Nets’ Kevin Ollie discusses expectations for the team moving forward
The Brooklyn Nets have entered a new chapter as they have promoted Kevin Ollie to interim head coach after Jacque Vaughn was fired on Monday. Ollie will get the remaining 28 games of this season to show the organization what he can do and give himself the best chance of becoming the permanent head coach after this season.
Vaughn was fired after the team went 8-23 heading into the All-Star break following a 13-10 start. With the franchise trying to turn their season around enough to make the play-in tournament, something had to happen and general manager Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai decided that a change in coaching was in order.
Ollie takes over a Nets team that has been in a prolonged slump due to various factors such as Ben Simmons being unavailable or other players having issues with the offensive structure under Vaughn. Ollie will be tasked with bringing a change in pace in the hopes that Brooklyn gets back to being competitive and hard-working in every contest, similar to how they were in the beginning of this season.
Recently, the Nets have looked lifeless at times on the floor and while it was thought to be just Spencer Dinwiddie who was showing his displeasure on the floor, Brooklyn lost to the Boston Celtics 136-86 on Feb. 14, a sign that players have stopped competing.
After that loss, there was speculation of Vaughn either being fired or being on the hot seat given how embarrassing the loss was. The hope is that with Ollie at the helm, the Nets will not have a game nearly that bad for the rest of this season unless there are unforeseen circumstances such as injuries.
After being named the interim head coach on Monday, Ollie has been able to have two practices with his players before going to Toronto to face the Raptors on Thursday. Ollie met with the media after practice on Wednesday and spoke on what the expectations of his players will be now that he’s in charge:
“We got a couple things on defense that we’re changing on our pick-and-rolls and a couple things on the offensive things that we doing. Add a little bit more spacing, but the biggest thing is playing for each other and making the right plays. Not being selfish, getting the ball to the guys that we need to get the ball to in their right spots where they can be very successful. Playing the right way and we need to do that more consistently so that’s not a scheme change or anything, that’s just playing better basketball. Doing simple better.”
