Search for new coach in holding pattern: Net GM
Nets general manager Sean Marks says the coronavirus outbreak didn’t just suspend the basketball season. The global pandemic has also put the team’s search for a new head coach on hold.
“No, we are not reaching out to anybody right now,” Marks said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning. “That would completely be not be fair to our group.”
The Nets and former head coach Kenny Atkinson “mutually agreed to part ways” on March 7, a shocking development given Atkinson’s standing as the very first hire Marks made when he took over as GM in 2016. Atkinson, whose Nets improved every year he coached the team, was replaced by his lead assistant, Jacque Vaughn, who will coach the team in the interim.
Vaughn has not been considered a lock by any stretch to retain the Nets job beyond this season, but he got off to as hot a start as you could ask: He stands the only undefeated coach in the NBA with a 2-0 record, first beatingtheBullsinBrooklynbythree on March 8, then traveling across the country, walking into the Staples Center and taking down LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers, 104-102, on a Spencer Dinwiddie game-winning shot.
More than anything, Marks says he has been impressed with how Vaughn’s coaching staff has handled the team during the coronavirus outbreak. The Nets announced four players had tested positive for COVID-19, one of whom was Kevin Durant, who announced his own status to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Marks said those four players are now symptom-free.
“I think what I’m seeing so far from how our group — with Jacque and his assistants — how they’re working through this and how they’re reaching out to players and their collaborative approach within the organization has been great,” he said. “I think it’s extremely important that everybody has not only my support but the owner’s support and front office’s support during this time. That’s our priority.”
That doesn’t change the fact that a coaching change will more than likely still be on the horizon. The Atkinson dismissal signaled a change in direction. This is no longer a developing team, but a team with championship aspirations.
Vaughn is 2-0 in Brooklyn but owns a 60-158 coaching record dating back to his two-plus seasons as head coach of the Orlando Magic from 2012-15. As interim coach of the Nets, he made tweaks, including inserting veteran center DeAndre Jordan into the starting lineup in favor of third-year big man Jarrett Allen. He also tweaked the defensive scheme to include more switching on screens. Vaughn said in his introductory press conference after taking over for Atkinson that he wanted to install new wrinkles into the team’s offense, but the season suspension has obviously put that on hold.
It’s an uphill battle for Vaughn to retain this job — a glamorous, coveted position in the No. 1 market in the country, coaching two of the 10 best players in the game in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Many expect Durant and Irving to have heavy say in who the next head coach is since the team is committing $300 million in salary to the two players, each of whom have won a championship.
Potential coaching candidates included Lakers assistant Phil Handy; former Cavaliers championship coach Tyronn Lue; Brooklyn native and former Warriors coach Mark Jackson; and an out-of-this-world idea that the Nets could pry Gregg Popovich from the San Antonio Spurs.