Brooklyn Nets: The Development Of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
A central figure for the Brooklyn Nets in their ongoing rebuild is Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. How his development progresses will be key for the team going forward.
To say the Brooklyn Nets are already exceeding expectations this early into the season would be an understatement.
Although they haven’t been a success standing at 4-8 this year, the Nets have certainly surprised most, if not all based on their play under first-year head coach Kenny Atkinson. With the majority of their roster assembled this offseason, Atkinson has had the Nets primed and ready to compete on a nightly basis.
Considering half of their wins this year have also come without their prized free agent signing Jeremy Lin (Lin’s currently sidelined due to a strained hamstring), it’s just another testament to the Nets showing why they shouldn’t be overlooked, no matter the circumstances.
While the Nets have more than their fair share of unheralded players that they’re looking to develop as long as they’re rebuilding, one prospect stands above the rest as someone who has the tools to be a building block for them in the years to come.
Acquired as part of a draft-night trade during the offseason last year, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s first season in the NBA was mostly incomplete, due to suffering a fractured ankle that forced him to miss 53 games. In the times he did play, however, Hollis-Jefferson showed flashes of an intriguing talent, one who could be a solid complementary player when all is said and done.
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Now playing as part of a vastly different team, Hollis-Jefferson’s role is slowly starting to come front and center, next to the likes of Brook Lopez, Bojan Bogdanovic and the aforementioned Lin. This experiment has brought both positives and negatives so far this year in various ways for the 21-year-old.
Yes, it’s a small sample size, but Hollis-Jefferson has had more time to operate with the ball as his usage percentage is up from 13.2 percent last year to 15.3 percent this year, per NBA.com.
With that, his assist numbers have gone up, rising up to 2.7 assists per game after averaging 1.5 assists per game last year. But an increased responsibility with the ball has also made the product from Arizona more susceptible to turnovers this year and his 14.9 turnover ratio is indicative of that.
As far as his efficiency goes, Hollis-Jefferson has seen more struggles compared to what he’s accomplished as a playmaker. Averaging an effective field goal percentage of 35.7 percent so far, Hollis-Jefferson’s struggles aren’t particularly surprising, especially since shooting has never been a strength throughout his time as both a college prospect and now in the pros.
Where he has made a consistent impact scoring the ball has been at the free throw line is his free throw attempt rate currently stands on 57.1 percent (per Basketball-Reference.com) and he’s converted exactly 90 percent of his attempts at the line.
The most intriguing part of Hollis-Jefferson’s game, the defensive end, arguably might be his most disappointing area of his play this year.
There’s no better example of this than how well the Nets perform defensively without Hollis-Jefferson as they are 6.4 points per 100 possessions better defensively with him on the sidelines in 268 minutes.
Standing at 23rd in the league in terms of defensive efficiency, Hollis-Jefferson isn’t alone in that department, save for the more prominent players on the Nets. Nonetheless, it’s definitely a stark difference, even without adding in the expectations for Hollis-Jefferson who has a number of tools to be a truly gifted defender.
With that being said, it’s all part of the process in developing Hollis-Jefferson in the midst of a rebuild that’s almost unparalleled to anything we’ve seen before in the league, at least among rebuilds that aren’t associated with the Philadelphia 76ers.
That’s not to say Hollis-Jefferson is alone in this, because that’s far from the case. But with the upside he has, along with his age, Hollis-Jefferson has and will have the chance to be an integral part of what the Nets are hoping to build.
It won’t be smooth sailing at times, but letting Hollis-Jefferson boost all facets of his game throughout the season will be better off for the Nets in the long run. Then again, it’s not like they have any other choice.
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