Yup, winning in the NBBA can be a challenge. You have to protect home court with Normals (and watch out for getting CTed). You have to try and steal a game on the road every once in a while. You have to watch your competition buy $200k US NT players by the handful. All part of the fun!
Selling and relegating is a viable strategy, even with the salary floor. You can pick up a couple high potential decent 21-24 year olds to reach the floor and get a solid season of training for them and clear a couple hundred thousand a week. Or, you can clear off the staff $$ and make even more if you don't care about training at all.
You had some bad luck on the placement - I think the Great 8 will dominate in intra-league competition this season.