Nets flag energy, effort as issues to address with new coach - ESPN

NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks said Tuesday night that his decision to fire head coach Jacque Vaughn was not because of a single event.

Marks also asserted that one specific event — the Nets choosing to sit most of their roster for a game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Dec. 27, a decision that eventually cost the franchise $100,000 for violating the league's player participation policy — was not the root cause of the team's spiral ever since.

«I don't think we lost the team that day,» Marks said at a news conference prior to Brooklyn's first practice with Kevin Ollie as the team's interim coach. «I appreciate the fact that players want to play. They want to play night in and night out.

»Again, I don't think there was one decision that ultimately affected the record or [making] this decision this day. I think a lot of things went into that."

Brooklyn went from 15-15 on the morning of the Bucks game to 6-18 since — tied with the Detroit Pistons for the third-worst record in the league over that span and ahead of only the Charlotte Hornets (6-20) and the Washington Wizards (4-21).

When asked for specifics on what led to Vaughn's firing, Marks pointed to a lack of energy and effort plays that lead to winning basketball.

«It's about the level of compete,» Marks said. «We're not going to be the most talented team in the league. I'm not an idiot. I totally understand that. But at the same time, this is a talented group of young men out there. And my expectations, and I think their expectations, should be to hold each other accountable to do the little things. The effort plays, the loose balls, the contested shots and so forth, diving on the floor.

»These are things that should be expected when you're in a