Jacque Vaughn Praised Nets Players Who Were ‘Prepared To Play’ After Ben Simmons Left Another Game With Knee Soreness

One night after coming up just short in a hard-fought game in Philadelphia, the Nets were back in Brooklyn to host the Detroit Pistons, losers of four straight, on Thursday night.

Brooklyn was once again without Kevin Durant as he recovers from an MCL sprain, but also didn’t have Seth Curry available due to right knee soreness and saw T.J. Warren and Ben Simmons each leave the game with knee issues of their own. Warren suffered a knee contusion, while Simmons left in the third with knee soreness, a distinction that head coach Jacque Vaughn made sure to be very clear about in his postgame press conference.

Vaughn was asked about this being a potential schedule loss on the second night of a back-to-back and pushed back very hard on that being anything he’d ever consider, noting that every team plays the same number of games and they all face back-to-backs during the season — while also saying in his day there were times he’d play four in five nights, something the league has gotten rid of. He was also asked specifically about Simmons, as this wasn’t the first back-to-back he left early due to soreness, and whether he can be relied on in the future to be on the court in back-to-backs. Vaughn’s answer was eyebrow raising to say the least.

“The goal is, in my eyes, for everyone to play every game, and to do what’s necessary to play every game,” Vaughn said. “There’s certain amount of minutes that each individual played in Philly, some played equally tonight, so the preparation that it takes going into that, you just have to give credit to the guys who were prepared to play, ready to play, did what was necessary to get their bodies ready to play.”

As a former player, Vaughn is keenly aware of the demands of the NBA schedule, but also doesn’t seem particularly sympathetic (or empathetic) to guys needing days off. This all comes at a time when the load management concept is getting questioned again, with another former player, Richard Jefferson, noting on Thursday how he finds a lot of it ridiculous considering more stars are sitting out more games despite vastly superior training staffs and treatment options available to them.

For the Nets, they had Kyrie Irving and Nic Claxton each log big minutes on the back-to-back — Irving with 76 minutes and Claxton with 71 in the two games — while Simmons played a combined 49. For Vaughn, it seems some frustration with a lack of availability, particularly when he was active and not on the pregame injury report, is starting to creep up with Simmons and this seemed like his effort at public motivation for Simmons and potentially others to be more committed to being mentally and physically ready each night.

How Simmons responds to this remains to be seen, as tough love has not always been a successful motivational tool with the former All-Star, but right now his production level and availability are both leaving something to be desired in Brooklyn as they try to navigate life without KD and Jacque Vaughn appears ready to take a more direct approach.