Nets interim coach Jacque Vaughn has used the restart to restructure his system and reboot his team. The result has been a 5-2 mark going into Thursday’s regular-season finale versus Portland, tied for third-best in the bubble.
“We wanted to give the guys something they could hold onto that looked a little different, something you could press the refresh button on,” Vaughn said.
“[We] got to a position where we regrouped as a staff and said, ‘How can we put these guys in the best position to succeed with the personnel?’ … We really streamlined things and really allowed players to play with confidence.”
The staff made changes on both ends of the court. The undersized Nets have been doing more switching and scrambling than under Kenny Atkinson.
“We’re not as much of a center-field team. We’re switching a lot more, playing a lot more aggressively on the defensive end,” Joe Harris said. “We’ve been put in a position where we have to scramble around and sacrifice for one another, just more of a team approach versus the big and guard being on their own.”
Vaughn acknowledged the Nets are, “not fearful of taking risk, whether that’s playing zone or trapping or being extremely aggressive and scrambling.”
The changes on the other end are even more glaring.
Playing without Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie has left Caris LeVert as the only remaining isolation player. While he has excelled at the point, it’s forced an egalitarian brand of basketball — share or struggle.
“Caris is our only 1-on-1 player and we know for us to have success and play well offensively we have to move the ball move ourselves and try to get out in transition and get easy baskets that way,” Harris said.
The emergence of Chris Chiozza, Tyler Johnson and Jeremiah Martin has allowed the Nets keep multiple ballhandlers on the court. Their assist-to-turnover ratio has gone from 24th before the shutdown to third in the restart. Part of that is scaling back the system with so many newcomers.
“It’s the simplicity. We just play simple basketball. I feel like that’s what I like most about his coaching style,” Rodions Kurucs said.
“They’ve really taken to getting each other shots and getting into open areas, pushing the pace and just keeping things simple. If a guy’s open, they hit him,” Vaughn said. “Really, we’ve tried not to complicate this game of basketball.”
That includes being less draconian about their shot charts. Though they still value 3s and lay-ups, they no longer treat lower-value mid-range shots as anathema. They’ve seen those jump from 6.5 attempts to 9.9, and that freedom has bred confidence.
“The way defenses are playing, you’re going to have your ability to shoot midrange shots,” Vaughn said. “That balance of getting to your spot and being able to make the midrange shot allows you as a group to have confidence.”
So has pushing the pace.
LeVert has averaged 24.5 points and 10 assists the past two games at the point with Garrett Temple at off-guard, and he’s even operated some in the post. But pushing the pace has provided an early edge in the shot clock and spared LeVert taking a half-court beating.
“One of the biggest adjustments we made is playing faster. I feel like we’re getting the ball up. We’re having to make quicker decisions and play off the first pass, trying to score off simple things, quick transition,” said Jarrett Allen, also touching on another change: Vaughn himself, whose rapport-building has drawn raves.
“I’d say they’re two different people, just gelling well with the type of person … not saying [everybody] didn’t gel with Kenny, I’m just saying it’s different with Jacque. Him being the assistant, he wants to have the level of player relations and it’s just easy to bond with him, because he knows what it’s like to be a player.”