The Brooklyn Nets fired their head coach Jacque Vaughn a few days ago in a decision that was made with the greater good of the team in mind.
The Nets, who have been subpar this season, have been subject to a series of changes with little to no strategic plan for the team and this move aims to solidify a long-term project keeping the success of the team in mind, especially with the presence of a very talented core.
Cam Thomas says he assumed Jacque Vaughn firing was a prank
The news of the Brooklyn Nets’ decision was kept so tightly under wraps that even the team’s players were unaware of their coach’s dismissal. When Brooklyn superstar Cam Thomas was asked about the move, he stated that he had no knowledge of Jacque Vaughn’s departure from the team.
Under Jacque Vaughn, Cam Thomas was one of the players suffered the most with a period of uncertainty and identity crisis that was caused by the coach’s lack of foundation. Despite averaging 21.2 points per game this year, Thomas found himself on a roller-coaster ride with Vaughn’s inconsistent rotations, leaving the player unsure of his role within the Brooklyn Nets.
As the Nets hope to come back strong from the All-Star break with much-needed rejuvenation, Cam Thomas was very candid in his goals and objectives for the season.
Addressing their future without Jacque Vaughn, Cam said, “At the end of the day, you’ve got to get wins, got to make the playoffs. So the front office made the decision they felt was best for the team as an organization.”
At the same time Thomas also stated that he was unaware of the change and initially thought it was a prank being played on him.
Cam said, “I found out when Sean [Marks] told me. I didn’t even know. I saw it on the internet, but I thought it was like a prank or something. But Sean called and informed me. It’s unfortunate, but it’s what comes with it. You don’t want to see nobody lose their job at the end of the day. It’s tough, but it’s what comes with it.”
While Jacque Vaughn’s firing was a surprise, it comes as a solution to the problems the team had been facing on the court due to Vaughn’s lack of strategy and planning.
Why was HC Jacque Vaughn dismissed by the Nets?
While the Nets did not provide any solid reason for Jacque Vaughn’s firing, it is understood that the decision was influenced by the growing tensions within the team for a sense of leadership and hierarchy, an aspect that was absent under Vaughn’s tutelage.
Coaching the team for over two years, Vaughn concludes his tenure in Brooklyn with a record of 71-68. However, he had a disappointing playoff history with the team, going 0-8. This season, the Nets currently hold a record of 21-33, placing them 2.5 games behind the 10th seed, the Atlanta Hawks. At this rate, the team is not on track to participate in the Play-In Tournament.
NBA insider Shams Charania raised concerns about the coach’s approach, noting its lack of the definitive foundation that the Brooklyn Nets desperately need. Charania mentioned that multiple players had been “pretty vocal behind the scenes for months now about how the offence was running”.
The insider added, “They felt like a lot of what Vaughn was running was being run improperly, without structure. Vaughn came into the year and said, ‘We’re gonna run a free-for-all offence.’ And the team, from what I gather, has been pretty bonded on the fact that developing a hierarchy was important. And when they went into training camp, a lot of their offence was built around Ben Simmons, and him playing at the 1, and him playing at a high level for them.”
While the Nets have not appointed any replacement, they announced that assistant coach Kevin Ollie would be taking over as the team’s interim coach while the team figures out the perfect candidate for the coaching job, a candidate that bring much-needed stability to the team.
