Jacque Vaughn has done many things differently during his six weeks as Brooklyn Nets head coach. At the top of the list is his direct approach to holding his team accountable for mental lapses or lack of hustle.
The most glaring example of this is Vaughn's frequent quick timeouts after defensive miscues. Whether Brooklyn is leading by 20 points or two points, if the head coach sees something he doesn't like, he's going to let his team know it.
Vaughn called a timeout following a pair of defensive miscues in the opening minutes Wednesday against Golden State. From that point, the Nets would go on a 38-13 run to close the first quarter, holding the Warriors to 6 of 19 shooting and forcing them into five turnovers. And Kevin Durant voiced his appreciation for Vaughn's direct coaching style postgame.
“I love when he does that. It just keeps us on point,” Durant said of Vaughn's quick timeouts. “Keeps coaching staff, everybody on point, the arena on point just knowing that we're trying to win this game. I like to sense of urgency, Jacque has been doing that since he became the coach… I appreciate that as a player.”
“Just locked back in,” he continued. “We understand we made a mistake but your coach comes back and everybody on the bench and the coaches reiterate what happened. We can watch it on the tablet and see, that's always beneficial for us.”
Brooklyn is the hottest team in the league since Vaughn was officially named head coach, posting a 17-5 record during that time. Kyrie Irving spoke highly of his team's effort during the hot streak, and like Durant, credited Vaughn for holding the team accountable.
“I think we just stay consistently disciplined in our effort,” Irving said. “Jacque does a great job of calling these timeouts and holding us all accountable which helps us out. So I’m grateful for that.”
The Nets have many strengths as a team, but rebounding, one of the top hustle indicators, is not one of them. Brooklyn ranks last in the league in rebounding for the season. However, the team has shown noticeable improvement on the boards since Vaughn stepped in.
Over their last eight games, the Nets rank 16th in opponent offensive rebound percentage after ranking dead last for the season prior. Brooklyn tied Milwaukee, the second-best rebounding team in the league, on the boards during Friday's win. And Durant revealed Vaughn's direct coaching strategy postgame.
“I want to say almost a month ago Jacque put up the box-out stats for us. A lot of guys didn't like where they were as far as percentage of boxing out, not even grabbing rebounds, just putting a body on somebody,” Durant said. “I think since then we've been making a conscious effort to touch somebody up when they're running to the glass and all of us trying to gang rebound.”
“The last few games have been solid for us,” he continued. “I think everybody's locked in on that side of the game and that's something we can't have slippage on. We have to be there every possession.”
One of the players at the bottom of that list was Irving, who also acknowledged Vaughn's message and its effect on his mindset Friday.
“Yeah, I was second to last on the box-out list,” Irving said with a laugh. “So, if you wanna talk about holding people accountable, boxing out is something that I definitely have to work on and I have to get my percentage up in terms of the league average.”
Quickly shifting to a serious tone, the seven-time All-Star said Vaughn's emphasis on holding his players accountable has permeated through the entire team.
“When I’m able to hold myself accountable, Jacque’s able to hold me accountable, my teammates are able to hold me accountable, then it makes it easier for us to hold each other accountable when we’re not doing the little things,” Irving said. “These are things that we have to do every night to win. So boxing out is definitely something that I have to do in order for us to be successful as a team. So it was fun at first but then we got serious.”
Jacque Vaughn recently showed all of the Nets their box-out percentages this season, where Kyrie Irving was second-to-last on the team:
"I think the initial reaction is "who's making these stats?", just calling cap on the stats" 🧢😂 pic.twitter.com/OcdOVGV0PY
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) December 24, 2022
Friday's blowout win over Milwaukee marked Brooklyn's eighth straight and 12th in 13 games. After a 2-7 start, the Nets sit just two games back of the Celtics for first place in the Eastern Conference and a half-game back of the Cavaliers for third.
Vaughn's squad will have another chance to gain ground in the standings when they travel to Cleveland Monday.
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