JACQUE Vaughn’s strong work guiding the Brooklyn Nets earned him a contract extension at last season’s All-Star break.
Just a year later, the Nets fired Vaughn after a 50-point loss in his final game, their worst since moving to Brooklyn.
Nets fire head coach Jacque Vaughn
The Nets announced Vaughn’s departure Monday and said an interim coach would be named soon.
“This was an incredibly difficult decision, but one we feel is in the best interest of the team going forward,” 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.”
The Nets dropped five of their last six games before the break to fall to 21-33, putting them in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. Their 136-86 loss to the Celtics on Wednesday was their worst defeat since leaving New Jersey in 2012 and the second-worst in franchise history, and leading scorer Mikal Bridges seemed particularly frustrated in his postgame comments.
Vaughn finished 71-68 with the Nets, guiding them into the playoffs on two separate stints.
Vaughn replaced the fired Steve Nash on Nov. 1, 2022, and quickly led the Nets from a poor start toward the top of the East. Brooklyn went 12-1 that December and 43-32 the rest of the season, making the playoffs despite trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving during the season.
But Brooklyn’s lack of star power this season has been apparent, and Vaughn lamented last week the minutes restrictions that have kept Ben Simmons and some of his other top players from staying on the floor long enough to give the Nets a better chance to be competitive.
The Nets got off to a 15-15 start this season, but things began to turn when Vaughn made a curious decision to barely play or entirely rest all his top players during a 144-122 home loss to Milwaukee on December 27. The NBA fined the Nets $100,000, the first time a team was sanctioned for violating the league’s player participation policy that went into effect this season.
Vaughn got his first chance to coach the Nets in March 2020 after Kenny Atkinson was fired just before the season was suspended because of the Covid-19 pandemic. He led the Nets to a 7-3 record and into the playoffs in the restart “bubble” at Walt Disney World, but the Nets then opted to give the head coaching job to Nash, despite having no experience. Vaughn stayed on as an assistant.
It wasn’t long before he got another chance to run the team after Nash was fired during a turbulent start to the 2022-23 season. The Nets got as high as second in the East before Durant was injured and the Nets gave Vaughn a multiyear contract extension on Feb. 21, 2023, with Marks saying he looked forward to Vaughn leading the team “for years to come.”
Not quite one year, it turned out.
Without the shot-making that Durant and Irving provided, the Nets struggled at times when games were close in fourth quarters. Vaughn also faced a nearly season-long challenge to figure out his best lineup, with Simmons missing 38 games at one point because of a pinched nerve in his lower back and then was forced to miss some games or play limited minutes when he returned.
That meant the Nets played one way on the nights they had Simmons and another way when they didn’t, a problem Bridges pointed to after the loss in Boston. But a night earlier, Vaughn had looked at a team that was getting healthier and still believed a turnaround was possible.
“I’m just going to be simple and thankful that we’re getting guys back and hopefully we’ll get to a position where we are whole and we come out of the break ready to make a push,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn is 129-226 as an NBA coach, having gone 58-158 in his first opportunity with Orlando.
News Related
-
Anyone who’s purchased gift baskets to hand out to loved ones this holiday season might need to find a backup present after the latest food recall that involves festive cookies. Gift basket company Wine Country Gift Baskets just announced that it is voluntarily recalling all gift baskets that feature Acorn Baking ...
See Details:
Recall Just Announced For Popular Cookies Featured In Holiday Gift Baskets
-
LOS ANGELES: Quarterback Jalen Hurts ran in an overtime touchdown to give the Philadelphia Eagles a 37-34 NFL win over the Buffalo Bills Sunday (Monday in Manila) and move them to 10-1 on the season. The Eagles, who lost the Super Bowl to Kansas City last season, trailed at half-time ...
See Details:
Eagles rally past Bills in overtime as Chiefs win
-
Yen Makabenta First word WHILE UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other promoters of the climate emergency are preparing to convene the 28th conference of the parties (COP28) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the United Arab Emirates, starting on November 30 and stretching to December 12, ...
See Details:
Reality bites the green energy agenda
-
Sandigan orders Marcos Sr. pal to pay workers The Sandiganbayan has ordered the enforcement of a July 2023 ruling ordering a Marcos Sr. associate to pay a lumber company’s workers P2.1 million in damages as well as return 60 percent of their company’s shares and pay all unpaid benefits. The ...
