#Nets raising NBA restart expectations despite decimated roster

The Nets’ roster might be decimated, but their confidence appears to be just fine. They’re not managing expectations, but raising them.

Despite the fact they will depart for Disney on Tuesday missing a huge chunk of their firepower, some young Nets are putting on a brave face about their chances in an NBA restart they’ll tip off July 31 against the Magic. Like, knocking-off-the-champs brave.

“I think we have to be in the playoffs for sure,” Rodions Kurucs said Monday in a Zoom call.

“First round, if we are the seventh seed, we’re going to go against Toronto probably. We definitely have a chance. We’ve been competing with that team, and I definitely think we can beat them in Round 1, go to Round 2, and then we will see from there who we are facing.”

Sure, neither Brooklyn nor Orlando want any part of having to deal with NBA-leading Milwaukee in the first round of the playoffs; but the shorthanded Nets may have their hands full even limping into the postseason, much less knocking off the defending champs.

Brooklyn is bereft of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Wilson Chandler, DeAndre Jordan and Nic Claxton, while Spencer Dinwiddie tested positive for COVID-19.

“We can accomplish as much as we want,” Jarrett Allen said. “Obviously we don’t have damn near half of our team. [But] we can go out there and do what Brooklyn has been known to do when we’ve been faced with adversity: Play our hardest and play with a bunch of grit.”

They’re going to need all that grit, especially if Dinwiddie can’t play.

The Nets are clinging to a precarious half-game lead over Orlando for the seventh seed in the East. They’re six games clear of ninth-place Washington, and are 0-4 versus the Magic and Wizards, who they’ll face in their first two games.

“I’m pretty confident in our team,” Dzanan Musa said. “I think we have the quality to keep up with that seventh seed.

“The first game will be important for us. We’re playing in Orlando. They’re not traveling too much, they’re right there; they’re kind of in their environment. But we will attack them and I hope we will present ourselves in the best way and get that seventh seed.”

The Nets have the fourth-easiest schedule in the so-called seeding games, but they’re just 10-12 against the teams they’ll face. And Orlando’s slate is even more forgiving, the third-softest.

After opening up against Orlando and Washington, the Nets will face Milwaukee and East No. 3 Boston. Then they play Sacramento, the West No. 2 seed Clippers, and Orlando again before wrapping up against Portland.

The Nets face three teams in the top 4 of the overall NBA standings (Bucks, Raptors, Clippers), while Orlando faces just one (Toronto). And if Washington can claw within four games of the eighth seed, they would force a play-in tourney for the last playoff spot.

It’s obvious why beating Orlando in the restart and again on Aug. 11 is so important — if the Nets have designs on the playoffs.

“Orlando, coming into the stretch of the season had been playing extremely well. I think they’re more healthy than us right now as a team,” said interim coach Jacque Vaughn. “That’s where it’s going to be extremely important for us to try to jell as quickly as possible.”

Vaughn wasn’t just talking up the Magic. They not only have one of the easier slates, but should get back big man Jonathan Isaac and be completely healthy. The Nets are anything but.

Still, missing the playoffs wouldn’t be catastrophic long term. The Nets own the 76ers’ first-round pick, and if they fall into the lottery, they would retain their own pick (slated for Minnesota).