Deadlines and Commitments - No. 76

After a night like Tuesday in Orlando, the season cannot end too soon.  We will soon be officially in the off-season, where the decisions come at GMs fast and furious.

For the Nets' Sean Marks, there will be decisions on a new coach-- which might have to wait till other teams finish play; the Draft --how to spend that $3.5 million on second rounders; free agency -- who to sign or re-sign on the 2016 class or should wait till 2017 bonanza; the D-League --there's a GM and a coach to hire there, too, an expansion draft in September and the regular draft in November.

For players, there are options to consider and futures to decide. Not to mention national team competitions, including the Rio Olympics. Here's the et cetera, et cetera.

April 13 -- Last game of the regular season. Luxury --and repeater-- tax calculations are based on the team's payroll on this date. After the buyouts of Andrea Bargnani and Joe Johnson and the signing of Sean Kilpatrick, the Nets are currently about $4.5 million under the threshold.

April 13-16 -- Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Portsmouth, VA. College seniors work out for NBA GMs and scouts. Second round prospects at best. Teams often fill out summer league rosters with players they see here.

April 14 -- tiebreakers for draft picks decided. Probably won't effect Nets. See June 27 for information on Nets - Clippers second round swap.  Teams that don't qualify for the playoffs can make trades. As teams gets eliminated from the playoffs, they too can make deals. But it's rare. Most teams wait till the NBA Draft.

April 15 -- NBA playoff roster deadline. Once waived, players have plenty of time to make a decision on where to go.

May 11-15 -- NBA Draft Combine 2016 in Chicago  The best prospects get measured, interviewed and worked out. Nets will be there. Hey, ya never know.

May 17 -- NBA Draft Lottery 2016.  Depending on where the Nets finish, and where the ping pong balls fall, this could be one of the more  painful dates in Nets history.

June 10-12 -- adidas EUROCAMP in Treviso, Italy. The European version of the NBA Pre-Draft Combine.  Nets always send a contingent to Treviso, outside Venice, for the event. Expect this year to be more serious after Sean Marks recent and repeated comments about he hopes the Nets can make up for lost picks with a mix of overseas players and D-Leaguers.

June 15 - Thomas Robinson must decide on his $1,050,961 million player option for 2016-17.

June 27 -- NBA Draft. No first rounder. Nets will have to swap second rounders with the Clippers unless LAC finishes with a top five record. As of now, the Nets will have to swap picks. The difference?  A lot, 21 places, from No. 34 to 55. The Nets will also likely buy a pick or two, as they have every year but 2013 since Prokhorov bought the team. Those second rounders could be signed to a Long Island Nets contract with the Nets retaining the players' NBA rights.

June 27 -- Trade exception of $1,357,080 from the Mason Plumlee trade expires.

June 29 -- Two Nets with player options for 2016-17 must decide on whether to exercise them: Shane Larkin and Wayne Ellington are owed a total of $3,067,000.

June 30 -- Nets must decide whether to exercise a $6.3 million team option on Jarrett Jack or pay Jack a $500,000 guarantee.  The decision will be easy, particularly after Jack's devastating knee injury.

June 30 -- Last day the Nets can make Markel Brown and Willie Reed restricted free agents. They must offer Brown $1,180,431 for 2016-17 and Reed $1,215,696. Nets also control Reed’s Early Bird Rights.

July 1 -- Free agency begins.  The Nets are expected to have around $40 million to play with, the seventh most in the NBA.  Teams can contact but not yet sign free agents. However, rumors of signings start to leak out just after midnight. Biggest stars decide first.

July 4 - 9 -- Croatia (Bojan Bogdanovic) and Italy will face off in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Torino, Italy.  It will be difficult for either to advance to the Olympics. Competition is tough.

July 6 - Moratorium on signings ends. According to Woj, the NBA and NBPA have agreed to move the date for signings up from July 12. Teams can officially sign free agents. Nets can sign Juan Pablo Vaulet.if they want.

July 8 - 18 -- Tentative dates for Las Vegas Summer League. Nets won't participate in Orlando Summer League this year, ending a decade-long run in the Magic-run league.  So we have to assume they will participate in Vegas SL.  Last summer, the Nets participated in both Orlando and Las Vegas.

July 13 -- Trade exception of $2,170,465 from the Steve Blake trade expires.

August 5- 21 -- Rio Olympics.  As of now, no Nets player is likely to play. Juan Pablo Vaulet's Argentina team has qualified but it's uncertain that he will make the squad.

August 31 -- Stretch payment deadline. If the Nets wanted to stretch a player, they must do it by this date.

August 31 - September 17 -- FIBA Europe Qualifying Round will play out at various venues.  European national teams who didn't make the Olympics or the Olympic qualifying round must compete for places in the FIBA Eurobasket in 2017..   Only current Net who will likely play is Sergey Karasev for Team Russia.

Early September - D-League expansion draft usually take place around now.  The three new clubs - The Long Island Nets, WIndy City Bulls and Greensboro Swarm -- will get a shot at grabbing players from a pool of unprotected players among the league's established teams.

September 10 -- If the Nets don't sign Juan Pablo Vaulet, they must extend him non-guarantee tender by this date or lose his rights and make him an unrestricted free agent. It's highly likely they will retain his rights.

October 1 -- Training camps open with Media Day.

Early November - D-League draft. This is a conference call affair, nothing like the big league's extravaganza.  The L.I. Nets will have picks.

Mid-November - Long Island Nets open their first season in Barclays Center.  Expect it to be a double-header with the Brooklyn Nets.