Jacque Vaughn was fired as head coach of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and it appears his plan on moulding the team’s offensive identity around Ben Simmons may have played a role in that decision.
That is according to NBA insider Shams Charania, who claimed “multiple players” — including Spencer Dinwiddie and Mikal Bridges — had been “pretty vocal behind the scenes for months now about how the offence was running”.
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“They felt like a lot of what Vaughn was running was being run improperly, without structure,” Charania said on FanDuel’s ‘Run It Back’.
“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.”
“I don’t know if that was a great plan, especially with him not being healthy,” former NBA player Lou Williams said in response.
The Nets ranked 11th in the Eastern Conference with a 21-33 record, two-and-a-half games behind Atlanta for the final play-in spot.
Vaughn, who had a brief stint as the Nets’ coach in 2020, replaced Steve Nash in November 2022 and went 71-68 guiding the Nets over parts of three seasons.
His firing comes a year after signing a contract extension with the Nets.
“This was an incredibly difficult decision, but one we feel is in the best interest of the team going forward,” Nets General Manager Sean Marks said.
“Jacque has represented this organisation 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.”
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The Nets did not announce who will coach the squad through the remainder of the season.
Vaughn also was fired in his third season during a head coaching stint with Orlando, guiding the Magic to a 58-158 record from 2012-2015.
The 49-year-old American played in the NBA as a point guard from 1997 through 2009, winning an NBA title with San Antonio in 2007 and averaging 4.5 points a game combined for Utah, Atlanta, Orlando, San Antonio and the Nets.