Brooklyn Nets fire head coach Jacque Vaughn. What comes next?
Given the Nets have just fired a second head coach in as many years, it may be that it’s time for the franchise to take a deeper look at what’s going on.
Not even a week removed from a disastrous loss to the Boston Celtics, the Brooklyn Nets have seemingly decided they’ve seen enough. With that, the team is now without a head coach and - it must be said - no closer to improving its dismal record.
Nets fire Jacque Vaughn
According to a team announcement on Monday morning, the Brooklyn Nets have fired head coach Jacque Vaughn. Currently outside of the top 10 in the Eastern Conference with a record of 21-33, one can say the move is a shock but not a surprise. To be clear, the team has 28 games left to play in the regular season which is to say, this change comes at a less-than-ideal time. In their most recent outing, the Nets lost to the Boston Celtics 136-86. Needless to say, the 50-point deficit was likely the nail in Vaughn’s proverbial coffin. Yet, one has to wonder, is it the coach’s fault?
Take a moment to reflect on the situation that Vaughn came into. Following a stint as interim coach after Kenny Atkinson was fired in 2020, Vaughn kept his place on staff under Atkinson’s replacement, Steve Nash. When Nash himself was shown the door last season, it was once again Vaughn who was called upon to serve as interim coach. Yes, it’s true that the Nets quickly removed the ‘interim’ tag, but it wasn’t long before things started to go astray. By mid-season, Kyrie Irving’s contract extension talks faltered and it wasn’t long before he was on his way to the Dallas Mavericks. That blow was promptly followed by Kevin Durant’s departure: The former MVP was traded to the Phoenix Suns. As you can imagine, the loss of two All-Stars was too much and with that, the descent began. There was hope after a very decent 13-10 start to the season, but they’ve gone 8-23 since then, which brings us back to the present situation, which isn’t good.
So, where do the Brooklyn Nets go from here?
That’s hard to say. On one side, it’s clear that the roster lacks star power with the void created by the loss of Durant and Irving. On the other hand, a rebuild isn’t exactly practical given how many first-round picks the franchise gave up when it traded for James Harden from the Houston Rockets. There may yet be hope in the idea that the Nets have accumulated some decent picks in recent trades, however, benefiting from them is going to take time. What that means is that the team’s immediate challenge is to stay afloat while waiting. Regardless, what we now know is that Vaughn won’t be there when that process begins.