Nets’ season an expensive failure even if they make playoffs

Even after back-to-back blowout losses to the Bucks and Bulls, the Nets still entered the final two days of the NBA's regular season with a decent chance of making a third straight trip to the postseason.

But while the Nets could still make the playoffs with a win Wednesday over the Magic and a loss by the Pacers to either the Wizards Tuesday or the Grizzlies Wednesday, the fact the Nets are even in this situation says everything you need to know about this group: It just isn't good enough.

That's a damning statement for a roster that started and finished this season with the NBA's highest payroll for a second straight year. But it's also one that's impossible to argue, given the Nets are now going to need help to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference – a hurdle so low it's already lying on the ground.

Nine teams, including the Nets, are going to finish this season with sub. 500 records in the East. There's simply no reason that a Nets team which has enjoyed relatively good health – Mirza Teletovic being lost for the season due to blood clots in his lungs notwithstanding – shouldn't have been able to post a good enough record to make the playoffs without much trouble.

Instead, the Nets find themselves trying to sneak into the final playoff spot in the East ahead of a Pacers team that spent almost the entire season without its best player, Paul George, and a Heat team that's been without Chris Bosh for the past two months.

After Monday's loss, Nets coach Lionel Hollins referenced the tough closing schedule as a factor for the Nets, who faced teams either in or fighting for playoff spots in 14 of their previous 16 games including Monday night's bloodbath against the Bulls.

That doesn't fly, though. Sure, the Nets have done well during that stretch, going 10-6 heading into Wednesday's finale against the Magic. But if the Nets hadn't gone 2-10 against the Heat, Celtics and Bucks this season, if they hadn't lost to the Timberwolves and 76ers are home, if they hadn't had three separate losing streaks of at least five games, they wouldn't be in a position where a tough closing schedule could have an impact.

But the Nets did all of those things, and so they entered the final 48 hours of the regular season waiting to see if things worked out in their favor. Whether they do or not, however, the Nets should enter the offseason with plenty to think about with regard to the makeup of this team moving forward.

The trio of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez – the core that was supposed to make the Nets a contender in Brooklyn when it was assembled in the summer of 2012 – has combined to make roughly $160 million over the past three years which, if the Nets fail to make the postseason, will have resulted in eight playoff victories and one series win.

Lopez will have the chance to opt out of the final year of his contract and hit free agency – something he's widely expected to do after his impressive last two months – and the Nets will have to decide whether to commit a massive long-term contract to an equally massive human being who has had multiple issues with his right foot over the past few years.

Meanwhile, there's always a chance the Nets will revisit the possibility of moving Williams and/or Johnson this summer, as they have no interest in paying the luxury tax – and being subject to the dreaded "repeater" tax rate in the process – while also trying to save as much cap space as possible for the free agency bonanza that's set to take place when the new television contract kicks in next summer.

And none of that even takes into account the fact the Nets will be swapping picks with the Eastern Confernce leading Hawks this year, and are set to give the Celtics their picks outright in 2016 and '18 and swap picks with them in 2017 – all of which adds insult to injury in what has already been an incredibly disappointing season.

There will be plenty of time to examine all of that, however. For now, only one thing about the Nets matters: the first 81 games have proven they aren't good enough. Whether or not they manage to catch some luck and squeak into the playoffs in a historically weak Eastern Conference won't change that.

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