Lionel Hollins tenure with the Brooklyn Nets has been up and down to say the least. It’s mostly been down as of late but he has some bright spots including making the playoffs last year.
But this season the Nets came in without any kind of high expectations and rightfully so. They were aiming to get under the luxury tax number to avoid getting hit with the repeater tax but they had to somehow stay competitive because they don’t own their 2016 NBA Draft pick. That pick belongs to the Boston Celtics courtesy of the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce trade a few seasons ago.
They decided to keep Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young over the summer and let go of Deron Williams. The future of Joe Johnson is up in the air but they do have some young talent to help them in their pseudo-rebuild.
So they’re kind of stuck in the middle, in a weird place with nowhere to go right now. They can’t tank and they don’t have the proper talent to contend. Continuity is key with this team so firing their coach might not be the best thing to do as they go through this process and it’s something that Nets general manager Billy King won’t be doing.
Following from Andy Vasquez of NorthJersey.com.
Nets general manager Billy King said coach Lionel Hollins’ job is safe — for now. But the Nets may be looking to make trades in the near future.
That’s what King told Sarah Kustok of the YES Network before tonight’s game against the Rockets.
“We’re going to explore options out there and look and see if there’s other players if we need to make a deal to bring guys in,” King said on the YES Network pregame show. “But we’re going to give this group a chance until we can find another option.”
The Nets will have a hard time making any trade before December 15, when free agents who were signed during the offseason become eligible to be traded — thus opening up the market.
King also pointedly denied a report from a Russian publication which said that the Nets had already decided to move on from Hollins, and were just holding onto him until they could find a replacement.
“It’s funny because I think the report said it was management,” King said. “And I’m management so there was no truth to that. Lionel and I are working hard every day. We’re discussing possibilities, things we can do on the court, off the court. I’ve talked to ownership and right now, Lionel is our coach and we’re working to try to turn this around.”
Keeping Lionel Hollins for the remainder of the season, regardless if his philosophies don’t match with the current NBA standard, is what would be best for the team. Hollins is a hard nose coach who doesn’t take any nonsense and while he has not found great success with the Nets, he has a track record of getting the best out of some great players.
Plus, if the Nets hope to get Mike Conley, they might need him to stick around.
