Chris McCullough expected to play Monday, but Rondae Hollis-Jefferson "not anytime soon"

The mantra about the Nets rookies' injuries has always been the same: Chris McCullough and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson would be back around the All-Star Break.  But now, the word has changed.  McCullough, coming off a year-long recovery from a torn ACL, is likely to see his first action on Monday, but Hollis-Jefferson who broke his ankle in December, is unlikely to play "any time soon," says Tony Brown.

As Andy Vasquez reports... "Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is making progress from his Dec. 9 surgery to repair a fracture in his ankle. But it doesn’t seem as if he’ll be playing games at the end of the initial timetable the Nets set for his return."

Initially, the Nets said RHJ would be back eight to 10 weeks after surgery. Ten weeks from that surgery will be February 17, a week from Wednesday. But he only just got out of his walking boot.

"He’s out of the boot," Brown said. "Obviously, he’s doing some work on the court. I don’t see him playing anytime soon, but he’s progressing as nice as he can under the circumstances."

That's interesting, because early on his recovery, Hollis-Jefferson suggested that he wouldn't be back until March.  At the end of December, Hollis-Jefferson wrote on his blog: "It's looking like I'll be able to get back on the court after (the) All-Star break, probably around the beginning of March." That would be 12 weeks or half the season.

A few days later, team sources said that Hollis-Jefferson had miscalculated, that he was still on track for eight to ten weeks. Looks like someone other than the player miscalculated.

• Nets notes: Giveaways produce empty feeling - Andy Vasquez - The Record