Nets boss had bumpy ride in surgery

So is Thorn's new knee. On even days he's been rehabbing it in Manhattan. On odd days he's been taking therapy at the Nets practice site in New Jersey.

This just in: Kiki Vandeweghe and Glen Grunwald have gotten clean bills of health so there won't be a Part III.

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In 2007, the Bulls offered guard Ben Gordon $50 million for five years. The compulsive scorer asking price was $75M.

In 2008, the Bulls essentially offered their restricted free agent the same package - $58M over six. Gordon lowered his sights to $12M per.

Now let's do the math:

Gordon played last season for $6M and will play this season for the Bulls' qualifying offer of $6.4M. Meaning, he has given up almost $8M.

Should Gordon get his fantasy number as an unrestricted free agent this summer from the Bulls or in a sign-and-trade, he will have a deal that pays what he wants at $12M a year, a deal that pays him $72M over six. Now include his compensation for the previous two years of about $12M and he's pocketed $84M for eight.

Of course, had Gordon taken the Bulls' initial offer of $50M for five, and then got a bump of a mere $2M after that contract expired and signed for $12M for three, he'd bank $86M for eight years.

And we haven't even broached the risk involved by Gordon not accepting the Bulls' two fair-market offers.

Wonder if Gordon heard what happened to Shaun Livingston? Next question is, how can Gordon possibly hold or increase his value when he's looking at playing fewer minutes this season? Larry Hughes and Thabo Sefolosha play the same position and the athletic 6-5 Swiss is much improved and defensively inclined, something Ben is not.

At the same time, with Derrick Rose on the premises, Kirk Hinrich is expected to see some daylight at the two.

Wonder if Gordon knows the stock market plunged 777.68 points yesterday? Why would anybody gamble $51.6M in today's economic climate? The math makes no sense.

peter.vecsey@nypost.com

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