Anyone who knows the talented small forward knows humble and Jefferson don?t go together. But Jefferson was humbled and frustrated by having his best statistical season when the Nets had their worst as a team during his seven years there.

"Dealing with the situation last year ? like J-Kidd, who was such a historic guy for that franchise and him wanting out ? it was very frustrating to have a career year and to have so much crazy stuff going on," Jefferson said before his first game against the Nets on Friday night at the Bradley Center. "It wasn?t ever that the team wasn?t good, but you can tell there was something off kilter with the team. There was a little frustration."

"Last year was humbling for me."

Yet Jefferson, who was sent to Milwaukee for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons, always wanted to remain a Net and reflected favorably on his time in New Jersey.

When he talked about his greatest moment ? Game 6 against Toronto in the 2006 playoffs ? it typified one of the reasons things eventually went south for him with the Nets: He wanted to be their go-to guy.

"To this day my biggest moment of my career was being able to hit that shot against Toronto," Jefferson said, "having the ball in my hands and making a play and going down and making a defensive play. That?s when I was on a high personally because I wanted an opportunity. That?s all I wanted was an opportunity."

Jefferson wanted coach Lawrence Frank to go to him as much as Vince Carter late in games. But Carter is the better player, playmaker and shot-maker.

It led to some philosophical differences and jealousy because Jefferson always was the Nets? third wheel ? first behind Kidd and Kenyon Martin and then Kidd and Carter.

Then, around the time Jefferson was traded, reports surfaced saying that he was "selfish," which upset him because he played hurt and had many different roles during the team?s glory years.

"That?s why I kept my mouth shut for so long to the media," he said. "There were a lot of emotions there and I didn?t want my emotions to come out and say something I might regret."

Jefferson left as the Nets? second-leading NBA scorer. He probably would have been No. 1 in many categories had he stayed. But Jefferson said, "I think everybody saw the writing on the wall."

One of Jefferson?s biggest regrets was not winning a championship, but like Kidd, has said what the team accomplished means a lot.

"The only satisfaction was I was part of a group that made an organization relevant because they really were irrelevant for so many years," Jefferson said. "I look at all the records team-wise ? winning 10 straight games in the playoffs, winning 14 straight versus the Eastern Conference. I know these things in my head because they meant something to me and they meant something to my teammates.

"I remember I used to shoot on the same hoop every day from my rookie year and there were no banners there. And every year we put up another banner to the point where I think there?s six banners there ? four division championships and two conference championships. That was great to see the impact you had on the franchise from no history in the NBA to six things in six years."

E-mail: iannazzone@northjersey.com