NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets interim head coach Kevin Ollie took over Brooklyn at a time when the team was trying to do what it could to turn the season around. Ollie filled in after Jacque Vaughn was fired during the All-Star break and while his record isn’t stellar, a key player believes that Ollie has done a good job.
“Yeah, he’s done a great job,” Nets guard Cam Thomas said after Wednesday’s 115-111 win over the Indiana Pacers. While Brooklyn did its job by stepping up to beat the Pacers, they were ultimately eliminated from the Eastern Conference play-in tournament because the Atlanta Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons.
“I mean, it’s only so much you can do at the All-Star break,” Thomas explained. “I mean, he can’t really change too much. We’re already 50, 55 games in. Not much you can really change, because that would be a tough thing to do. But, I feel like for what he’s had to deal with and what the situation brought, he’s done an amazing job. So, it’s been great.”
Over the course of this season, the Nets were 21-33 (38.9%) under Vaughn before he was dismissed and Brooklyn is 9-14 (39.1%) under the direction of Ollie. With that being said, there is a difference in how the Nets have been playing under Ollie.
Under Vaughn, Brooklyn was 19th in the NBA in offensive rating (114.5) and 21st in defensive rating (116.8). After Ollie took over, the Nets regressed to 24th in offensive rating (109.7), but improved to 13th in the league in defensive rating (112.8).
Obviously, Ollie is working with most of the same personnel that Vaughn was working with, but Ollie is also dealing with the absences of Spencer Dinwiddie and Royce O’Neale while taking advantage of the addition of Dennis Schroder. As this season gets close to the end, Ollie has the support of one of the team’s best players.
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