How Bad Can They Be?

There are certain things in professional team sports that simply amaze me. Things like the Detroit Lions managing to go 0-16 in the course of a single season. And now there is another team that is going to follow suit. The NBA's New Jersey Nets. The Nets are currently a dismal 3-40...that just seems unacceptable to me. These are professional athletes, supposedly the best of the best at their respective sport. How is it, that out of 43 games they can only manage to win 3 of them? Wouldn't you assume that they could win a few more by accident? I don't really have a lot to say about this topic, just wanted to bring it up and see if anyone had any opinions on it. I personally like the idea of withholding pay or being allowed to release players from their contracts without being required to pay the remainder of the contract if performance continues to slip. Why should it be any different than the standards that regular people working regular jobs are held to?