The Brooklyn Nets are in the middle of a four game losing streak with no hope for the future, in more way than one. The Nets are towards the bottom of the barrel in the Eastern Conference and they have no reason to be. They don’t own their draft pick in the 2016 NBA draft so their lack of success is alarming to both the fan base and the front office.
With the lack of winning over the last few years in Brooklyn, it now appears that the Nets have elected to move on from two key members of their organization, general manager Billy King and head coach Lionel Hollins.
Following from an official Brooklyn Nets press release.
The Brooklyn Nets today reassigned General Manager Billy King within the organization and have parted ways with Head Coach Lionel Hollins.
For the remainder of this season, Assistant Coach Tony Brown will serve as interim head coach. The GM position will remain open until a replacement is named.
“After careful consideration, I’ve concluded that it’s time for a fresh start and a new vision for the direction of the team,” said Nets Owner Mikhail Prokhorov. “By making this decision now, it enables our organization to use the rest of the season to diligently evaluate candidates with proven track records. It’s clear from our current state of affairs that we need new leadership. With the right basketball management and coach in place, we are going to create a winning culture and identity and give Brooklyn a team that it can be proud of and enjoy watching. We have learned a great deal during the past six years and our experiences will guide us for the future. Following the consolidation of team ownership last month, I can assure you that I’m more determined and committed than ever to build a winner.”
“I want to thank Billy for his hard work in the development of the Nets. At every step of the way, he has been aggressive in his quest to build a winning team and has been a key factor toward the Nets making the playoffs for each of the last three seasons. Beyond this, he has been a tremendous friend, wonderful colleague, and loyal partner and we wish him success in the future. I also want to thank Lionel for his efforts and dedication on behalf of the Nets franchise. To our fans, I thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support and please know that brighter days are ahead. I’m excited to begin the process of choosing the best GM and head coach available.”
Another alarming sign about the current state of the Nets is who exactly is running the organization. Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski says no one in the organization is sure.
Who is running the Nets for now? Unclear within organization. Almost all learned of firings via news release.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) January 10, 2016
The Nets asset pool is very, very shallow. Their pick in 2016 belongs to the Boston Celtics and future picks are also out of their control in the hands of the Celtics stemming from their talent haul of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry. They do have some young guys drafted in 2015 in Chris McCullough and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson that the team views as lottery picks in the 2015, 2016 draft but they are currently both hurt.
Where Brooklyn goes from here, no one knows. There have been rampant rumors about their interest in front office personal from teams overseas and even an idea of wanting to bring in a top flight college coach but first things first, the Nets need to figure out who is going to be on their team in the future.
Does Joe Johnson go? Will Bojan Bogdanovic be shipped out? What about the once unhappy Sergey Karasev? Does Brooklyn dare to part ways with their newly signed frontcourt of Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young? Who knows at this point.
They do need to do something and start to get turning in the right direction especially in such a big media market like Brooklyn, New York.
