Brooklyn Nets Lose Rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
The Brooklyn Nets will be without their top 2015 NBA Draft pick Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for the foreseeable future as the rookie broke a bone in his ankle and will be out indefinitely.
The Brooklyn Nets have not had much to get excited about this season, struggling to a 5-15 start this season. One of those bright spots had been rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
Hollis-Jefferson does not have stats will jump off the page at you, averaging only 5.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game, but does things on the court to help the team. He is a strong defender with great size at 6-feet-7 inches tall and 220 pounds. It enables head coach Lionel Hollins to use combinations of lineups because Hollis-Jefferson can defend four different positions and play two or three offensively.
Unfortunately, the Nets will not have that versatility in their lineup for the foreseeable future, as Hollis-Jefferson is set to undergo ankle surgery and will be sidelined without a timetable.
According to Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York, the injury is being diagnosed as a non-displaced fracture of the posterios talus in his right ankle. The ankle was injured during practice last week, as Hollis-Jefferson turned it while defending Bojan Bogdanovic. It was originally called a sprain by the team, as he only missed the game Sunday against the Golden State Warriors, but will now miss plenty more.
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It was not something Hollis-Jefferson was expecting based off the original diagnosis, saying, “I was guarding [Bojan Bogdanovic]. I mean, it just happened. It was a really bad roll. I was stunned, I was shocked. It’s hurtful to be in that situation. Trying to be one of the best rookies, working really hard and then you get news like that, you don’t really know to say. You’re at a loss for words.”
The Nets have had one of the worst defenses in the NBA this season, but Hollis-Jefferson has been a bright spot on that side of the court. While his offense is limited right now to second chance points and baskets in transition, Hollis-Jefferson is already a strong defender despite being only 20-years old and rookie.
When he is on the court, Nets’ opponents have an offensive rating of 101.9; while that is still below average for the Nets, that number craters to 109.2 without him on the court, which would be the worst defensive rating in the NBA.
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It is rare that a rookie has that sort of impact on a team, especially one that plays as little as Hollis-Jefferson does, as he averages only 22.1 minutes per game. The Nets will sorely miss his impact defensively, and they will find it very difficult to slowdown opposing wing players with players such as Sergey Karasev and Markel Brown picking up the minutes left behind by Hollis-Jefferson.