All-Star Break Perfect Timing For Nets Management To Address Snowballing Negativity

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The Nets don’t have another basketball game until Thursday in Toronto, but the All-Star break shouldn’t extend to the executive suite.

Having dropped five of their last six games and 24 of their last 33 going back to early December, Brooklyn is at a tipping point. The goal of a sixth consecutive postseason appearance, while technically still within reach since Atlanta is just 2.5 games ahead in the “race” for the 10^th and final seed of the play-in round, is slipping away.

The most ominous sign has been the frustrations expressed by key players with their actions and words. When there’s a question whether Mikal Bridges is losing faith in the process, it deserves immediate attention.

After the Nets (21-33) got bludgeoned by 50 points in Boston in Wednesday’s last game before the break, Bridges was having none of it when it came to questions about flushing it like it was just one bad loss. “A lot of s**t is not right, and you gotta fix it,” Bridges said.

It’s not the first time Bridges has been this blunt with his criticisms, most of which were presumed to be directed at Head Coach Jacque Vaughn for his failures in getting his players on the same page. And he wasn’t happy with the team’s decision to punt a back-to-back home game versus Milwaukee on December 27. Bridges saw 12 minutes of action so he could maintain his consecutive games streak but then was pulled along with other veterans in favor of a G-League level lineup that got pummeled.     

This is Mikal Bridges, folks, not some noted coach killer. He’s one of the most liked and respected players in the league. He may not be the Big Deal Alpha Dog some Nets fans expected of him, but he’d be a worthy sidekick to one. And I can tell you that there are NBA All-Stars who are beyond intrigued with the notion of playing alongside him in the near future. For example, I know of one in Cleveland and another in New York (though Bridges would have to cross the, um, bridge for that to happen, so it won’t).   

The problem, though, is that the Nets can’t appear to be a dumpster fire when those stars are in position to move addresses. And that means they first have to stop the bleeding, externally and internally.

Owner Joseph Tsai can’t be an onlooker here. My guess is that if General Manager Sean Marks could swing it, he’d allow Vaughn, with whom he has a tight relationship going back through two prior Nets Head Coaching regimes to their days in San Antonio, to finish the season. Only then might we some “mutual parting of ways” announcement.

Tsai has to take a closer look at this arrangement. He has a history of getting involved in the big decisions—when Kevin Durant demanded the firing of former HC Steve Nash before he would rescind a trade request. Tsai put that to bed quickly and publicly. Well, until Nash was let go seven games into that season. And then Tsai reportedly negotiated directly with Suns owner Mat Ishbia to finalize the terms in the Durant trade in advance of last year’s deadline. Tsai also had a hand in the travails of Kyrie Irving, from his banishment from the team for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine to the suspension for promoting antisemitic material on social media.

This is another pivotal point in the Nets’ timeline. I would hope Tsai can read the pulse of the team from a distance, because it’s on life support. And the patient doesn’t seem to be listening to the doctor.  

Everyone understands the obstacles Vaughn has had to tackle this season. He once won an Eastern Conference Coach of the Month in December 2022 back when the Nets had real talent. A glut of injuries have further handicapped this Nets season, not to mention the dual personality disorder that comes when Ben Simmons is and isn’t available to play. By the way, the Nets are slated to have back-to-backs in each of the next four weeks, so that’s likely to be at least four more games where Simmons will be in street clothes.   

However, it is plain to any seasoned observer that the Nets are underperforming relative to their minimum expectations. The stats and the eye tests match. It’s why Bridges’ customary smile has all but disappeared of late.

And Vaughn has to take his share of the blame. Forget about the problems with the X’s and O’s for the moment. Can any fan truly argue that this team is consistently playing as hard as their opponents? When effort is often mentioned as the proximate cause of a slew of defeats, much of that is on the HC.

Vaughn is under contract through the 2026-27 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, but Nash’s commitment should expire after this season under the terms of his reported four-year deal from 2020. Ergo, the prospect of dead money should be a lesser factor in any coaching decision.

Nor should the “next man up” pose a problem for Tsai. The Nets have several candidates on their staff with head coaching experience, albeit at lower levels, who could take over on an interim basis. Some fans would like to see Kevin Ollie, a former UCONN Head Coach, get a shot. If not Ollie, Will Weaver once led the Long Island Nets to a G-League Final.

It is believed that Marks still has Tsai’s trust. Enough to make a third coaching change in four years? Possibly, though this is the area where I have criticized Marks the most. He tends to land on coaches he can control. Here’s a way-too-early name who I think could potentially be in the mix should the job become vacant next season: former Spurs assistant, now with the Pelicans, James Borrego.

As far as the trust of this Nets fan—an often skeptical and bitter Nets fan at that—I do trust that Tsai and Marks have a plan to rebuild the franchise to a more competitive level and will spend to make it happen within the next two years. But all this negatively surrounding the team, including from the player they need to recruit the most desirable additions, isn’t helpful. The All-Star break couldn’t have come at a better time for management to address it.