Brooklyn Nets Name Jacque Vaughn Head Coach: 'He Really Simplifies The Game'

The Brooklyn Nets have promoted Jacque Vaughn to head coach.

© Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

The Brooklyn Nets officially named Jacque Vaughn their head coach Wednesday afternoon.  

Vaughn, who has been serving as the Nets' acting head coach since the organization parted ways with the former head coach, Steve Nash, has impressed in his short stint in the head chair. 

“Jacque’s basketball acumen, competitiveness and intimate knowledge of our team and organization make him the clear-cut best person to lead our group moving forward,” said Nets General Manager Sean Marks in a press release. “He has a proven ability to get the best out of our players, hold them accountable and play a cohesive, team-first style of basketball.”

Following the organization's decision to part ways with Nash after a 2-5 start, Vaughn has slowly been putting the team back on the right path. He's led Brooklyn to a 2-2 record and the atmosphere around the players has visibly been more joyful with the team beginning to carve out some winning. 

“I think JV [Jacque Vaughn] has actually done a really good job simplifying things for everybody," said Joe Harris on Vaughn at the Nets shootaround Wednesday morning. 

Harris is currently the longest-tenured Net on the roster and has the most familiarity with Vaughn out of the rest of the players. In fact, Harris is the only standing Net - aside from Long Island Net, Chris Chiozza - from the gritty bubble team in 2020 when Vaughn served as the interim head coach. The sharpshooter revisited Vaughn's coaching in the Orlando bubble Wednesday morning and spoke about his growth as an NBA coach since then. 

“JV is a great coach," Harris said. "I think [Vaughn] having played in the NBA for a while, been a coach in the league for a while, and having experience as a head coach, and having a lot of experience now as an assistant. You've seen a lot. You had a lot of different experiences and it's kind of fine-tuning what his approach is. 

"He really just simplifies the game. He did that when we were in the bubble. He makes sure that everybody is fully aware of what's going on. He's the type of coach we got through a [struggle], there's gonna be a lot of transparency and dialogue. It's not just him speaking and hoping everybody understands. It's a collective thing. He makes sure that everybody fully is aware of what's going on and understanding what's happening.”

The Nets wing added Vaughn's coaching philosophy is still 'very similar' today to what it was in the bubble. The same stands with how he's currently coaching the Nets. Harris stated Vaughn has a lot of similarities to how he coached under Nash as an assistant. More than anything, Harris put an emphasis on the new head coach's strong ability to simplify the game for his players. 

"It's a lot of similarities. But I think overall, it's just him trying to simplify the game plan, not trying to convolute anything," Harris stated. "[Vaughn] Making sure everyone is fully aware of what their individual matchup is understanding the personnel. You know, keeping things relatively simple.”

After being passed up in the past, Vaughn - who has been with Brooklyn since 2016 - finally gets his opportunity as Nets head coach. Vaughn holds a career 67-163 record as an NBA coach, dating back to his first season in the head chair with Orlando Magic (2012-13). His head coaching record with the Nets is 9-5 over two acting stints.  

Now that Vaughn has been promoted to head coach moving forward, a spot on Brooklyn's bench has opened. The new head coach served as lead assistant under Nash's staff before serving as acting head coach.