Last year, the Brooklyn Nets were forced to blow things up with everything falling apart for several reasons, resulting in the team trading superstar guard Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks and superstar forward Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns.
As a result of these blockbuster trades, the Nets have had to start from scratch, but despite trading away two of their best players, the team was still able to make the NBA playoffs last season mainly due to the play of Mikal Bridges, who turned out to be much better than expected and a player that the team could build around moving forward.
Unfortunately, that success with Bridges leading the way didn’t carry over to the 2023-24 campaign, with the team struggling all year long, which has led to the team yet again parting ways with another head coach.
The Nets chose to part ways with Jacque Vaughn this week and, as a result, have decided to promote Kevin Ollie as the interim head coach, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
ESPN Sources: The Brooklyn Nets are promoting assistant Kevin Ollie to interim head coach. He’ll run practice on Tuesday and start coaching on Thursday vs. the Toronto Raptors. pic.twitter.com/oNb0YLwFF2
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 19, 2024
This was an unexpected move by the Nets because it’s not like Ollie can really turn things around for the franchise and make the postseason, let alone a deep run in the playoffs this year.
However, this is what the team chose to do, as it seems as though Vaughn wasn’t a good fit for the team as head coach.
As for Ollie, he does come in with some experience as a head coach but on the collegiate level with the University of Connecticut, where he coached from 2012 to 2018.
NEXT: Nets Player Was Reportedly 'Vocal' About Jacque Vaughn's Offense