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It was December 9 when Rondae Hollis-Jefferson went under the knife at the Hospital for Special Surgery. His broken ankle was not a minor event.. Dr. Martin O'Malley, who's reconstructed the feet of Brook Lopez and Kevin Durant, needed two screws to repair the break.
But O'Malley and by extension the Nets were optimistic that 1) RHJ would have a complete recovery and 2) he'd be back in eight to ten weeks. That was 13 weeks ago ... and counting.
Tony Brown said Monday that he wouldn't put a timetable on Hollis-Jefferson's return but said that he had participated in "every facet" of practice, including contact and scrimmaging, and added that he had so during team practices on the road last week. He's also spent some time with the Nets new shooting coach, David Nurse, who was on the road with the team.
The final issue is getting RHJ back in basketball shape after such a long layoff. He says he feels fine.
"As we started to travel more on the trip, just sitting on the bench every game on the west coast trip, it was just like, ugh," Hollis-Jefferson said. "Ugh. I mean you want to play. You understand the situation, but anyone says ‘you want to be out there’ even if (you) can’t. And that bothers you. That bothers you at the end of the day."
Next conversation on the subject is likely to be between Brown and Tim Walsh.