Kenny Atkinson’s head-coaching experience is limited to guiding the Dominican Republic to sixth place at the 2015 FIBA Americas championship.
So, the new Nets coach is getting an assistant who was a head coach in the NBA.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
This is another Spurs connection for Nets general manager Sean Marks. Vaughn worked in San Antonio before and after his stint in Orlando.
He was pretty underwhelming with the Magic, but he’s probably a capable assistant and his lessons from the top chair could serve Atkinson well. That’s the optimistic spin.
Through the other lens, having a viable replacement for Atkinson already on the bench could one day undermine him. You want good assistants. You also don’t want assistants who could take your job.
It’s a fine line.