See Details:
Sandigan orders Marcos Sr. pal to pay workers
-
DSWD: Shear line, LPA affect 1.2 million people; over 18,000 families evacuated MANILA, Philippines – More than 18,000 families have fled to evacuation centers across flood-affected regions in the country due to the impact of the shear line and low pressure area. Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) gave ...
See Details:
DSWD: Shear line, LPA affect 1.2 million people; over 18,000 families evacuated
-
-
MANILA, Philippines: The entire Luzon, including Metro Manila, is expected to experience isolated rain showers and thunderstorms as the northeast monsoon (“amihan”) and easterlies will be affecting the country over the next 24 hours, the state-run weather agency said on Tuesday. Weather specialist Patrick del Mundo of the Philippine Atmospheric ...
See Details:
Rain showers, thunderstorms over Luzon, including Metro Manila — Pagasa
-
Attention, Naruto fans! You can soon watch the famous anime’s live-action adaptation as it finally has a confirmed writer. According to a Variety report, the beloved manga and anime series is set to head to big screens for its live-action adaptation under Lionsgate. It will be written by Tasha Hao, ...
See Details:
'Naruto' live-action film adaptation is in the works
-
Attention, Naruto fans! You can soon watch the famous anime’s live-action adaptation as it finally has a confirmed writer. According to a Variety report, the beloved manga and anime series is set to head to big screens for its live-action adaptation under Lionsgate. It will be written by Tasha Hao, ...
See Details:
NASA Highlights Stingray Nebula
-
Attention, Naruto fans! You can soon watch the famous anime’s live-action adaptation as it finally has a confirmed writer. According to a Variety report, the beloved manga and anime series is set to head to big screens for its live-action adaptation under Lionsgate. It will be written by Tasha Hao, ...
See Details:
Manila's Lagusnilad underpass opens
-
Attention, Naruto fans! You can soon watch the famous anime’s live-action adaptation as it finally has a confirmed writer. According to a Variety report, the beloved manga and anime series is set to head to big screens for its live-action adaptation under Lionsgate. It will be written by Tasha Hao, ...
See Details:
China probes debt-ridden financial giant
-
Attention, Naruto fans! You can soon watch the famous anime’s live-action adaptation as it finally has a confirmed writer. According to a Variety report, the beloved manga and anime series is set to head to big screens for its live-action adaptation under Lionsgate. It will be written by Tasha Hao, ...
See Details:
China's VUCA situation
-
Attention, Naruto fans! You can soon watch the famous anime’s live-action adaptation as it finally has a confirmed writer. According to a Variety report, the beloved manga and anime series is set to head to big screens for its live-action adaptation under Lionsgate. It will be written by Tasha Hao, ...
See Details:
Unraveling the mystery that is diabetes
-
Attention, Naruto fans! You can soon watch the famous anime’s live-action adaptation as it finally has a confirmed writer. According to a Variety report, the beloved manga and anime series is set to head to big screens for its live-action adaptation under Lionsgate. It will be written by Tasha Hao, ...
See Details:
Bangladesh's nuke plant is not going to steal PH investments
OTHER NEWS
ALIW Awards Foundation Inc. President Alice H. Reyes has released the names of finalists for the 2023 Aliw Awards to be presented on Dec. 11, 2023, at the Manila Hotel ...
Read more »
WhatsApp Web gains the feature of single-view photos and videos (Photo: Unsplash) The WhatsApp Web, the desktop version of the popular messaging app from Meta, has received an update allowing ...
Read more »
Young athletes’ time to shine in Siklab Awards MANILA, Philippines — The future heroes of Philippine sports will be honored during the third Siklab Youth Sports Awards on Dec. 4 ...
Read more »
Graphics by Jannielyn Ann Bigtas A local government official said Monday that five to 10 barangays in Northern Samar are still isolated following the massive flooding in the area last ...
Read more »
DyipPay app lets you pay jeepney fare, book tricycles “Barya lang po sa umaga.” Everyone who rides jeepneys knows this rule: it may not be an actual law, but it’s ...
Read more »
Updated In-Season Tournament Bracket ahead of pool play finale Tuesday will mark the last day of pool play for the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament. From there, six first-place teams and ...
Read more »
PCG forms teams for maritime emergency response MANILA, Philippines — Recent incidents of fishermen lost in the waters off Southern Tagalog have prompted the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to form ...
Read more »