Those are just three of Harris? now-signature moves the rest of the NBA is struggling to stop. Here?s the scary thought.

"You haven?t seen it all," Harris said.

"When you got the freedom, it?s amazing to find out what you can do. Half the stuff I don?t even know what I?m going to do before I do it."

Before this season, Harris averaged 10 points and never hit 30 in 276 games. This season, Jason Kidd?s replacement is averaging 24.8 points and has scored at least 30 six times in his last 11 games, including a career-best 47 Sunday, leading the Nets to their first win in Phoenix since 1993.

It?s early, but Harris, 25, is a favorite for the NBA?s Most Improved Player Award and could be a first-time All-Star. As of Thursday, he ranked fifth in scoring, second in fourth-quarter points (8.5) and second in foul shots attempted (11.3).

"I think he?s on a mission to show that he?s one of the top players in the league," Nets president Rod Thorn said.

Harris, whose Nets host Minnesota tonight, credits many things for his emergence, including a conversation with general manager Kiki Vandeweghe before playing Detroit on Nov. 7.

Vandeweghe told Harris to play care-free Basketball. After totaling 35 points in three games before the chat, Harris scored 38 points against Detroit and has averaged 28.2 since.

"Basically, I felt that he wasn?t himself," Vandeweghe said.

"I saw him kind of thinking out there, really trying to be technically correct all the time. I felt he?s such a good Basketball player with so much speed and talent that I wanted him to just go out there and play."

"It was a load off," Harris said. "He wanted me to just have fun. The looser you are the better you play."

Harris said coach Lawrence Frank letting him have more offensive control, which former Dallas coach Avery Johnson wouldn?t, is the biggest difference.

With Harris literally taking the ball and running with it, the Nets have won 7-of-10 and are 9-5 with him in the lineup.

"It feels good to go out there and have plays run for you," Harris said.

"It feels good to control the offense at certain points, to know that in the fourth quarter the ball?s going to be in your hands. It?s all the things you want as a point guard. It?s all the things I was striving for in Dallas. I have it here now."

Harris almost wasn?t here.

Before the Nets-Mavericks? blockbuster last February, a three-team deal was discussed that would have sent Harris to Portland and Jarrett Jack to New Jersey .

The Nets are happy they didn?t do that. They wisely waited for something better and seem to have gotten the better of the deal.

Harris is 10 years younger than Kidd and still improving. The Nets hope LeBron James and the other potential big-named 2010 free agents are taking notice of Harris? star play.

"I?m just playing carefree," Harris said. "That?s the whole difference, and being in attack mode.

"That?s it. Just not worrying about mistakes and just going out there and making plays and trying new things out. You never know what you can do until you try."

BRIEF: Frank has given an open invitation to former Nets assistants Eddie Jordan and Mike O?Koren, fired last week by Washington, to attend practices and games.

E-mail: iannazzone@northjersey.com