The very first thing head coach Jacque Vaughn desires to see from his Nets within the second leg of the season is to ascertain a defensive identification.
Speaking to reporters on a Zoom convention name from the Nets’ observe facility in Industry City, Vaughn, who obtained a contract extension anticipated to final by way of the 2026-27 season on Tuesday, mentioned he desires his staff to lean on its largest power.
“Our roster is situated where that starting five really can take advantage of doing different things defensively, and so if there’s a bullet point under that defensive piece, it is how can we turn teams over more?” Vaughn mentioned. “I feel we could be a Top 10 defensive staff if we take that step of turning groups over; so an important problem for us that means, and that’s going to come back from some non-traditional methods.
“You know me, I’m very curious and I don’t mind taking risks. And so is that going to be going into different games with different game plans in order to get us to have an identity of really stirring things up and being agitators on the defensive end of floor?”
The Nets at the moment drive a median of 13.7 turnovers per recreation, rating twentieth within the NBA within the class. They rank simply twenty eighth in opponent turnovers within the 4 video games they’ve performed after the Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant trades. Given the inflow of size and defensive functionality into the beginning lineup, that quantity is predicted to extend considerably.
As for the offense, Vaughn desires to select up the place he left off after the pair of seismic trades that each one however destroyed the Nets’ offensive identification.
“The offensive piece is can we play with an extreme amount of pace and transition? And so that’s increasing our transition attempts and threes, that’s our kick-aheads, that’s our potential assists,” he mentioned. “So a lot of bullet points underneath that, just because we don’t have the shot creators like we used to. So we’ve got to be smart in the way we play on the offensive in the floor.”
The Nets enter the second half of the season Top 7 in each three-point makes an attempt and makes of their final 4 video games. The Boston Celtics, nevertheless, lead the NBA throughout that stretch, trying 50.3 triples per recreation and netting a median of 21 of these makes an attempt. To exchange the isolation scoring presents each Durant and Irving possess, the Nets will want their three-point quantity to pattern nearer to Boston.
In their final 4 video games, the Nets averaged 39 three-point makes an attempt and about 15 makes.
Lastly, Vaughn says he desires his staff to proceed to provide all the pieces they’ve in each minute they play.
“Overall, we have to be the hardest playing team in the league,” he mentioned. “And so when you look at us on film, when you look at us live, when you look at the first possession of the game, are the Brooklyn Nets the hardest playing team in the NBA? And so those are our three areas that we’re really going to lean into in these last 24 games.”
ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION
Vaughn mentioned filling the staff’s last open roster spot is “not at the top of our priority list.”
Vaughn mentioned in his conversations with basic supervisor Sean Marks, it grew to become clear that “we will continue to keep our eyes open to see if something makes sense, but what we don’t want is someone that’s gonna detract from the culture in the locker room. That’s the biggest piece of that thing.”
Vaughn additionally mentioned the staff must play extra video games earlier than a willpower could be made about what they could want so as to add. The deadline for a staff to signal a free agent eligible to play within the playoffs is March 1.
“We’ll keep our eyes open but that isn’t the number one priority right now.”
BROOKLYN BRIDGES
Jacque Vaughn mentioned he doesn’t envision Mikal Bridges scoring 45 factors each evening like he did when he set a brand new profession excessive in Brooklyn’s victory over the Miami Heat coming into the All-Star break.
That mentioned, Bridges is now the most effective participant in Brooklyn and has confirmed he can shoulder a heavier offensive load.
“I think that’s a part of growing together a little bit. I envision one of these dudes being an All-Star on this team, one of these dudes being defensive first or second team, growing that way,” he mentioned. “I don’t anticipate Mikal having 45 each recreation, in order that piece I’ll acknowledge, however to see his recreation develop, to play decide and roll, to have the ability to take somebody off the bounce, to offensive rebound, to have the ability to push in transition, all these issues, we’re positively going to faucet into, however on the identical time, attempting to win video games whereas we’re doing that.
“So that’s where you find yourself where you want guys to be comfortable to take risks and be curious and be interested, but at the same time, we’ve gotta win games going forward.”
Vaughn mentioned the Nets have already begun integrating some units Bridges ran with the Suns in Brooklyn, but additionally mentioned the Nets will run a number of the identical performs they ran for Durant to get Bridges attractiveness, particularly pin down screens to get Bridges free within the mid-range.
“When K was here, we had that similar pindown, Nic [Claxton] would go get Kevin, but we started at a different angle,” he mentioned. “Just a number of the Phoenix stuff and to get Mikal a little bit bit extra freedom, we moved it as much as the elbow, after which kinda taking part in out of that. Actually that might be part of us going ahead and we’ll kinda develop from there a little bit bit.
“Really suppose Spencer, Mikal, and Nic can have some extra synergy and develop collectively whether or not that finally ends up being double drag in the midst of the ground, whether or not there’s some stack decide and roll, we’ll use [Cam Johnson] in that additionally due to his potential to shoot, so that you’ll begin seeing us flare a little bit bit.
“So we’re gonna grow from there, we’ll probably have three or four quintessential sets that you’ll see us live out of. That elbow will be a piece of that. But yeah, watching some film and getting some input from Mikal and C.J., that’s definitely an area that we’ll continue to grow in.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com