After the firing of Nash, it was once believed that former Greenshirt coach Amy Yuduka was a strong candidate to take over as the next manager, and Jacques Vaughn may only be responsible for the phased tasks of the change period. Although the Nets did contact Amy Yuduka after the expulsion of Nash, after a series of investigations, coupled with the news a few days ago, an influential person advised Tsai Chongxin not to hire Amy Yuduka, and the plot also took a sharp turn for the worse, and it was determined to correct the current acting head coach Jacques Vaughn. The Nets expect him to be head coach until the 2023-24 season. This is also the second time he has a chance to prove himself after nine years in Brooklyn after being fired by the magic.
Jacques Vaughn, who retired in the summer of 2009, first coached in the post-Warcraft era in 2012-13 after training as an assistant coach for the Spurs for two years at the beginning of the 2010-11 season. At that time, the Magic entered a full rebuild after being selected for Dwight Howard in 2004, and the management was fully younger, not only hiring Rob Hennigan, who was only 30 years old at the time, but also Jacques Vaughan, who had only two years of assistant coaching experience, to replace the famous coach Stan van Gundy.
After taking over the Magic, Jacques Vaughan went 58-158 in two and a half seasons, a winning percentage of only 2 in 69, the lowest percentage of more than 100 games in the Magic's 26 years. In addition, the development of the newcomer Jacques Vaughn was also not very good, and the growth of Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon, and Elfried Payton in those three years was almost stagnant, although a large part of it was attributed to Rob Hennigan's manipulation and draft. But the Magic have been in the bottom three of the league in terms of offensive and defensive efficiency in the past few years in charge, and the team has not only changed air like the 76ers in the four-way deal that shook the league, and having the soon-to-be Nikolai Vucevic, Tobias Harris and the peak Aaron Afrarori should not have to run towards the top every year. It can only be said that although Jacques Vaughn at that time had the golden sign of the Spurs coaching team, his coaching level was not as good as other junior brothers, and he needed more tempering.
After an embarrassing first coaching effort, Jacques Vaughan joined the Nets, who announced a rebuildable and ruined 2016-17 season. Of course, in those years, the Nets, who did not have draft picks and no potential rookies, could only keep looking for young players who others gave up to enrich their strength, and finally returned to the playoffs in 2018-19. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, although the new owner Tsai Chongxin brought Durant and Irving at the same time in the next season, but superstitious big names also broke up peacefully with former head coach Kenny Atkinson because of distrust that they could go to a higher level. At that time, the Nets' new head coach was still in the air, and after deciding to play the play-offs, the Nets also let Jacques Vaughn, who was still the head assistant at the time, directly take the position.
The play-off Nets handed over a total of 50% of the win rate - seven wins and seven losses, when the Nets' offensive main axis revolved around the blocking tactics of Jarrett Allen and Caris Levert, although he may have just regained his coaching whip in the defensive strategy, but as the game progressed, he would change the defensive strategy according to the different teams; Offensive tactics are still poor, and he mostly relies on the self-play of his players, and there are no bright spots. The overall performance was probably moderate, and it was not an unexpected result that the playoffs met the defending Raptors at the time, and the huge gap in combat power was swept by straight four.
In the summer, the Nets hired Nash as Durant's official first coach in the first year of the Nets, and at that time, the Nets were not only star-studded with a list of players, but also the coaching staff had a lot of prospects - there was Michael D'Antoni, defensive coach Amy Yuduka, Stadmeier, who was Nash's good partner in the player era, and the next two years also ushered in more senior and head coach qualifications Steve Clifford, Igor Kokoshkov, but Jacques Vaughn, a veteran who has joined the Nets since the dark days, has been the head assistant coach during these ups and downs. After Nash's expulsion, Jacques Vaughan was once again put into the firing line as a transitional candidate in the search for a new coach.
But to be honest, I still have some doubts about Jacques Vaughan as manager. Whether it is his dismal coaching report card in the past, or there are many people who have a better resume than him on the table, but the mess of the Nets at this stage has made all famous coaches already avoided, fearing that this muddy water will make them late in the season, to be honest, in the entire process of finding a new coach, it is rare that there are no coaches who want to interview. To make a comparison, the Lakers, who have been sluggish in the past two years, also have Darwin Hamm, Kenny Atkinson, and Terry Stotts as three options; On the contrary, the Nets only have the choice of whether to hire Amy Yuduka, although it is not sure whether it is the Nets and only wants to find Amy Yuduka, but the final result is that Jacques Vaughn is indeed not the best choice to take over as head coach.
After taking over as manager, Jacques Vaughan led the team to a 3-2 record, and this is a record that Ben Simmons took a few games due to injury and Irving was suspended for five venues. It is believed that the performance of the substitute during this period also increased Jacques Vaughn's chances of succeeding in the position. General manager Sean Marks mentioned at the press conference: "Jacques Vaughn's acumen for basketball and his understanding of the team make him the best person to lead our team forward. He helps our players bring out the best in them and gives them the responsibility to play a cohesive, team-first style. ”
It seems that the general manager has a lot of confidence in Jacques Vaughn, and it is true that Jacques Vaughn has obvious changes in the Nets during his substitute period, mainly from the defensive end, and the Nets scored 130 points in two of the first three games of the season, and this degree of loss is no longer what Irving and Durant can make up for when both offensive form is also good. The Nets went too far in the bag for the ball holder, and the gaps missed by the over-bag could only pray for the opponent to release the gun himself. After Jacques Vaughn took over, the Nets' defensive efficiency immediately improved to the top three in the league, and the last four games have conceded within 95 points, which is also the main reason for the recent stability of the Nets' record.
For the use of players, Jacques Vaughn has also made some changes: for the use of Ben Simmons, Jacques Vaughn has also begun to change his use positioning, first delegating him to the bench and changing towards the model of Draymond Green as the center of response. He also does not play with Nicholas Claxton, which is the scheduling of Jacques Vaughn, and the actual situation needs time to verify; Joe Harris, who replaced Ben Simmons as the starter, although he still lacks strength in single defense, his attitude of being willing to fight is much better than training for opponents in the past; Cameron Thomas, who had an unpleasant quarrel with former head coach Nash the other day, also thawed, occasionally scoring double-digit points.
As for the offensive end, I think the biggest concern is that the team still lets Durant attack. There are two problems with this: the first is that the offensive range disappears completely when you go down to rest. Being quickly caught up by the opposite side without a good shot and no strong attack point is a serious problem, and it is exacerbated by the current absence of Irving. After all, the entire coaching staff has not undergone a major overhaul, and Jacques Vaughn is not a coach who has a system in the past, and at this stage, he can only ask for increased ball flow and offensive and defensive conversion to make up for the lack of half-court positional warfare.
However, the perked up of the defensive end has been the Nets' problem over the years. Although this result is somewhat surprising, it may not be the best for the Nets at this stage, but it seems to be the most effective at the moment.