For nearly seven months, Kendall Gill got a view of life beyond basketball. He trained. He invested. He saw a future in fitness centers.

“When I get up in the morning, instead of turning on Sports Center, I watch Bloomberg News,” Gill offered.

But that’s for the down-the-road, playing-days-are-done future. There is still plenty of basketball left in the 30-year-old Gill. And so he contemplates the immediate future. And he hopes that future is rooted firmly in New Jersey.

Gill again was mentioned in trade rumors in recent days as speculation and possible deals abounded. Gill has heard rumors before. Gill has been traded before. Last season, there were constant rumors and they got under Gill’s skin. He vows that will not happen this season.

Sure, it’s nice to be wanted. But he promised yesterday, during the opening of Nets training camp, that he’ll play in such a fashion that the Nets will not want to move him.

“I’m not worried about my own future. Once they see me step out on the court all questions [about staying with the Nets] will be answered, said the 6-foot-5, 216-pound Gill who sacrificed so much of his game last season, going from 21.8-point scorer to a 13.4 producer.

“I’m tired of answering those [trade] questions and I put it totally out of my mind. I want to stay here but if I don’t, I don’t,” added Gill. “I answered those questions when we played Detroit last year and when we played the Bulls in the playoffs.”

It was against Detroit, in the final game of the regular season, that Gill was at his Net best. He arose to score 27 points and lead the Nets to the victory that clinched a playoff spot. It was so fitting. Gill had endured the misery of a 26-victory season the previous year when he had a sensational individual campaign. But too often last year, he felt like a party crasher, rather than an invited guest.

“I came on at the end and all and we went to the playoffs but my individual season last year, I wasn’t satisfied with it at all,” said Gill, who looks decidedly bulked up in the upper body and who is sporting a new hair look that has blonde highlights. (“It ain’t natural – check his eyebrows,” said teammate Jayson Williams)

Coach John Calipari said he will lead the cheering for Gill, who on the depth chart is the starting small forward on a front line that has remarkable depth and versatility.

“I am so excited for him. … I want him to have a career year.”

So does Gill. And he wants it in New Jersey.