As Jacque Vaughn departs, Nets interim coach Kevin Ollie (center) has the daunting task of trying to drive Brooklyn into the playoffs. AP Photo by David Zalubowski
Kevin Ollie came here last summer to help bolster head coach Jacque Vaughn’s staff.
Now, he’ll be leading it for the final 28 regular-season games, and perhaps beyond if the Nets can make a push for the playoffs.
The 51-year-old former assistant was officially named Brooklyn’s interim head coach Tuesday, one day after Nets general manager Sean Marks relieved Vaughn of his duties following a precipitous fall in the Eastern Conference standings.
“Remember, I played 15 years professionally, 13 years in this league, and never once [had] a coach call a play for me,” noted Ollie ahead of his first practice at the helm.
“I had to get it with grit. I had to get it with determination,” he added. “I had to get it with a mindset that we’re going to get better each and every day. That’s how I coach, that’s what I’m going to demand. I want them to demand that from me, and that’s from day one.”
Vaughn went a combined 71-68 in a pair of head-coaching stints here around his contributions as an assistant for the better part of eight years in the organization.
The basketball lifer, who spent a dozen seasons in the NBA as a speedy and resourceful point guard, guided Brooklyn into the 2020 playoffs after replacing Kenny Atkinson ahead of the Nets’ participation at the league’s bubble site in Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He took over for Steve Nash early last season and helped the Nets earn the No. 6 seed in the East despite the trade-deadline deals that sent the superstar tandem of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to Phoenix and Dallas, respectively.
Vaughn’s teams were bounced in the opening round via a four-game sweep in both of those postseason campaigns.
But Brooklyn hardly looked playoff-bound this year.
After a solid 13-10 start, the Nets went 8-23, including…
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