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Your New Head Coach of the Brooklyn Nets: Lionel Hollins

Welcome your new Head Coach of the Brooklyn Nets, Lionel Hollins.

By Anthony Puccio
Barclays Center

The Nets were finally able to shift their full attention to their new head coach, Lionel Hollins, Monday morning at the Barclays Center. Although things haven't been picture perfect for the Nets and their off-season -- in fact they just edited Jason Kidd out of the official photo gallery of the practice facility presser -- Hollins released a breath of fresh air into the franchise.  He won Monday's press conference.

Among the first things he said was how grateful he is to be head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, opening with, "I’m excited to be here, I know it’s a challenge but in order to be successful you have to go through challenges." Hollins also said how he was "humbled" by being out of the league this past season, but has stayed connected to the game by doing television work for NBATV and SiriusXMNBA.

When asked about the Nets as a team, he emphasized the 'core' Nets players such as Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, and Joe Johnson. "When I look at this team, I see veteran players that can score. I want to play at a quicker pace, even quicker than last year, but you know, I don’t wanna run up the court and jack up shots, I want to be aggressive." It's a bit similar to what Jason Kidd had planned for the Nets last year, but due to personnel and injuries, the fast break game didn't materialize the way he would've liked.

His TV  and radio work this past season paid off for Hollins. He noted how the Nets should be 100% healthy this season, a big improvement over last. "Watching them, they played small ball a lot with Paul at the four. I never thought they were at full strength."

Early in the press conference, Hollins seemed to implicitly throw a jab at Kidd by saying, "I’m a basketball coach, I don’t wanna do Billy’s job, I’m very low maintenance I just wanna coach.. I don’t wanna do anyone’s job that isn’t mine."  When asked if he has talked to any of the main players, Hollins responded, " I did speak to Deron Williams, I'll speak to him when he gets back to New York, right now he’s in Dallas. It would be premature for me to talk to Paul Pierce, since he's a free agent, I'll let Billy do that."

When asked about possible assistant coaches he may bring along, he answered with "I don’t have any updates, but I've reached out to different people, telling a lot 'No.'  Trying to put together the staff that fits best."

He emphasized a key piece of the search was going to be personality; making sure everybody is on the same page ... "works together, comes to work everyday,and be for each other." Something that was clearly an issue with the Nets last year after early friction between Kidd and Lawrence Frank that led to Frank's "re-assignment."

It became quite evident that things will be different. Nobody should fear their job being stolen, and big ego's won't abide well with Hollins. As for whether it will be a success or not, that's to be determined. Hollins will begin his work as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets this week. He'll fly down to Orlando to check out the young players on the Nets' summer league roster.

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