Getty Former Nets center LaMarcus Aldridge watches his shot in the first half against the Los Angeles Lakers at Barclays Center on April 10, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
After a season in which the Brooklyn Nets finished second in the Eastern Conference despite a year filled with turmoil, it was almost expected that Nets head coach Steve Nash would lose someone from his staff to one of the league’s head coaching vacancies. Following the abrupt retirement of Danny Ainge and the movement of Brad Stevens into the position of president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics, the team started their search for a new head coach. Stevens and the Celtics ultimately decided to hire Nets assistant coach Ime Udoka to be Boston’s 18th head coach.
After a disappointing first-round playoff exit in 2020, the pressure will be on the first-year head coach to make a quick turnaround in 2022. Udoka knows that starts and ends with Celtics Stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum who the former Nets assistant plans on pushing from day one. “They’re going to allow me to coach them, push them,” Udoka said per ESPN. “They know I’m going to be on their ass, and that’s what they like about me, they’ve asked me about that. They want to be pushed, they want to be directed toward winning, and you expect that from your stars.”
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LaMarcus Aldridge Hints at Return to Nets in New Role
With the loss of Udoka to the Celtics, there leaves a huge vacancy on Brooklyn’s bench to fill as the new assistant coach of the Nets. Udoka won’t be easy to replace as he comes from legendary head coach Gregg Popovich’s coaching tree, having spent eight seasons as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs.
Another former Spur could be looking to replace Udoka as assistant coach. 7-time NBA All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge was one of the Nets’ biggest free agency signings this season but had to abruptly retire in April. Doctors discovered that Aldridge had an irregular heartbeat that made it unsafe for him to play basketball. Now he is looking to rejoin the Nets in a different capacity with the same goal of helping the Nets deliver a championship.
“I’m down,” Aldridge said in response to a fan on Twitter who asked him if he would join the Nets as an assistant.
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Jacque Vaughn to Return to Nets Next Season
Nets assistant Jacque Vaughn who was viewed as one of the top candidates to fill the New Orleans Pelicans head coaching vacancy has withdrawn his name from the running per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Vaughn served as the interim head coach of the Nets after former head coach Kenny Atkinson stepped down in March of 2020. He had a real shot at becoming the Nets’ full-time head coach before the front office hired Steve Nash for the position. Vaughn wants to stay put in Brooklyn for at least one more season.
“Vaughn is citing family reasons, including the chance to spend time with his two teenage sons as a primary reason for returning to Brooklyn for next season,” Woj said.
The Nets offseason is young and already they are starting to see major changes in their personnel. The hiring of Aldridge could immediately be beneficial for Brooklyn should they decide to bring in a new center via the draft or free agency.
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