The week that was ... was bad

The Nets have to hope next week will be better than last week. They'll start it off with a press conference to introduce Lionel Hollins. It appears, at least from press reports, that they have a deal with Bojan Bogdanovic, which is also a good thing, particularly if Paul Pierce wants to go west. Maybe something else will break.

Still, the bump, as Billy King noted, is a big bump and hard to get over. The problem is that despite spending a lot of blood and treasure on changing the Nets culture and image with the move to Brooklyn, there are those who see it all as the "Same Old Nets." At this point, can't blame them. That's not say it won't get better. You can bet Lionel Hollins will be charismatic Monday and give the media some hellfire quotes.

Beyond rhetoric, Hollins brings a lot of success to Brooklyn, taking a small market team (the smallest in fact) with no stars to a 56-win season and the Western Conference Finals. In dumping him, the Grizzlies mantra was that it was the players not the coach who won the games. Yeah, but no one got out of Zach Randolph what Hollins did and no one could have predicted that Marc Gasol, taken at No. 46, would become the DPOY or that Mike Conley Jr. would join the first rank of point guards.

As Tim Bontemps writes, "Hollins has proven he is a good coach — a better one than Kidd at the moment — and should have little trouble connecting with the veteran-laden Nets roster."

Ownership may or may not be on hand Monday for the press conference, but despite all the ups and downs since they bought in, dutifully chronicled by Stefan Bondy Sunday, you have to give them credit for one thing: when they make a mistake, they accept it, don't dwell on it, pay the freight, move on ... and hopefully learn their lesson.

• Nets are better off moving on from rough week - Tim Bontemps - New York Post
• From moment Mikhail Prokhorov bought Nets to end of Jason Kidd Era, it has been strange ride for franchise - Stefan Bondy - New York Daily News
• Capped out! With luxury tax, NBA owners make sure there'll be no future deals for a Big Three - Mitch Lawrence - New York Daily News
• Nets: Few options for acquiring free agents - Andy Vasquez - The Record
• Jason Kidd’s move from Brooklyn to Milwaukee leaves bad taste in the mouth - Gary Washburn - Boston Globe