked if he foresaw any problems. “And I don’t anticipate any.”

It’s the same for King, who had a 10-year run as president and general manager of the 76ers.

“He’ll have a big input,” King said of Johnson. “If you have a coach, you want their input because you want to know what they’re thinking, what their thought process is, players they need to be successful.”

King, signed for three years and $6 million, acknowledged the mistakes of his tenure in Philadelphia: trading for Chris Webber being the most notable (though he defended it as a cap space-producing move and also stressed “I’m wiser.”). King thanked Thorn for leaving him a team with virtually an intact roster following three free-agent signings and a trade acquisition.

But King echoed the need for a starting power forward, one who can produce until rookie Derrick Favors ascends to the throne. One line of thinking says the Nets should start Favors early with a veteran (a Kurt Thomas type) behind him. Then, if there is success, they could look at players in the last year of deals (Troy Murphy, Kenyon Martin if healthy) to finish the season. But even with more than $14 million remaining in cap space, King does not want to rush it.

“We have to be patient,” he said. “Just because we need it, we can’t be desperate to do it because I don’t think there’s a player out there in the free-agent market that you can say we’ll sign and it’s, ‘That’s going to guarantee us 10 more wins.’ “

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The Nets officially signed their first-round rookies for two years each. Favors will get $8.576 million and Damion James will get $2.399M. The team holds third- and fourth-year options. . . . Thorn, who led the Nets to two Finals, officially steps down today.

fred.kerber@nypost.com