Nets fire Jacque Vaughn as season spirals
The Nets’ dismal season has cost Jacque Vaughn his job.
The team, on a downward spiral that is only picking up steam, announced it had fired Vaughn on Monday, the day after All-Star Weekend.
The Nets have been in a tailspin for quite some time, having dropped 23 of their last 31 games to fall into 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
They were coming off an embarrassing 50-point loss to the Celtics in Boston, their fifth loss in six games, which dropped the Nets’ record to 21-33.
“This was an incredibly difficult decision, but one we feel is in the best interest of the team going forward,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said in a statement. “Jacque has represented this organization with exemplary character and class for the past eight years. The consistent positivity and passion he poured into our team daily will remain with the players and staff he interacted with throughout his tenure. We thank Jacque for all he has done for the Nets and the borough of Brooklyn, and wish him, Laura and their family nothing but the best in the future.”
Kevin Ollie was promoted to interim head coach and will run practice on Tuesday, a league source confirmed.
Ollie led Connecticut to a national championship in 2014 and joined the Nets this season as an assistant coach.
This could become the Nets’ first in-depth coaching search since hiring Kenny Atkinson in 2016.
Vaughn was promoted from interim status and Steve Nash had a preexisting relationship with Marks and Kevin Durant.
Vaughn becomes the third Eastern Conference coach to lose his job, joining Wes Unseld Jr. (Wizards) and Adrian Griffin (Bucks).
In parts of three seasons as the Nets’ coach, he was 71-68 during the regular season and 0-8 in the playoffs.
After trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving prior to last year’s trade deadline, they finished sixth in the Eastern Conference, but were swept out of the first round by the 76ers.
In his eighth season with the Nets, Marks has now fired three coaches in Vaughn, Atkinson and Nash. Whether he gets the opportunity to hire a fourth full-time coach is uncertain.
The 49-year-old Vaughn joined the Nets in 2016 as an assistant coach and took over on an interim basis when Atkinson was fired during the 2020 season.
After Nash was fired, Vaughn took over as a full-time head coach. He signed a multiyear contract extension last February.
The Nets actually started this season well, winning 13 of their first 23 games. But very little has gone right since, and Vaughn was made the scapegoat for the team’s many shortcomings.
SNY’s Ian Begley reported that some players were losing confidence in the coach amid the team’s struggles and there was some concern Vaughn could negatively impact the Nets’ chances at attracting star players in the future.
There were also persistent issues in games like a lack of adjustments and blown fourth-quarter leads.
Asked if it was an offensive or defense problem, Cam Thomas said recently: “Ask the coach.”
Standout wing Mikal Bridges sounded the alarm after the ugly loss to the Celtics, questioning the team’s effort.
“That’s the biggest part, whatever the game plan was, we have to do that with effort. We didn’t have that, especially in the beginning,” Bridges said. “You can’t just let this go and think like, ‘Oh, let it drop.’ Like, no. You got beat by 50, it’s not just let it go. A lot of s–t is not right and you gotta fix it.”
Bridges, however, also said he didn’t believe players were tuning Vaughn out. But it didn’t show in the win-loss column, leading to this move.
The Nets hope the first step to fixing their many problems was a coaching change. Their first game after the break is Thursday against the Raptors in Toronto.
