Mikal Bridges, Ben Simmons target playoffs

When the Nets dealt away superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving at last season’s trade deadline, they lowered the bar.

From a pole vault down to a game of limbo.

But just because the championship window is closed, it doesn’t mean the retooling Nets can’t exceed expectations. From Las Vegas to the NBA GMs, most have them pegged as either struggling to make the play-in or missing the postseason altogether.

Just don’t tell the players in their locker room. To them, a top-six finish in the Eastern Conference is a goal — along with winning a round in the playoffs.

“We want to be a playoff team,” point guard Ben Simmons told The Post. “Playoffs is where we need to be at the end of the day.

“We’re not [rebuilding]. No one is here thinking, ‘Oh, we’re a rebuilding team’ or anything like that. We’re here to win. We’ve got the players to do it, we’ve got the coaching staff.”

The oft-injured Simmons is the biggest X factor, and wing Mikal Bridges the most complete player. If Simmons can return to form and Bridges put together a breakthrough season, the Nets can exceed their bottomed-out expectations.

Brooklyn is projected to win just 37.5 games by DraftKings, in a three-way tie with Chicago and Orlando for the last two play-in spots. And the annual league GM survey only predicted seven deep in the Eastern Conference, with the Nets missing the cut.

“I just try to be the best team we can be when it’s all said and done,” Bridges told The Post. “We know at the end of the year, if we get the best out of what we have, and our schemes and our players everything, which to me I think playoffs [is the goal], and even winning a series.”

Starting five

1. Can Ben Simmons stay healthy and happy?

This isn’t the elephant in the room. This is the Kaiju overshadowing the house.

Simmons’ health history — both mental and physical — is a concern. It has to be. The 27-year-old missed all of 2021-22, citing both a bad back and mental health issues. Then, after undergoing back surgery following that season, he rushed back and was ineffectual. Simmons played through pain and averaged career lows of just 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists before being shut down after 42 games.

Uncertainty over when or if Simmons would ever regain his form contributed to Kevin Durant requesting a trade, having been left feeling like the last man standing after first James Harden and then Kyrie Irving had already forced exits. Now Simmons is the only former All-Star on the roster, trying to restart his career.

“I’m going to be better than I was,” Simmons told The Post. “My job is just to show up, perform, work my ass off and lead this team the right way. So it’s doing all the little things, and everything else takes care of itself.”

There were times Simmons and Jacque Vaughn’s relationship was strained last season. The Nets coach demanded things Simmons was physically incapable of doing, while the point guard needed to be more aware of how some of his actions were perceived by teammates. Now both are on the same page, and Simmons is on the mend.

How close Simmons can get back to his old form — a three-time All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year runner-up — will determine the Nets’ season. And considering they’re committed to him for two more years and $78 million, it will also decide their course of action and immediate future.

2. Can Mikal Bridges level up and become an All-Star?

So, the thing about Simmons being the only All-Star …

Mikal Bridges should change that this season. The Nets’ scouts have long valued him and felt he was underrated, but as soon as he arrived he showed potential to be an All-Star and a Most Improved Player candidate.

Before being the centerpiece what came back to Brooklyn in the Durant trade, Bridges was averaging 17.2 points in Phoenix. That was already on pace for a career-best, but after joining the Nets he poured in 26.1 points for them — 27.2 if one ignores a four-second cameo in a meaningless regular-season finale. Bridges was simply dropped into the same actions Brooklyn had run for Durant, and handled them with aplomb.

“Who wouldn’t want this? Who wouldn’t want this type of pressure, this type of expectations?” Bridges asked rhetorically. “If you really love the game and really want to be the best you can be, you’d want this … where you’re the main guy and everything’s on your shoulders. What are you going to do?”

While that kind of scoring might be difficult to match for an entire season, Bridges finished third in Most Improved Player voting and was arguably the highest-rated star on Team USA in this summer’s FIBA World Cup. The arrow is pointed upward, and he has proven nothing if not reliable.

Now, can he prove he’s an All-Star?

3. Can they stay healthy?

It can’t get any worse, right? How’s that for a jinx?

Durant missed 177 games over the prior four seasons, Irving 151 (injuries, suspensions, vaccine refusals, etc.) and Simmons 157 (herniated disc, mental health). Granted, those weren’t all for Brooklyn, but it’s 485 games missed.

Bridges hasn’t missed one since he was a junior … in high school. He holds the third-longest consecutive games played streak in NBA history at 392. And Nic Claxton only missed a single game due to injury last season (the others due to rest or family reasons).

