Scotto: Nets Got It Right Second Time Around By Hiring Hollins

BROOKLYN — One season after the Jason Kidd experiment failed in bizarre fashion, the Brooklyn Nets introduced the man the franchise should have hired in the first place.

Lionel Hollins isn’t here for power struggles, whether they be with staff members, GM Billy King or ownership. He’s here to coach.

“I’m a basketball coach,” Hollins said. “I don’t want to do Billy’s job. I don’t want to do anybody else’s job in the organization but the one that I’m hired to do and that’s important to me. I’m very low-maintenance.”

That has to be music to the ears of Nets ownership and management after Kidd – in his first season sitting in any sort of coaching chair – demanded a promotion, requested multiple trades for specific players and reassigned once-trusted Lawrence Frank to writing daily reports after making him the NBA’s highest-paid assistant.

Had Kidd not demanded an unwarranted promotion to hurdle King – the same man who hired him as an entirely unproven commodity in the first place – Hollins might still be out of a job.

“Two Saturdays ago, this job wasn’t open,” said Hollins, who looks much younger than his 60 years. “I’m sitting at home waiting on the Lakers to make a decision, and if they make a decision another way, I’m out of the league for another year again.”

From the start, Hollins was the favorite and only true candidate to replace Kidd in the midst of free agency because the Nets did background work on him before hiring Kidd last summer.

“He is a proven winner who will provide the franchise with stability and leadership going forward,” King said in a statement.

In other words, three attributes Kidd didn’t have.

“I’m excited to be here,” Hollins said. “I know it’s a challenge, but in order to have success, you’ve got to go through challenges and overcome them.”

The Nets are at a crossroads with Paul Pierce’s uncertain future, the questionable health of maximum-salary players Deron Williams and Brook Lopez, and several valuable reserves on the free agent market. King envisions Hollins as a stabilizing force to help the Nets contend at a high level.

Hollins – whose contract was surprisingly not renewed by Memphis after guiding the Grizzlies to a franchise-record 56 wins and a trip to the Western Conference finals – spent last season working on NBA TV and Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

“I’m humbled, as well, by the fact that I’ve been out of the NBA for a year,” Hollins said. “I’ve been out before and, as one gets older, you never know if another opportunity is going to come back around again. To have this opportunity is truly a blessing. The way it came about is truly miracle-like and I’m very thankful.”

Many would consider it “miracle-like” if Hollins can get Williams to return to his All-Star form prior to sustaining multiple ankle injuries. Williams has perhaps the most untradeable contract in the league with three years and $63 million remaining.

“I haven’t seen him that close until last year when he was hurt a lot,” Hollins said. “I just see somebody who has to get healthy, get his confidence back and get his game back. You’ve got to be healthy and in good conditioning in order to do what you want to do as a player on the court. You can’t not be in shape and be as good as you want to be. You can’t be partly healthy and be as good as you want to be.”

A former All-Star point guard who helped develop Mike Conley Jr. while with the Grizzlies, Hollins must put Williams in a position to succeed. Williams has advocated for more pick-and-rolls in the past akin to Jerry Sloan’s system in Utah. Hollins predominantly ran a halfcourt style where the Grizzlies dumped the ball into the post with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph.

It remains to be seen whether Lopez and Joe Johnson will become the focal points of the offense posting up on the block, or if Williams will be the primary playmaker in pick-and-rolls.

Hollins will also need Lopez to stay healthy. After not missing a game in his first three seasons, Lopez has played only 96 games over the last three. The big man is owed more than $32 million over the next two years.

With that in mind, I asked Hollins how he plans to utilize Lopez in comparison to Gasol, a former Defensive Player of the Year.

“I don’t see him and Marc being the same,” Hollins replied. “Marc was a perimeter player, more of a passer, facilitator. He liked that role more than he liked scoring because he was able to be in that role because we had Zach.

“I see Brook as being a guy that I want him to score, but I want him to make plays out of the post. I want him to be able run the court, be able to rebound and guard the paint. Not necessarily block shots, but be in the way, take charges and help us defensively and keep people honest when they want to come into the paint. I think that’s important for a guy that size.”

When healthy, Lopez is one of the most potent offensive centers in the game and has the ability to block shots like a fly swatter. The knock on Lopez has been his rebounding skills, or lack thereof. For his career, Lopez has averaged 7.3 rebounds – an insufficient amount for a 7-footer.

Hollins, a fiery competitor, must bring out Lopez’s full potential for the Nets to compete at a high level. A source who has been close to Hollins for years believes the hiring could mean a big year for Lopez.

“Lopez is so much bigger and more of a post-up guy than Gasol,” the source told SheridanHoops. “Coach will like that and probably exploit it. He likes bigs to be just that. This could work well for Lopez being the guy. Brook’s smart and coach loves smart players.”

While Hollins was unemployed, he watched no less than 12 teams hire coaches with no previous NBA head coaching experience. It has become a trend in a league that is showing less and less patience.

Hollins has a chance to buck that trend and show that he should have been hired instead of Kidd one summer ago. It will probably be his last chance.

Michael Scotto is an NBA columnist for SheridanHoops.com. You can follow him on Twitter.