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Boomer and Gio: Sean Marks and the nets hope for the Orlando bubble
(03:20)
The common refrain after the Brooklyn Nets split with ex-coach Kenny Atkinson was that a team with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving needed a high-profile coach to earn respect for the locker room. Still, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski in his podcast, the current leader of Brooklyn’s coaching job is one of Atkinson’s former assistants: Jacque Vaughn, who took over the main assignment in March.
“He’s the head coach,” Vaughn’s Wojnarowski said on The Woj Pod. “They didn’t make him interim coach. I think the nets are considering a search, I would still give Jacque Vaughn, I would take Jacque Vaughn against the field right now.” His host, New York ESPN NBA reporter Malika Andrews, agreed with him.
Vaughn has coached Orlando Magic for three seasons and recorded an overwhelming 58-158 record. However, the roster he was supposed to work with in Brooklyn is substantially better than Magic’s rebuilding had ever been during his tenure. If ingratiating themselves with Brooklyn superstars is a prerequisite for earning the job, Vaughn took an important first step when he moved DeAndre Jordan, a close friend of Durant and Irving, to the initial training on young Jarrett Allen.
While Vaughn has experience with this group of networks, he will face stiff competition for the Brooklyn job. Marc Stein of the New York Times reported that Jason Kidd, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson and Irving’s former Cleveland coach Ty Lue are candidates for networking. Tom Thibodeau, ex Bulls and Timberwolves, is also reportedly in the running and Mike D’Antoni will be very coveted if the Houston Rockets let him go.
But Vaughn has the advantage of currently doing the job. He will have at least eight games at Disney to prove himself a head coach, and while he has an exhaustive list there, expectations will likely be adjusted accordingly. That hearing is a privilege that no other candidate will have, and if you nail it, it seems to be in the midst of searching for a full-time manager’s goal.