While their core almost has to be more healthy and available than Durant and Irving were, it strains credulity to think Bridges and Claxton won’t miss more than a single game to injury. Oddsmakers have put Simmons at 50.5 games played. If he blows past that, it’ll be season-changing for Brooklyn.

4. Can Jacque Vaughn get the Nets on the same page defensively?

Both Simmons and Bridges are former Defensive Player of the Year runners-up and first-team All-Defensive standouts. Claxton is aiming to reach the same heights, with Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale regarded as stout on that end of the court. Yet Brooklyn struggled in the preseason.

The Nets were 28th in steals and opponents’ turnovers, and 21st in Defensive Rating. Granted, preseason numbers are meaningless, but lack of cohesion isn’t.

“It takes time, as you can see from our first few games,” Claxton told The Post. “But we definitely need to be sharp on that side of the ball to win.”

That means adjusting to a new scheme. After switching 1-through-5 more than anybody else in the league for the past couple of seasons to leverage Claxton, Vaughn is trying to install a more complete, flexible system.

He’ll earn his money.

In the preseason the Nets threw in 2-3 zones, half-court traps, blitzes, switched 1-through-3 and 1-through-4. Their players are going to be asked to change defenses not just game-to-game but every few possessions if need be. How long will it take for them to buy into what’s being said from the front of the film room? And then get comfortable executing that out on the court?

5. What is their ceiling, and do they move it?

The departures of Durant and Irving slammed the Nets’ championship window shut. They’ll come into this season with significantly lower expectations.

While only a title — or at least an NBA Finals appearance — would’ve been a successful result in the Big 3 era, what exactly constitutes success now? What exactly is this team’s ceiling?

“I don’t think, as a group, we know our ceiling,” Spencer Dinwiddie said this month. “Knowing that we don’t have our picks, obviously we’re not going to tank. No team that’s trying to be competitive wants to be in the play-in, so I’d say by process of elimination, that’s where you want to start. As high as we can take it, we want to take it.”

Is that the play-in, as most expect? Or a top-six seed in the playoffs proper? Maybe even winning a round?

After going an up-and-down 13-15 after last season’s trades — including losses to Orlando, Minnesota and Chicago but wins over eventual champion Denver, Boston and Miami (twice) — it’s hard to say.

Nets owner Joe Tsai and GM Sean Marks preferred to stay competitive following the Irving and Durant trade demands, rather than go full rebuild. But they also never got into bidding for aging Damian Lillard, who didn’t fit their timeline. Instead, they’ve kept their powder dry for down the road if any other star — Donovan Mitchell, Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic, etc. —hits the trade market.

Buzzer beaters

Newcomer to watch

Lonnie Walker IV was Brooklyn’s second-leading scorer in the preseason (15.3 points), but more importantly he led them in steals with 1.5. The guard proved he can hit clutch baskets last season during the playoffs with the Lakers, but for him the biggest task is tightening up his defense.

“That is what’s going to keep me on the floor, so I’m really trying to be disciplined. I know I’ve still got a lot to grow on and watch film, but just defense. The offense is going to come,” Walker told The Post. “For me as a role player and for us to win, I’ve got to play defense, rebound, do the dirty work and everything else keeps me on the floor and I can showcase my offensive game.”

Most important decision

Whether to re-sign Nic Claxton. Of course the easy answer is whether to make a deadline-day move or keep their powder dry, but it’s all interrelated. The Nets can’t re-sign Claxton now, and the nuances of the CBA mean the center is guaranteed to hit unrestricted free agency next summer. Rest assured it’s something Marks is already bracing for.

Even if Claxton doesn’t improve and just duplicates last season, he’s set for a nine-figure payday. And it won’t stop at $100 million. The question isn’t so much whether the Nets want to keep Claxton (they do), but just how much it is going to cost them come June.

“We have a lot of guys here that if we win collectively, they have things that they can prove,” Dinwiddie said. “The thing I’d love to see most is Nic get his $100 million. Because I’ve seen him come in the league. … I would say that would be the thing that would make me most happy about this season if there were any individual accomplishments to be had.”

Good days to come

After picking Claxton last season, the center had a breakthrough campaign. This time around, Bridges is a betting favorite to win Most Improved Player. While Bridges shot just 36.6 percent in the preseason, that was partly because Vaughn hadn’t installed any sets for him. That’s changing now as they fine-tune for Wednesday’s opener.