The Nets are still going to be bad, but for the sake of looking at this positively:
Look around the bottom of the Eastern conference this season. The Bulls, Hawks, Magic, and Pacers are going to be awful. Really bad. The Nets didn't really have any tanking competition in the East last season but they will this year. Even if the Nets are terrible and win 25 games, could there be 3 or 4 more teams win 24 games or less, just in the East?
I think it's possible.
Throw in bad years from the Lakers, Suns, and Kings and there is a universe in which the Nets are just as bad as we thought but they wind up with the 7th pick in a 5 player draft.
Here's hoping.