Between the arrival of Mikal Bridges, health of Ben Simmons and departure of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Nets have gone through so much it’s easy to forget that Jacque Vaughn never got a chance to have a training camp.
The Brooklyn coach is finally getting to change that, and it started Tuesday at HSS Training Center.
“Yeah, great to just have the group together, Day 1 from the start and to be able to see our guys compete. Also pull for each other, sweat with each other and start this process which is great,” said Vaughn, who stepped in as interim for the fired Steve Nash last Nov. 1, and became the permanent coach eight days later.
In February, Vaughn tried to mesh incoming Bridges and Cam Johnson from Phoenix, and Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith from Dallas with the holdovers.
Vaughn deployed switching defenses for the sake of simplicity, but is now working to not only build cohesion but install more multiplicity on the defensive end.
“First of all, the one piece of getting the group together having training camp, that’s huge,” said Vaughn. “The big part of that is the relationships. You get to build some chemistry early on. Things that you want to stress throughout the course of the year, this is the time to really do it, if you’re going to do it.
“You get to talk the same terminology. You get all the questions answered. For me, I love unfiltered questions and answers. Pretty honest and brutal with this group. I think this is the time to do it, so that you’re not trying to turn the page backwards two weeks from now, two months from now.”
Johnson didn’t practice, sitting out next to rookie Dariq Whitehead.
Johnson is recovering from last week’s left hamstring strain that the team has deemed mild, while Whitehead, a first-round pick, is coming off foot surgery.
“It’s great that [Johnson] is nothing serious,” Vaughn said.
“No practice for him [Tuesday] but he’s around the group. He was next to Dariq all practice being a coach for us on the sideline, which is great. We’ll be cautious with getting him back out there, but the good thing is nothing serious.”
Durant’s return to Brooklyn on Jan. 31 will now be televised by ABC instead of ESPN.
The game against the Suns has been moved to 8:30 p.m.
As the Nets start to plan for their season to start, team owner Joe Tsai’s other squad, the Liberty, is coming to the end of theirs.
They open the WNBA Finals on Sunday with Game 1 against the Aces.
“I think the Liberty have energized the city,” Tsai told The Post. “And the way they’re playing, they’re a championship team.”
Brooklyn has shown at least some level of interest in Harry Giles III every year he’s been in the league, and finally has the big man in on a camp invite.
Credit: Source link
