Atkinson ‘hopeful’ Hollis-Jefferson, LeVert return Monday
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Caris LeVert still won’t be on the court when the Nets resume their season Thursday night against the Hornets. But the Nets hope both finally will be back when they play host Chicago on Monday at Barclays Center.
“Rondae practiced [Tuesday], which is great. Caris did some stuff, not all of practice. [Wednesday] they were off legs to recover from that,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “[They’re] not going to play [Thursday], but I think hopeful for Monday, hopeful for the Bulls game. Is that an official term, ‘hopeful?’ ”
The NBA officially uses probable, but the point got across. The young duo are two of the Nets’ best defenders, and that defense has imploded without them.
“I mean you can say that for an excuse, but I don’t think that’s an excuse for us,” D’Angelo Russell said. “The guys who were out there, we could’ve done more.”
True, they could have. But they didn’t.
LeVert has been sidelined the past four games, suffering both a concussion and a right knee injury on a vicious pick by Houston’s Nene on Feb. 6. The loss of HollisJefferson was even worse. The high-energy power forward has missed 10 straight games since suffering a groin injury on Jan. 26, the Nets dropping that game and nine of the 10 he has sat out.
Both of their absences have contributed to a seven-game skid entering Thursday’s game.
“Yeah, man, that’s definitely true,” Spencer Dinwiddie said. “With the injuries we’ve had, with the trades we’ve had, the constant shuffling, always evaluating, it makes for an up-and-down season, quite honestly.
“Even with us finally being healthy in this particular season, we’re still going to be missing Jeremy [Lin], which is a huge part. It’s just part of that growth process trying to find some consistency.”
Granted, Lin is a noteworthy loss. The Nets went into last season’s All-Star break 9-47 largely because of his repeated hamstring woes, and finished 11-15 after he came back in the second half. This time around, once Hollis-Jefferson and LeVert get back on the court it essentially will be the first time the Nets are at least quasi-healthy since November.
Hollis-Jefferson and Russell — who missed 32 straight games following knee surgery — intersected for just two games in January before Hollis-Jefferson got hurt. The Nets won both.
Brooklyn will honor the legacy of the late Drazen Petrovic at Monday’s game. This year marks 25 years since the Croatian guard’s death in an automobile crash.