Nets making playoffs a big accomplishment after tumultuous season 

The question posed to Jacque Vaughn was simple:

What would it mean for the Nets to qualify for the NBA playoffs after such a tumultuous regular season?

It was a decidedly big-picture question for a coach who is hyper-focused on the immediate. And so he determined the best course of action would be to postpone his answer to some point in the future.

“Yeah, I'd love to answer that question when that happens,” Vaughn said before the Nets’ matchup against the Timberwolves at Barclays Center Tuesday night. “And when it happens — if it happens — I will definitely have that answer for you. But we're going to try to play [the] Minnesota Timberwolves tonight and get a ‘W.’ Fair?”

It is not a matter of whether the Nets will qualify for the playoffs. Rather, it is a matter of when they will. And whether they will be the sixth seed or be relegated to the play-in round.

“Continue to get better every day," Cam Johnson said after the Nets shootaround. "Continue to get better every day and let the games take care of themselves. And you know, just try to be the best version of our team that we can be.”

Entering Tuesday night’s game against the Timberwolves, the Nets (43-35) needed a win plus a loss by the Heat — who were visiting Detroit — to clinch the sixth seed. And they were aware of the stakes heading into the second of two regular-season matchups against the Timberwolves (39-40)

“Those guys have communicated with each other,” Vaughn said. “Which is good. I think they know the importance of each game . . . They are cognizant of what’s going on in the league and we have a very aware group overall that pays attention and watches games when it isn’t our game”

For a franchise whose goal at the start of the season was, essentially, championship or bust, just getting in shouldn’t be viewed as an accomplishment. But that theory does not factor in the firing of Steve Nash seven games into the season, plus the trades of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant forcing Vaughn and his almost entirely new roster grow accustomed to each other on the fly.

“It’s part of that expedited jelling,” Vaughn said, when asked about Spencer Dinwiddie’s play since being acquired from Dallas in the Irving trade. In the 23 games Dinwiddie has played with the Nets, he is averaging 16.8 points and 8.7 assists in 35.2 minutes. 

“It’s a difficult task to have a new group around you as a point guard and [have to] figure out does this guy like to shoot leading with his left shoulder or leading with his right shoulder?” Vaughn continued. “If I get to the rim, does Nic [Claxton] like [lob passes] a little above the rim? To the left of the rim? Can he take passes directly at him? So a lot goes into it. These guys are so good. They make it look simple because they do it on a nightly basis. But when you really strip things down and how you can be effective with a new group, you give Spencer an extreme amount of credit for — first of all, doing the film work; doing the relationship piece, getting to know these dudes on more than just a basketball level — so a lot layers to it that you give him credit for.”