Throughout the preseason, he sensed something was wrong, that the de-emphasis on defense was going to come back to bite them, and that a profound change in style would be reckless, no matter how much offensive talent the team had assembled.

Everything Cliff Robinson said was spot-on. And though the Nets weren’t a good defensive team when he departed with a meniscus tear on Nov. 18 — they were 5-4 at the time — they have evolved into a terrible one (8-14) in the six weeks hence.

The 40-year-old is too modest to suggest that this is a cause-effect equation. But he vividly recalls crying wolf as early as mid-October.

“I tried to say something,” he said with a shrug last night, before taking the court with his teammates during an open practice at Ramapo College. “But hey, if we’re going to hang our hats on defense, we have to be consistent, do it on a nightly basis. For us to do anything of significance, that’s going to be the end we’re going to have to (improve) on.

“We’ve been able to put up some points, but we haven’t been able to stop anybody on a consistent basis.”

Now, instead of just nagging everyone about it, Robinson is in a position to do something about it.

He took part in last night’s scrimmage, and the Nets will give him back his uniform in time for Chicago’s visit Friday night, nearly seven weeks after injuring his left knee in that Saturday night debacle against Portland. The team has missed him, and he knows it, but he leaves it to others to point it out.

“We’re starting to develop consistency at the defensive end, and he’s one of our best defenders,” Richard Jefferson said. “So it’s good timing. Just to have his veteran leadership is going to be big for us. We have a lot of road games in the next month and a half, so to have another post guy won’t hurt, either.”

“No doubt, we definitely missed him,” said Lawrence Frank, whose team is ranked 16th in scoring defense. “He only played seven games (after his two-game league suspension). The bigs have done a good job, but losing Curly (Nenad Krstic) like we did, we certainly welcome Cliffy back.”

So what went wrong with the defense during his absence? Robinson only cites a lack of commitment — on the part of the players, not the coaches. Asked whether Frank is adamant about defense as he has been in years past, his response was immediate:

“Oh, yeah — he’s even more high-strung than he’s been in the past,” Robinson said. “It still hasn’t worked out to be effective. I can’t put my finger on it. I don’t know if it’s new guys out there, I don’t know if it’s old guys. We just haven’t come together.”

Notes: The trade talks with Charlotte involving Melvin Ely and Jeff McInnis are all but dead: While the Bobs would do the deal for a second-round pick, the Nets’ overarching concern is to avoid the luxury tax, and this deal wouldn’t do it for them. They are $1.7 million over the threshold. But according to ESPN, the Nets and Charlotte were discussing a deal involving McInnis and swingman Bernard Robinson, which would get them below the $65.4 million tax threshold…. Jason Collins (sore back) sat out last night….

The practice was said to be a sellout, but the stands were only two-thirds full…. The most crowd-pleasing moment (aside from some long jumpers from Mikki Moore and Eddie House) actually occurred before the scrimmage, when Frank announced, “The officiating will be better here than in an NBA game.” Basically, there wasn’t any, other than out-of-bounds calls….

With two more off-days, the Nets’ social calendar is full: Three rookies (Marcus Williams, Josh Boone, Hassan Adams) will read to fifth-graders at Martin Luther King Elementary School in Edison today at 2, while Boki Nachbar and Mile Ilic will visit 50 children in the pediatric unit at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick…. Friday marks the start of the 10-day contract period, but with Robinson returning, the Nets don’t have a need to bring in anyone.

http://www.nj.com/nets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1167802553121830.xml&coll=1

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