Nets hope interim coach Kevin Ollie can provide a spark for a play-in tournament push
The decision to fire Nets coach Jacque Vaughn wasn’t just about the team’s lackluster and listless 50-point loss in Boston before the All-Star break.
General manager Sean Marks said Monday’s decision was about multiple things besides that performance, including the 6-18 record starting with a Dec. 27 loss to the Bucks where players were rested and the lack of effort displayed in games.
“At the end of the day, we’re in a results-driven business,” Marks said Tuesday. “I look back and said, ‘Well, this isn’t where this team needs to be and this is not the direction we need to be headed in.’ So that’s when you need to make these tough decisions.”
Marks added the decision was made in consultation with co-owner Joe Tsai and that he did not speak with the players. Mikal Bridges echoed the sentiments after practice that neither he nor other players were asked for their input.
Vaughn’s dismissal came nearly a year after he signed a multiyear extension and 15 months after he replaced Steve Nash. It’s another jolt to the continuity the Nets wanted as they’ve hiccuped and stumbled toward a 21-33 record and 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
This is the situation that awaits Kevin Ollie, who was named interim coach Tuesday morning. Ollie, who was hired by Vaughn this past offseason, oversaw his first practice and made it clear from the start the Nets need an energy boost with time running short between now and the end of the season.
“We got 28 games in 55 days,” said Ollie, who won a national championship as UConn’s head coach in 2014. “We want to make a push, make a push for a playoff run, and that’s what I want our guys to concentrate on. The playoffs is one thing, but it’s every day. Can we win every day? I think those results will follow that.”
The change in leadership hopes to spark a team that’s lost five of their last six games. The inconsistent play needed a response and that’s what led to Vaughn’s firing. Marks said it prompted him to also consider his role as he and the front office plan to take their time finding the Nets’ next coach.
“I absolutely take accountability for the roster,” Marks said. “You debrief on it and reflect and say our objective now is to find the right coach for this group of young men and what it looks like moving forward for that guy.”
It also means the Nets need to improve quickly, starting with a four-game road trip that begins Thursday in Toronto.
“I’m gonna learn from the past for the future, and prepare for right now,” Ollie said. “And right now, it’s for us to get better in everything we do, every cut that we do, how we talk to one another, how we go out and pursue the day and how we win the day.”
For Bridges, it’s finding what the team has lost since they were 13-10 on Dec. 13. He challenged himself to have better body language and keep teammates accountable while asking for the same in return.
It was the same direct tone he took criticizing the Nets’ play on Feb. 14 in Boston. Now he and the Nets expect things to be different or they’ll find themselves outside of the postseason in two months.
“It’s tough but ain’t no time to whine and cry about it,” Bridges said of the coaching change. “You got 28 games [left], you got to be ready. And like I said, it happens all the time. So, obviously, it’s tough but you know, main goal is to win so we got to keep going [and] keep the main goal the main goal.”
Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
