Brooklyn Nets Lionel Hollins: Not making shots is an identity

Ask any coach in any sport and they will express the importance of a team having an identity. Just some identities are better than others. Ask Lionel Hollins.

Lionel Hollins, in his first year as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, disputes the notion his team hasn’t established an identity nearing the midpoint of the season.

Lionel Hollins on the Nets: "We have established an identity: We don't make shots. That is an identity."
— Andy Vasquez (@andy_vasquez) January 12, 2015

And … mic drop.

The Nets are 16-22, which is good for eighth place in that netherworld of professional basketball known as the Eastern Conference.

But Brooklyn has lost its last six games and during that stretch, Hollins is right—the Nets aren’t making shots.

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They have hit just 42.1 percent of their attempts during the losing skid, including a mind-bogglingly bad 22.9 percent from 3-point range.

But Brooklyn is in the lower half of the league on the season when it comes to shooting, hitting 44.5 percent—19th in the NBA. Their 3-point shooting—32.1 percent—is a dismal 27th-best in the association.

So it’s not surprising that Brooklyn has one of the worst offensive ratings—102.3 points per 100 possessions—in the NBA, ranking 24th. But at least they are missing shots at a really slow pace—Brooklyn averaged 92.2 possessions per game, making the Nets the sixth-slowest team in the league.

So not exactly a thrill a minute.

The bad shooting statistics are exacerbated by a couple of other troubling factors. The Nets are tied for 20th in the league, turning the ball over on 13.9 percent of their possessions, and are tied for 19th in defensive rebounding percentage.

There are very few ways to add the numbers up and come to any conclusion other than the Nets are a bad basketball team.

Brooklyn has gotten center Brook Lopez back after he missed 10 games, but point guard Deron Williams is on the shelf indefinitely with a fractured rib.

And it’s not like there is a bright future ahead for the Nets.

The team sunk much in terms of players and the ever-popular “future assets” into making a title run in 2013-14, trading for veteran stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from the Boston Celtics, going about $400 gazillion above the luxury tax line (figure approximate) … and going 44-38 and exiting the playoffs in the second round.

And Brooklyn won’t have a first-round draft pick until … wait for it … 2019.

This year’s pick goes to the Atlanta Hawks as part of the deal that brought Joe Johnson to Brooklyn. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Nets are sending their first round picks to Boston for Pierce and Garnett.

That would mean the front-office has an identity, too—short-sighted and stupid.

Oh, and there’s the whole “deep-pocketed Russian owner is sick of it and wants to sell” thing.

So, yeah, not happy fun times in Flatbush.

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