If anyone has dismissed Jacque Vaughn as an essential part of the New Jersey Nets, he would like to inform them that this won’t be the case for long, regardless of the circumstances he faces in this camp.

Yes, he is now officially at third-stringer, behind Jason Kidd and Jeff McInnis – and perhaps even behind Zoran Planinic, if the Croatian combo guard ever develops the point-guard aptitude that has so far been elusive.

Yes, he is still horrendously underpaid ($745,000), at least for a guy who started 34 games and helped salvage the season last year.

Yes, he is coming off a broken foot, which shortened his season and his summer. And yes, he is still only six feet tall, which is rarely a good thing in this environment.

Those are all plausible reasons why you might never see Vaughn, an eight-year pro out of Kansas University, play meaningful minutes again.

But as the Nets discovered last season, there’s more to Vaughn than meets the eye.

“As he showed last year, he’s always ready,” Lawrence Frank said after Day 5 of camp Saturday. “We’re going to try and figure out how minutes are going to work, rotation patterns, and use the whole preseason. But Jacque always seems to find a way.

“He’s such a great organizer, a great communicator. We’ve put him in some different spots. A lot of times he’s playing with some of the (third-string) newcomers, and he gets those guys organized. He’s an excellent on-ball defender. Jacque’s super. He’s played very well.”

Some players in Vaughn’s position – yes, even those with guaranteed contracts – would be steamed if their organization’s chief off-season goal was to replace them. But by all accounts, and to no one’s surprise, Vaughn welcomed McInnis as a valued addition.

“I’ve been in the league long enough to know this is a business, and you try to get better in the off-season, and we did,” Vaughn said. “We’ve got two quality point guards behind Jason, so we accomplished that goal. But I take the same approach, if I was a single backup or competing for time. That’s always been my approach. Last year it worked out well enough. Things always eventually work out, and they will again.”

One way it can work out: An unspoken unknown about the season is how the 32-year-old Kidd will guard the Allen Iversons and Brevin Knights of the league. Vaughn relieved Kidd of that duty last season, when Kidd was shifted to two-guard. In that way, Vaughn’s value remains strong, every team needs a smurf to guard the other team’s smurf.

“That gives me a little advantage, in that the staff knows I’m committed to defense, and we’re going to need that,” said Vaughn, whose right foot is now stronger than ever.

That is typical Vaughn. He has no sense of entitlement, because the team comes first, last, and foremost. That makes him very popular among his teammates.

As Cliff Robinson put it: “He knows what it takes to be a pro, to do a job, and keep a job. He accepts a role and takes advantage of his opportunities. You need a lot of guys like Jacque.”