Jacque VAUGHN

Former player and current Nets coach Jacque Vaughn, who replaced Steve Nash earlier this season, takes a timeout to huddle with Post columnist Steve Serby for some Q&A.

Q: What traits does the ideal Jacque Vaughn basketball player have?

A: Unselfish. And you play extremely hard. And it’s as simple as that. That’ll get you in and out of a lot of situations. Q: What won’t you tolerate? A: Selfishness. A big thing for me is saying “Good morning” to you in the morning. And the reason I do that is for that split second, I’m worried about your morning. Not my morning. And that’s why I try to say “Good morning” to each and every player every single day. That’s my time to give, not to take.

Q: What is your definition of leadership?

A: To grab hold on any situation and pull the best from it. So whether that is pulling the best out of a person, whether that’s pulling the best out of the situation that you’ve been dealt with. To be able to lead a group, lead an individual, lead the situation.

Q: How do you motivate?

A: I try to be a consistent figure every day, whether that is at home with my family, whether it’s the team that I’m coaching. I think your interaction with people, whether it’s the first time or the hundredth time, people will always remember how you made them feel. I think that’s huge, and I try to be consistent that way, as an assistant coach and as a head coach. You lead by example, how you make people feel on a daily basis.

Q: Why are you the right man for this job?

A: I’m officially Brooklyn. My family’s grown up here. I understand the community. I love the community. I was a part of this organization as a player. I feel I fit this team. This is a team that wants to play hard, needs to be guided to play hard. I appreciate them as individuals, and I think that’s reciprocal.

Q: Do you have a lot of rules?

A: Learned early as a coach [that] rules’ll get you in trouble. Ones that you think you can say are 100 percent non-negotiable, I disagree. I think everything is negotiable.

Q: So you have no rules.

A: Well, technically when I pull you out of the game, you got to come out of the game. When I put you in the game, you got to go in the game (smile). But there’s nothing like, “You just can’t be late.” Now there’s some times where something happened, you’re going to be late. Now whether you have to explain that to your teammate and explain that to the group, and there’s a reason behind it ... just like the game of basketball, it’s not mistake-free. I treat these dudes like human beings.

Q: Tell me about Bobby Knight’s home recruiting visit.

A: I hadn’t seen my mom in about 3 ¹/₂ years because of COVID. Last time we were in L.A. we were talking about my son going to college, and she brought up, “Do you remember when she said the Indiana coach?” I said, “Bobby Knight? Coach Knight?” She said, “Yeah.” She said, “Do you remember him putting his feet up on my table?” I said, “I do, Ma (smile).” I said, “That was it. I was not going to Indiana after that.” My mom said, “You can get comfortable,” and he got comfortable, and ... ”

Q: He got a little too comfortable?

A: Too comfortable. And her son was not going to be a Hoosier.

Q: What is the biggest adversity you had to overcome?

A: I’m thinking about going into the NBA. I am preparing in the offseason, probably the best shape that I had been in. We’re playing pickup ball in the offseason, and I go up to try to hopefully dunk a basketball I think, and I get knocked backwards, and put my wrist down. Complete rupture of my ligament on my right hand. Turns those NBA dreams into what’s gonna happen next for me? And to be able to support my team, have the guidance from my coach [Roy Williams]. I can see the play right now and be back in that situation — to overcome that, and to be where I am today, play 12 years in the NBA ... that’s what makes me, me.

Q: Does Kevin Durant remind you in any way of Tim Duncan?

A: I’m going to say yes. And I’m going to look at it from my perspective as being TD’s teammate and coach. I never wanted to let Tim Duncan down. And I think there’s some teammates that feel the same way, and as a coach you feel the same way — you don’t want to let Kevin down.

Q: One trait that makes KD a Hall of Famer.

A: He can score on anybody. And I’d say persistent, in the shots he’s gonna get. John Stockton practiced the shots he was gonna shoot in the game. So does Kevin.

Q: What is one trait that makes Kyrie Irving unique?

A: His ability to get in and out of tight spaces, and still have control. Q: A healthy Ben Simmons. Does he remind you of anybody? A: He’s so unique. His size ... I am a Magic fan ... the size, the ability to enjoy others scoring the basketball just as much as you enjoy scoring it your own, he’s unique that way . ... The ability to push the basketball, to have flair. If I had to compare it ... Magic [Johnson].

Q: What do you like best about this team?

A: The different personalities. ... It’s kind of how I raise my two kids and treat them totally differently. They have different wants and needs, and I’ve learned how to address ’em, so that everyday balance of figuring out who needs what. We have a group that thinks and reacts differently. How can I get to ’em? Q: Three dinner guests? A: President Obama, Earvin [Magic] Johnson, Jackie Robinson. Q: You wrote poetry. A: That started in church actually. My mom would have me do an Easter speech. And when I got into grade school, 75th Street Elementary, there was a competition, and my mom had me enter it, and I recited a poem: I’ve seen the daylight breaking high above the brow, I found my destination, I won’t stop now. Whether you deplete me, deprive me, deplore me, mighty mountains loom before me, and I won’t stop now. Q: Favorite movie? A: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Q: Favorite actor? A: Jack Nicholson. Q: Favorite actress? A: Julia Roberts. Q: Favorite singer/rapper/ entertainer? A: Stevie Wonder. Q: Favorite meal? A: I can have a steak any day or night of the week. Q: Favorite Brooklyn things? A: I love walking in Brooklyn. I love how all the different neighborhoods merge together. I put on multiple podcasts, and I just walk. I really don’t watch TV, so I get my news from my podcasts. I walk home from the games. And I walk to the games.

Q: How long is the walk?

A: It depends how fast I’m walking. It’s an 18-minute walk. Usually I have my earphones on.

Q: Describe the beard.

A: The beard is a part of that vulnerability. As a young coach I was concerned about the perception of being clean-cut . ... Now, you can be a great attorney, you can be a great engineer, not have a beard, have a beard — doesn’t change who you are . ... It all started with me asking my kids like, “Why does hair grow certain places and not certain places?” And, they didn’t have the answer for me. So I said, “All right, let’s see if I can grow a beard and let it keep growing and what is it going to do? Is it going to stop growing?”

Q: You mentioned that you think your beard reflects your team?

A: It does. Like this side is growing a little bit more than this side right here, so you got different growth. Whether that’s Nic Clayton growing at a different pace than Day’Ron Sharpe. You have some gray, which is older guys, Markieff Morris, or you have some little small ones up here which is Alondes Williams, a young dude that’s just getting on the scene. And sometimes, it’s a mess. You wake up in the morning, this thing is a mess, but then you figure out how to make it look presentable. And you comb it out and you brush it out and you figure the problems out together. At the end of the day, the beard is all on the same page, you want it to look presentable. And at the end of the day, you want a hard-working team that is unselfish and looks presentable to the neighborhood of Brooklyn. That’s how you tie it all together. Let’s go!