When Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith first got here to Brooklyn as a part of the Kyrie Irving commerce, Dinwiddie instantly started calling performs he and Finney-Smith ran once they performed for the Dallas Mavericks.
Something related occurred with Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, the 2 starters who arrived in Brooklyn as a part of the blockbuster Kevin Durant cope with the Phoenix Suns: Bridges overheard Dinwiddie breaking down a play to Finney-Smith utilizing Mavericks terminology and instantly understood what they have been discussing as a result of “it’s the West Coast, so we kind of know the same things.”
Bridges additionally mentioned he helped clarify performs to Johnson utilizing phrases from Phoenix as a result of it’s simpler for each of them.
“It’s different terminology,” he mentioned, “so it’s kind of tough.”
Therein lies precedence No. 1 for newly-extended Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn: streamlining the terminology used for a staff with 4 new starters, together with two pairs of gamers with sturdy preexisting relationships.
It’s much more troublesome a process to perform when you think about groups have been forbidden from holding practices throughout the All-Star break.
“It’s a slow drip,” Vaughn mentioned in a Zoom convention name with reporters on Wednesday.
If Vaughn had the bandwidth, possibly he’d arrange staff Scrabble video games, or crossword puzzles, or — “What is that my kids play that I don’t know?” he requested, “it’s like a crossword puzzle kind of bit.” Maybe a sport of Wordle.
Vaughn, although, is extra old skool. Flash playing cards and thesauruses are extra his type.
“When the guys come in today, there will be some terminology on the board, there will be some in their locker room, we’ll continue to get it through video,” he mentioned. “Not creative enough to [make a word game], but there’s some still old-fashioned terminology in front of you and learn it.”
Players say it virtually each season with regularity: Every staff runs related offensive and defensive ideas. They simply use completely different phrases relying on the coach in cost.
In Brooklyn, nevertheless, it’s much less concerning the precise phrases and extra concerning the psychological actual property. Vaughn doesn’t need his gamers spending energetic on-court time eager about what phrases imply in Brooklyn and looking for the West Coast comparability.
Even if it means taking out some phrases the Nets of previous used to implement as a result of, properly, these are now not the same-old Nets.
“The biggest thing is you want guys playing instinctively instead of thinking ‘OK, let me think what this is called and how do I react to it,” he mentioned. “So that’s the most important distinction is simply getting them to play instinctively. If we are able to merge among the terminology, scrap among the terminology we used earlier than we obtained our 4 new guys, I’m OK with that.
“So a big part of it is just getting the entire group because you’ve got the carryover group of guys like Nic [Claxton] and Joe [Harris] who have heard the terminology one way, so how can we merge that so that everyone’s kind of playing instinctively?”
The Nets consider the close-knit friendships between each Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith and Bridges and Johnson may help quick observe chemistry within the ultimate dash into the playoffs. Dinwiddie has been traded as a part of a package deal twice: With Davis Bertans to the Dallas Mavericks, then with Finney-Smith again to the Nets.
“Me and Do are legitimately friends. We kick it. So it’s a welcome thing to be traded with your friend and have that comfortability walking into a locker room, and I would probably say the same thing about Cam and Mikal,” he mentioned. “They’re probably even closer than me and Do because I’ve only known Do for about a year, and they grew up in the league together. It’s great. Everybody gets to get a little more comfortable.”
Vaughn believes the Nets can use these relationships to piecemeal chemistry for this staff on the fly. It’s particularly useful that 4 of the 5 Nets starters converse West Coast basketball language, whereas the defensive anchor, Claxton, is conversant in Vaughn’s philosophies, whatever the terminology used.
“I definitely think we’re going to use that to our benefit,” Vaughn mentioned after the Feb. 11 loss to the 76ers. “I think we saw some immediate chemistry from that group and because they have familiarity with each other, that does help.”
It additionally helps that every one 4 new Nets starters seem humble and selfless. Building chemistry with a newly constructed group is rarely straightforward, however the Nets are taking the problem head on — beginning with getting everybody on the identical web page with the phrases this staff shall be utilizing shifting ahead.
“I think just the fact that they’re great guys, and they’re pretty low maintenance,” mentioned Joe Harris. “They’ll come in and gel right away.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com