Sean Marks explains role 50-point loss to Boston Celtics played in Jacque Vaughn's Nets firing
Sean Marks provided clarity on February 20 on what role the Boston Celtics' 50-point win over the Brooklyn Nets played in Jacque Vaughn's dismissal from the Nets organization: a minimal role amongst many other issues.
"Sean Marks says the All-Star Break falling where it did allowed him and his front office to assess where things stand and to try to make a change to jump start this group," ESPN's Tim Bontemps prefaced before saying, "Says the 50-point loss in Boston was 'one factor' but only one amid the grand scheme of things."
One game, even one with as bad of optics as the Nets' 136-86 loss on February 14, doesn't change a franchise's trajectory. If anything, it was the much-needed incident that forced the front office to look further into how things were going.
Marks was brought in after the 2015-16 season to fix Brooklyn's books. The team had minimal draft picks following Billy King's asset-burning blockbuster for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, but Marks was able to find diamond-in-the-rough free agents and made a bold move for D'Angelo Russell, using the team's all-time scorer, Brook Lopez, to do so. A fun playoff team resulted, but Marks wanted more and pushed in all his free agent chips in 2019 to sign Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and made his own King-esque deal for James Harden in January 2021. That, too, didn't work out and Harden was at least flipped for assets the following February. Once Durant and Irving were traded, Marks' first all-in attempt saw its final chapter closed.
Do the Nets stick with him long enough for a second try? Based on the results of his first clean-up efforts, yes. But things need to change in a hurry, with Brooklyn not in control of their own draft slot until 2028.
Boston Celtics always cause chaos for Nets organization
Celtics play-by-play analyst Sean Grande was able to put in perspective how Boston has indirectly caused complete chaos for Brooklyn just by putting a whooping on them in a regular season game in February each of the past two years.
"February 2023: Nets take a horrific loss in Boston...then trade Kyrie," Grande prefaced before saying, "February 2024: Nets take a horrific loss in Boston...then fire the coach."
Facing the Celtics has rarely been fun in recent seasons, but it's been extra brutal for the Nets in February against a Joe Mazzulla-coached team because of the consequences.